“Communities Erect: Thoughts on the Intrinsic Value of Saying When You’re Standing Near Something”: Merlin’s Thing on Foursquare, etc.
This is best kind of Merlin writing there is. I think you should go and read it, and make sure to check in where you are when you read it so that everybody who doesn’t give a shit can continue not to do so.
Buy, whether receiving kudos via event-based scripts and slightly-altered phone graphics or otherwise, I owe it to the people I’ve never met who sometimes stand near places where I’ve stood near to know that I have also stood near there sometimes too. Sometimes more or less often, and on serendipitous occasions, the same number of times that they stood near there. But, yes: I did sometimes stand near where they stood near. And, yes, they and computers should know that.
