I’m doing some (late) spring cleaning today, and I’ve decided this might as well also extend to my WordPress drafts. Here are a couple links I meant to expound upon, but instead I’ll just present them straight before they gather any more dust.

First, Forrester research reports that paid video download services are a dead end for businesses because they only attract “media addicts.” From the abstract:

To attract mainstream viewers, media strategy executives must develop new business models and delivery mechanisms to make video downloading ad-supported and geek free.

Some might contend that it’s the geeks who are the early adopters and market leaders, so I’m curious to see some other arguments on this specific topic.

Second, I have learned that on YouTube, you can find not only unauthorized, fan-made videos based on Harry Potter (with puppets), but also unauthorized, fan-made videos based on those unauthorized puppet show parodies (but as a drawn slideshow rather than actual puppets).

Third, Slashdot readers debate whether Web 2.0 and Open Source programming are driven by boredom.

And finally, here’s an interesting comment thread over at Kotaku about banning people from commenting on the blog. Part of what interests me about this is simply the glimpse it offers of the politics and ethics of conversation among blog readers. One reader, PapaBear434, posts a few times to discuss how he was banned as “PapaBear,” which leads to an odd exchange between readers and a Kotaku editor:

Kuraudo says:
@PapaBear434: If you’ve been banned, surely advertising your return under a pseudonym isn’t that wise an idea?

ashcraft says:
@Kuraudo: Nah, PapaBear was a dick. PapaBear434 is good people.

PapaBear434 says:
@ashcraft: I’m not sure if I’m feeling praised, offended, or just indifferent to that comment.
Thanks for confusing me. Confusing me makes me angry. I’m going to suggest you for banning!
/oh, wait…

Most virtual/internet ethnography seems to focus on forums and newsgroups. I think there’s enough going on in blog comment threads (some of which have potentially much, much wider readerships) to focus on those, though.