Why has sending links changed in Ping.fm?

That link was so long it got messed up. Here's a TinyURL version of the same link, which is Ping's explanation post on FB about the change:

http://tinyurl.com/yzogkrq ( Delete or Edit)

It would seem that lots of people liked this change. Perhaps an option is in order to please the ones that aren't so pleased with this, such as myself. Just a suggestion. ( Delete or Edit)

Generally, you roll out the basics of a change first, then add more features. Not the other way around. Doesn't pay to spend billions designing a cockpit, if your not sure the rockets will fire. Doesn't matter if people wanted shag carpeting. ( Delete or Edit)

No, Jedi...this wasn't anything like that. Look at how their "announcement" uses the word "automagically". Somebody (or somebodies) over at Ping were soooo busy patting themselves on the back that they found the way to code this and make it happen, that they failed to take a moment and stop and ask themselves "is this something EVERYONE will like?". Because if they had, they would have realized it will be best to take the new code, take the old code, make them live and play well with each other as separate options, and add an option to the "Default Settings" page called something along the lines of "Post Links to Facebook as Facebook Links Instead of Status Updates" (check the box to turn this on, etc.). ( Delete or Edit)

I would understand the problem with this, if Facebook didn't automatically add thumbnails when you post a link anyway. The previous way it worked is not the way Facebook normally works.

"Automagically" is a common tech term for auto-conversion features. Your reading too much into it. ( Delete or Edit)

Jedi, your enthusiastically pro-Ping defend-them-at-all-costs comments in this thread and the other one you just posted in makes it sound like you work for Ping.fm; if so then you should just disclose that.

In the other thread you asked "You guys do realize that links still show in people's News Feeds, right?"

Answer: yes, but it isn't showing up the way we want.

re: "I would understand the problem with this, if Facebook didn't automatically add thumbnails when you post a link anyway. The previous way it worked is not the way Facebook normally works."

Answer: Bull. Facebook doesn't automatically add thumbnails. They automatically show you a default thumbnail, IF there are any graphics found at the destination link, and give you the option to change to other available graphics as thumbnails (if others are present at the destination) OR they allow you to show no thumbnail but still post as a link, OR they allow you to not post as a link but rather just as a regular Facebook status update. I know because I do it all day long. The way Ping is doing it now is NOT the way Facebook "normally works". Neither, for that matter, was the previous way Ping posted to Facebook, since it didn't offer any other option but the status post. However, all of us who were using Ping to post to Facebook were doing it that way for all this time, so we must have been satisfied with the way Ping was doing it. Then suddenly Ping changed and gave us no choice in the matter. Naturally there are those of us who are upset. ( Delete or Edit)

Right, because anyone who disagrees with you and bothers to post it MUST have an agenda. Check my profile, Dave (if that is your real name ;) ). Links to my real name and what I do for a living, which is a stay-at-home dad, are all over the internet. I just like the screen name and use it often. I also think the outcry over this is kind of stupid, but I was trying to be nice about it.

David, your enthusiastically anti-Jedi attack-him-at-all-costs comments in this thread makes it sound like you work for a Sith Lord; is so then you should just disclose that. ( Delete or Edit)

is this active for anyone yet? ( Delete or Edit)

This is the latest, from about an hour ago:

http://twitter.com/pingfm/status/5439...

MySpace issues being addressed. Facebook post-as-link disabled while we update that as well. Hooray! ( Delete or Edit)

The way it's "supposed" to work is dependent on which user you ask. Supposition is subjective. :)

But I think the Ping team has it right; the best way forward is to set a reasonable default, communicate that default in advance of a change, and provide a clear option for those that wish to change the behavior. ( Delete or Edit)

What mjgiarlo describes is all I've been asking for. I'm grateful that the change was disabled. Now I've been able to go back to letting Ping post to Facebook for me, instead of me posting everything manually. But doing the extra work of the manual post was the only way to keep the FB wall from looking too busy and cluttered, full of inappropriate icons (such as "follow us on Twitter" thumbnails!) that were being incorrectly selected. When Ping adds an option to let people (such as Jedi) who prefer the alternate way of posting do it that way, then great...just let me know and make sure I know how to pick the behavior I prefer. Thanks. ( Delete or Edit)

"Supposed to work is" not subjective. Facebook adds a thumbnail, period. Just because you don't like it and want the option to turn it off doesn't change the default functionality of the website. Nor is Ping Facebook, so why would you expect an option or advanced features there two minutes after the feature was rolled out? Even Facebook didn't roll out that ability overnight. It's whining, plain and simple.

If anything, I think micro-shortened links are tacky in status updates. I'd rather have some sense of the website I'm about to visit and I think your Friends would to. Not to mention the fact that links eat up character count, shortened or otherwise. ( Delete or Edit)

I don't want to get embroiled in semantics, but one might reasonably ask "supposed by WHOM?" How ping.fm and Facebook interact is not determined a priori. Sorry, Jedi.

I wouldn't expect an option (a boolean is not exactly an advanced feature) to appear two minutes after the feature was rolled out. In fact, I would expect an option before the default behavior was changed. Apparently the ping.fm team agree with this given how they reverted this behavior.

I respect your opinions about what's tacky and what your expectations are re: links. But realize they are just your opinions. And now we're back to subjectivity.

And re: whining: #potkettleblack. ( Delete or Edit)

Supposed to by whom? Uh, Facebook maybe? There's no semantics involved. That's they way Facebook works until you turn it off. Since Ping isn't Facebook, I don't get why no one get's why it wasn't there.

Maybe you should try looking up what pot calling the kettle black means before getting cute with the hashtag. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." ( Delete or Edit)

There are use cases for both "ping to Facebook status update" and "ping to Facebook link"; this isn't black and white no matter how much folks may want it to be.

I will content myself by knowing ping.fm gets it the way that others get it.

There are two interpretations of the the phrase, btw. Yet another case of not acknowledging nuance, I suppose. ;)

In the meantime, yay for ping.fm. ( Delete or Edit)

Try reading the whole post next time. ( Delete or Edit)