Scrabulous Relaunches Under A New Facebook App Name Called Wordscraper

[nickb]

http://pulse2.com/2008/07/30/scrabulous-relaunches-under-a-new-facebook-app-name-called-wordscraper/

[colinplamondon]

I think this brings up a bigger issue surrounding Facebook apps- most of them don't really know their users.

Scrabulous doesn't have the email for their users, and thus has no way of contacting them like a normal web application. If Facebook were forced to change their name to BlueSocialNetwork for some reason and the change was enforced immediately and without warning, they could just email all their users about the change. Scrabulous hasn't collected emails, so they can't do that.

Same for Slide's apps- it's interesting how these companies are operating with their userbase completely outside their control in terms of contact information.

[thorax → colinplamondon]

They should have been linking users to Wordscraper at the top of Scrabulous. Or on the taken-down page for Scrabulous.

[sanj → colinplamondon]

If a user adds your app, you can send them a notification within Facebook.

[jfarmer → sanj]

But you don't actually have the email address, and Facebook decides what to send or not to send. Once your app is gone it's just too late.

Basically Facebook is a prison guard and an app has access to email the same way a prisoner has access to letters.

[stcredzero]

The Scrabulous developers messed up. I've read they were offered $10 million. They should've taken that! A couple of million would give you the freedom to work on whatever you want!

[azharcs]

This was pretty much expected. Why don't people respect copyright laws. Businesses should not be run this way.

[inovica → azharcs]

I've voted you up - not sure why you were voted down. If I created a business and then I was ripped off then I'd not be happy - be it online or a physical business.

[unalone → inovica]

He was voted down because you apparently can't trademark how a game works. Something like that. It was discussed in the previous thread.

[Tichy → unalone]

Still, it leaves a slightly bad taste in the mouth, legal or not.

Edit: now off to work on my Riscaculous application...

[unalone → Tichy]

I'd agree, but Scrabulous made their game for fun above everything else. If they were in it for money they'd have sold out a long time ago. And I can't be angry at people building a tribute to a game they love, not if it's not harming anybody else.

[azharcs → unalone]

You are talking illogical now. With your analogy, even Youtube is paying tribute to thousands of musicians by storing copyrighted content on their servers where they are letting fans to listen or watch copyrighted content for free.

We all know brothers made close to $25,000 from Scrabulous every month and they were actually ready to sell but $10 Million was not enough for them.