Try out 43 Things

I created a bookmarklet for searching 43 Things tags. You can highlight a word on a web page, then click the bookmarklet to invoke the search. It’s quite excellent that the Robots have included Flickr and del.icio.us tag search results.

Since 43 Things does some wicked things to the bookmarklet URL, here’s the code:

You can create a new empty bookmark in your browser of choice (I recommend Firefox) and then enter the above javascript into the “location” field. Have fun.

Update: I posted the bookmarklet on this external web page for drag-and-drop ease.

tags, bookmarklet, 43things, flickr, delicious

43 Things has already exploded to a size where it takes a good deal of effort to keep up on things. The All Entries RSS feed is too high volume to be of casual use, the all comments feed is better but a little unreliable (and one must often open each comment to find out the comment subject because the title is both optional and often unhelpful), and the Zeitgeist is a blur.

I like the “43 Things activity related to me” feed. It’s fairly reliable and useful, but what I’d really like is a feed, or aggregated view, of all activity related to all the goals I have added to my list, as well as all entries I have commented on. (This would be akin to the “Photos you’ve commented on” feed that Flickr offers.)

Also, watchlists, like Technorati offers, complete with feeds, would be really useful. I’d like to be able to create keyword watchlists for the subjects I’m interested in and not have to periodically use the site search.

Adding tag search to the current site search would be nice, too.

I know you guys have worked out some automation for merging goals that differ in regards to letter capitalization, but I wonder about a tool, or procedure, for merging goals that have the same exact intent but differ in title more than by capitalization. For instance, there are two goals:

1. Attend the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference

2. Attend the O’Reilly Emerging Tech Conference

They obviously have the same intent. They are almost identical in title. How do these goals get merged?

I’ve noticed that if a user has entered his/her first and/or last name in the optional profile information, then 43 Things uses it everywhere on the site where that user is mentioned or has contributed something. If there’s no first and/or last name, it defaults to displaying the username.

This is different from most systems in which I’ve participated. Since the username is required, and is what makes each user unique (I suppose), I think it should be used everywhere. If the intention is to give users the ability to change their “screen name” at will, then perhaps a separate field for that purpose should be added.

Consultini has created a new identity called 43Thingamajig here on 43 Things which acts like an aggregator for all things “43 Things” related. This is very cool. More info here and here.

Here’s the aggregated view of all that 43Thingamajig sees.

Just look at all the different guitar goals there are. Seems like these people should get together, form a team, or at least commiserate together in the same uber-goal.

Definitely need to get people to use tags and then build a “related tags” gizmo or, perhaps even better, a “related goals” gizmo.

How would I go about inviting someone to a goal, who is already logged into 43 Things, when I don’t know that person’s email address? I’m kind of stuck.

Attention Robots: over on the 43Folders Google Group there is much ongoing discussion of to-do lists incorporating tags a la Flickr, del.icio.us, etc. It reads like they’re clamoring for 43 Things. If only they knew it existed.

Someone should tell them. Someone should invite them to the party.