Talk:Orkut/Archive 1

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Orkut Went Public

i am living in saudi arabia and orkut is banned here...so i cant access it ..wats wrong with it...ashik(acquisty@yahoo.com)

Around second week of October 2006, Orkut public so anyone can join it without any invitation!
I have confirmed this by making an account without using Google Account login and Invitation! As a change I had zero friend initially and no new friend-request to confirm which otherwise a new account creator used to get from person inviting him\her to join orkut!

--Rahul Bansal 14:51, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I can't speak to your possible success at joining without an invitation, but I just this minute attempted to create an orkut account, and failed because I lacked an invitation. The site is, at least, not completely invitation-free. tepid 21:23, 7 November 2006 (UTC)
Weird. And today I can. Google is so strange sometimes. Whatever. tepid 21:24, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
Orkut doesn't require invitation anymore. But I had problems creating a new account last time I tried (last December). I would be unable to sign up if I input a non-gmail email. But the reason of the error was not specified by the website, so many users might not be able to figure this out!! Infinito 18:46, 12 January 2007 (UTC)


Hi. I'm USian, but I find the term "Brazilian invasion" as a subcategory title VERY POV. If USians used it a ton and influenced it, would it be called a USian invasion? No. I don't think so. I detect an anti-non-English speaking bent here. Imagine if it was a bunch of USians that dominated and influenced orkut and imagine how this "controversy" might be reported differently. 71.212.7.128 23:15, 15 December 2005 (UTC)


A lot of the original entry was not needed in the entry so I trimmed a fair bit off.

Why was it not needed? I've put back a lot. It's good you used this page, but please also give reasons for actions that might offend others - like me. Guaka 02:01, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Some of that is just something someone has made up, also it's POV and thus against policy. Dori | Talk 03:45, May 17, 2004 (UTC)

The article claims that "The dominant faction seems, as with Friendster, to be ordinary young people in Los Angeles, New York, and similar environs." But Orkut's internal statistics show otherwise. As of now, this is the percentage of members according to their countries:

Brazil 99.65%
United States 23.49%
Iran 5.96%
India 2.63%
Estonia 2.83%
Japan 2.41%
Pakistan 2.28%
Canada 2.11%
... ...

I believe Brazil, Iran, and India are not that similar to Los Angeles or New York. Roozbeh 02:11, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I also agreeOpiniao 18:34, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Small changes - report

I took my time to tweak a couple of things in the article, and I'll talk a little about some of them here. First, I removed the link that (probably) pointed to some demographics data at orkut.com. I did so because I can't get to that page without logging in. I don't have an orkut account, and I'm sure most of the people that end up on this article don't have one either. That's why I believe that kind of thing should be removed.

I also changed all occurrences for the word "Orkut" in the article to "orkut" (except when it refers to the creator of the program). I found it better to change that because it looks like the right name is just "orkut", without a capital letter in the beginning. That can be seen all over orkut.com, so I'm guessing that's the right way. Think of it as the way they chose to name id software. It's just the same deal, but I might be wrong, since I came to this conclusion by myself. If so, it would be nice to hear other opinions here. I might add a disclaimer just like the one at id's article when I feel more positive about this.

I also did other minor changes. Nothing very important, just things to improve the overall look of the article. I guess this is all. By the way, I forgot to log in before editing that. That guy is me. – Kaonashi 06:19, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I added that naming convention disclaimer. Looks like there's a template for that kind of thing, so that's what I used. I'm not completely sure if it's really "orkut", but if anyone knows better, this can be discussed here. – Kaonashi 03:02, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I re-capitalized some occurances of "orkut" that began sentences, since that seemed like the proper thing to do for a normally-lowercase word. Power piglet 03:25, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

The demographics page is accessible for a non member. It is different for the American demographics, which requires to be logged in. Pablo.cl 13:01, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Still doesn't work for me, no matter how much I refresh. – Kaonashi 14:43, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I moved the section "Other Features" out of the "Controversy" section as there is nothing controversial about these features. I gave them a separate section called "Features".Tchoutoye 14:33, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Controversy

There is conspiracy theory that Orkut is a CIA front. One site discusses the CIA's potential of searching the Orkut database in secret. Not sure if this is established enough or within the scope to put in the entry. New here, not even sure if this is the right way to discuss it. --Paraphelion 22:16, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I don't know, why would CIA do research in Orkut? It's full of Brazilians, Indians and Estonians, nothing important to track there.. They could have more luck investigating on Myspace.. :) --Infintito 18:51, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Orkut's speed

Someone willing to write some about orkut's "speed"? (I would but I think I would be way, waaaay, WAAAAAAAY to biased (read: rant rant rant...)) // Gargaj 13:24, 2004 Dec 14 (UTC)

orkut is not speedy,It is very very slow... Used to get "Bad server No Donut for u" most of the times while using orkut. The pages because of HTML and Jscript view used to get loaded very slowly.

