A minor update was just pushed out to the site that fixes a bug in the user searching / find people page. It had been skipping users between the first and second page of results.

Some changes have been made to the titles on pages. This should have the effect of our results in search engines being more clear. We may continue to tweak titles for awhile.

Note: I've gotten several emails from users who have forgotten their password. There is a way to automatically reset your password built into the system. After an incorrect login, it provides you with a link to click. A new password will be sent to you in email. If you need your email address changed, be sure to include what you want it changed to in your initial email to MemeStreams Support. This speeds things up.

MemeStreams experienced an outage today for eight hours due to a transformer explosion at our primary data-center located next to the landmark Bell-South "bat-building" in Nashville, Tennessee. Pictures taken by Industrial Memetics staff of NES workers responding to the situation can be seen here and here.

From the desk of the Acting CEO:

It's been a hectic few days here. Due to having to juggle several balls at once, I have not commented on this situation as much as I would like to. Due to how it could affect others, and the gravity of the situation, it is also necessary that I be careful with what I say.

Due to time constraints, I have not been able to put together a formal press announcement as I would have liked. In fact, this might not be the worst of times to mention two positions Industrial Memetics would like to fill:

CFO - We need someone to secure funding and manage our finances. Do not attempt to contact us unless you are serious about and capable of doing both. Experience working with technology companies and an understanding of the internet media and internet security space is required.

Corporate Communications / Business Development - Handle PR functions. Be able to take, arrange, and express information such as that in this message and turn it into press releases, and communicate it to interested parties and the press. Responsible for maintaining relationships with vendors and partners. Must be able to author basic HTML, be skilled at document creation, and have experience with negotiation teams as both a member and a leader.

Both positions have a starting pay rate of zero. I can be contacted by email at nick @at@ nicklevay.net.

Ciscopocalypse Press Release Notes
- Industrial Memetics Circles The Wagons
* Events
--- Tom Cross has stepped down as the CEO of Industrial Memetics in order to avoid any conflicts of interest surrounding the Cisco/ISS/Lynn situation.
--- Nick Levay has taken over management of Industrial Memetics as the Acting CEO.
--- A number of Industrial Memetics projects have been put on hold.

* Positions
--- Industrial Memetics strongly supports Mike Lynn.
--- Industrial Memetics has no desire to become involved in litigation.

* Disclosure
--- Industrial Memetics offered Mike Lynn a position on July 4, 2005.
---- Mike Lynn to date has not accepted.
---- While Industrial Memetics was aware of Mike's research, no information or details were ever shared.
--- Industrial Memetics is in severe need of a round of funding.
---- Baseline is two million dollars
--- Industrial Memetics financial situation will in no way impact MemeStreams website operations, unless we experience a traffic increase of several orders of magnitude.

* Talking Points - The great battles at the dawn of this millennium center around culture.
--- In the global struggle against violent extremism, we must defeat the dangerous fundamentalist elements of middle-eastern culture.
--- In the global struggle for security, we must defeat the dangerous and broken elements of our own security cu... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Decius wrote:
You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much. I don't plan to post for a while. I am hereby turning over all reponsibility for administration of this site to Nick Levay (Rattle). I am not managing MemeStreams or Industrial Memetics for the time being. All queries should be sent to Nick.

I think its appropriate for this community to be able to express its views without implicating any conflicts of interest that I may have, so I am stepping back for now. The perspective of this community belongs to the community and not to me or Nick or anyone else.

Furthermore, to avoid any rumors, there has been absolutely nothing from any of the parties involved in this dispute that has prompted this action, nor to I really believe that any of the parties involved in this dispute would have a problem with what this site consists of, presuming they understood what it is. This is simply a precautionary measure that I am taking to avoid any potential problems and to ensure the freedom of the people in this comunity to express their views.

It is my sincere hope that all of this drama dies down as quickly as it began.

I officially acknowledge receipt of this message, and assume control of The Industrial Memetics Institute as the Acting CEO. In light of the situation, and full recognition of your importance to Industrial Memetics and The MemeStreams Community, your status will be classified as "on sabbatical".

Industrial Memetics will make a formal press announcement sometime within the next 24-hours.

We fully expect that your sabbatical will be short yet fruitful. It should be noted that in your entire service since our great company's founding in September of 2001, you have not taken a vacation.

I look forward to seeing if what happens in Vegas, truly stays in Vegas.

Nick Levay, Acting CEO, Industrial Memetics Institute

I assume the helm. Stay the course..

Frustrated by MemeStreams? Sick of our bad UI design? Tired of all these stupid people and their insipid political ideas and boring personal interests? Why start a flame war when you can take out your frustrations like a man... with firearms! Send an email to tom@memestreams.net with your mailing address and I'll mail you some MemeStreams sitckers! Stick them to your car. Stick them to your laptop. Stick them to your little sister. Or better yet, take them down to the range..

Disclaimer: "Industrial Memetics testing indicates that its new sticker product will not protect against 45 cal, 9mm, 7.62x39, .223, or 12 guage slug. However, other tests indicate it may survive for a short time on the bottom of a skateboard."

MemeStreams Stickers!

An update was just pushed out to MemeStreams:

* A problem with user sessions being randomly logged out has been fixed.
* When you check "I'm not using my own computer" at login time, your session will automatically be logged out after 15 minutes of inactivity.

The answer a web search engine delivers is what it believes is the correct answer for the majority of users – often referred to as "the tyranny of the majority". For example, when you search for 'apple', the first result on most search engines is Apple Computer. But you may have been searching for information about the fruit or Apple Records.

Decius Wrote:
We don't have the resources that Yahoo has, but we've been at this a hell of a lot longer and I'll bet we get it a hell of a lot better. So, if you've got a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket and chip on your shoulder about Yahoo, I'll bet I can turn it into 10 million while beating the pants off of them in the process. Until such time as someone like that arrives this project will remain a weekend hobby with slow code and design updates.

Industrial Memetics, leading the way since 2001.

Yahoo! Search blog: Search, with a little help from your friends

The Edit Profile form has been updated to be less confusing.

A new Change Password form has been added to the site and is available from the configuration menu.

A problem with column width in certain user's profiles has been fixed.

Some of the new user registration pages have been tweaked for clarity. If you don't have an account here at MemeStreams, make one.

I've updated the bookmarklets for Internet Explorer. The new IE bookmarklets do not pop up a window, thereby avoiding the annoying problem with IE's pop up blocker. As always, let me know if you have any trouble.

MemeStreams Update for Internet Explorer users

Do you think the Recommend and Discuss Bookmarklets should pop up a new window?

IE's pop up blocker can't tell the difference between a pop up ad and a bookmarklet, so I've had to make new bookmarklets for IE that don't pop up a new window. In truth, the IE bookmarklets work in Firefox, and the Firefox bookmarklets work in IE (assuming you disable pop up blocking) so its possible for users of each browser to use the kind of bookmarklets they prefer.

I prefer to have a new window pop up because I like to refer to the original article while I'm editing. However, I'm wondering what the rest of the site thinks. One might reasonably ask why I don't just let users choose which bookmarklets they want to install. The reason is that MemeStreams is intimidating enough to new users without having to ask them to make a decision about that when first joining the site.

So what are your thoughts? Pop ups good or bad?

Survey Question for MemeStreams Users