I would add that although I do love the newletters and maybe it will just take time, there’s SOMETHING missing. I love the brand and the writing but I just don’t find myself talking about it to others as I might usually. Maybe that’s ok…not like I don’t know where to go when I want some knowledge. Thanks for the article and the comments.

For one thing, as much as I love gadgets, I only buy very few of them. I felt really guilty when I abandoned my Palm III, and as a result I tend to scrutinize what to purchase and whether I really need. As a result there’s only one or two items on my want list, which could be why my personal stream isn’t great for me. I noticed you have a very impressive list of gadgets, so it probably works better for you.

Also, I love reading about a much wider variety of devices than I’d actually consider buying. Gizmodo especially ventures out into “absurdly expensive” and “just plain absurd” territory, which i love. Had GDGT been around when netbooks hit the market, they would not have been in my personal stream (didn’t own a regular laptop or MID), but I ended up being an early adopter. A ‘watch’ list might cure that btw, come to think of it.

The invite thingy is pretty nifty, although only one of my Twitter contacts turned up.

I’ll try putting more things on my want list. You’re not going to force me to actually buy them right?

In terms of design, since our legacy was in gadget blogs, we wanted to do something that looked radically different from Engadget, Gizmodo, and the other sites out there right now. It’s a work in progress, though, and we’ll continue to evolve it over time to make it a bit friendlier.

I totally understand where you’re coming from with the algorithmically generated feed on the front page, however that’s one of the reasons we introduced the personalized home page, so you can filter out content as you please. And that fits into your point about the community. It’s not necessarily only about meeting new people, it’s about benefiting from the collective knowledge of the gadget community. If there’s a product you’re interested in, you will get updates about it (new discussions, review links, user reviews, etc.) on your home page simply by having it on your have or want list. So in the same way you follow your friends on other sites, we also let you follow follow gadgets you’re interested in.

Hope that helps clarify things a bit!

(Oh, and if you need to make more connections with your peeps on gdgt, check out our recently introduced friend finder / invite tool! http://gdgt.com/invite/ )