I think Orkut has gotten much faster since last year. I use Mozilla Firefox and here it's pretty fast. Although it is much slower when I'm navigating on Opera Browser, something to do with the way Opera deals with pictures loading.. Infinito 18:59, Jan 12, 2007 (UTC)

Official Wikipedia Community

For those who might be interested, this is the link to the official Wikipedia community in Orkut.com, of course you have to join orkut first. Wikipedia Community in Orkut Jam2k 21:47, Dec 23, 2004 (UTC)

Brazilian invasion

Christ, what the hell is that Brazilian invasion section supposed to be? I've never seen a so large bunch of biased nonsense like this one. Really, what is this? This is all lies. Brazilians in orkut have done nothing wrong. What the foreigners can't understand is that orkut is very popular in Brazil. I mean it. Very popular. Brazil has been known for a country where people enjoy this field of communication. It's really notable. Just go to http://www.google.com.br and pay a search for anything. See how many results will point to blog/journal entries. It's all very popular here, and when orkut was released, it became an instant hit. Nowadays, I can't believe how many people here use it. People I know, and that I swore for sure they'd never end up using something like this. People that had no intimacy with computers at all, either. As time passed, they all fell for orkut. If anyone's wondering, I don't use it, but that's because it's just not my thing.

What people see in orkut now is a large amount of Brazilian users and communities. And yes, those are usually in Portuguese, Brazil's language. For some reason, other people can't take this. They feel they're being "invaded", in the moment they look around and see all these people talking in a language they can't understand. English speakers mainly, I believe. There's just not enough English for them, and they feel bad for that. Sometimes, even inventing hoaxes. This, is racism. The inability to accept the differences between people. It's also not hard to find online articles talking about this, even if old. And about people from other countries migrating to other services, I've never heard of such a thing, so I think it's bogus as well. The number of Brazilian has been always far above the other countries. The image recently added by the same user that added this information to the article is real, indeed. It seems like Brazil has literally "invaded" orkut. However, that does not mean people in Brazil are achieving that "status" through the use of dishonest means. There are no scams. There is no hacking. orkut is owned by Google Incorporated. They've never let such a thing happen.

About the amount of "Brazilian junk" some people seem to enjoy complaining about, there is just one thing to keep in mind. Besides being a completely relative and abstract concept, "junk" is found everywhere. Television, radio, press. The Internet. You can find things that won't please you everywhere. Now, in the case of a community with several users coming from the same place, it's natural that a lot of "junk" would also point to that place. That is logics. It isn't anything special.

However, I don't really think other people are migrating to other places because of that. If anything, they're just not interested enough in the service. orkut is simply very popular in Brazil, and if other countries can't take this and are leaving the service, it's because they've declared their own battle lost.

But this section is just too much. It's absurd. I will completely change it. Also because the language used on it is not suited for an encyclopedia, and needs adaption. If anyone is against that, discuss here. But really, enough bias.--Kaonashi 18:53, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

I complete disagree your revision, you look to acquit the Brazilians, try made them innocent. It's not difficult see what Brazilians had made in the Orkut and that they had transformed. People of various countries had given up orkut, that is a fact the Brazilians discourage the service and they had ruined it of a general form. Yes, I'm Brazilian and I'm in orkut. I saw brazilian simply destroy Orkut service in moths. Taking over serious communities, lot and infinite joke profiles, put fake countries info, what the objective is this? Deturpate the demographic sources? No. It's a simply vandalism, of young brazilians without respect.
The "Brazilian Invasion" is a fact that you tried to minimize, hidden information lacking with the truth. The Friendster support in American press and the excessive number of Brazilian and your party joke in the orkut proves my edition. And Please, do not ask me to put orkut links - these only accessible to subscriptors and will be very shameful to our country other people see what our young has in the head. --Mateusc 20:21, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

Oh, really. Destroy, yeah? Then why is it so popular here? Because Brazilians like to stay in a destroyed place?

It's a party to brazilians after all. They like take atention, yeah (yay) that being for futile reasons. It is a complete trash for the Americans and Europeans and a party for the Brazilians. --Mateusc 21:48, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

It is a sucess in Brazil. If that many people from other countries are going away from orkut is because they think like you. It's because they can't take this many people speaking Portuguese. If it were the Americans that "destroyed" orkut, nobody would have anything to say, won't you agree? Why don't you try looking for articles online, from respectable news sites, exposing this subject the way you are?

Ok, you ask for links, Slashdot: Language Tempest At Orkut, Brazilian vs. USAian Throwdown on Orkut, Orkut Community Crazy Brazilian Invasion. And curiously, the Brazilian Reaction. --Mateusc 21:59, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

I am not protecting no one. You don't disagree with my revision. You disagree with my addition of unbiased information in this article, which is what Wikipedia requires of every contributor. Inpartial information, as much impartial as it can possibly get. I only made use of "facts". I didn't make use of personal assumptions, like you did.

I disagree your revision because you hidden the facts and protect the Brazilians moral where don't have. It's in the media, see the links. It does not have American or European more entering in the Orkut, and the ones that enter are Brazilian with false countries in profile. --Mateusc 21:48, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

I noticed the way you were polite enough to revert my corrections instead of commenting them here first. I won't revert it back just now, only because I know the way Wikipedia works. Let's see the opinions of others on this. I will not retreat from this subject. If it keeps getting bias, I will fight it back. --Kaonashi 20:25, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

I will fight to keep the truth and revert for deletions/reword that objective is hidden the facts. --Mateusc 21:48, 10 May 2005 (UTC)

Ok then, about the "brazilian invasion". I really think this is one of those matters who aren't going anywhere. I haven't altered anything, but I seriously think that it would be better if that topic would be completely eliminated from the article. I have read the whole discussion, and I'm seeing that it will last forever, with no consense in that matter.

First, before you post an opnion, identify, you are anonymous Introduction to Wikipedia can help. Second, Wikipedia is democratic and impartial source. Hide information and lack the truth is partial act. Third, this is a point of article that we debated, with figures, statistics and external media/source and this will can't be deleted. --Mateusc 01:56, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

You've hit the borderline of irony by saying that. Talking of "impartiality" after writing the content you just added to the article is the most badly designed form of sarcasm I've seen in a long time. How could you have endured nearly 9 months in Wikipedia with such a mentality? This is everything Wikipedia is against to.

I'm not invaded orkut, this had been Brazilians. It does not have sarcasm in this, only fact and reality. You and your edition want to hide a fact that judges shameful but it is the reality. I'm from Brazil, I'm in orkut and I have full conscience of what happened. It's shameful for Our, Brazil? Yes. But We can't hide the truth. Until when the people of our country they will hide our defects? Please, see what happened - your edition is not much different. Vanity and immaturity destroy orkut. I'm wait that it doesn't destroy the Wikipedia. --Mateusc 12:53, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

But nevermind that. It's all for good. For adding that content to Wikipedia, everything was made clear. I don't need to say any more. I just have to wait. Thank you.--Kaonashi 02:52, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

I'm really waiting your next edition - but I really wait you don't hide information and what's happened. My last edition contains Links, of media sources. I have some inside orkut much worse. --Mateusc 12:53, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

I don't know about the content - who's right and who's not about the Brazilian invasion - but someone really ought to fix the English language in that section. It's pretty horrible now. Reason 08:02, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

It's ok, since that does not erase information. --Mateusc 12:53, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

If there's one thing the "invasion" surely did to orkut is the sluggishness... // Gargaj 14:37, 2005 May 12 (UTC)


" Friendster, a more effective clone..."

More effective? Is this a proven fact? It seems that this is subjective opinion.

"Common Brazilians Acts The common acts of the brazilians in orkut"

This is making it look like all the brazilians using orkut are there only for disruptive purposes. This "Brazilian Invasion" segment seems to be very biased. This part of the text seems to be based on one's personal, subjective experience. Encyclopedia cannot be subjective.--Hiba 17:34, 12 May 2005 (UTC)


This Mateusc lives in Brazil. I don't know why he is taking over this article this antidemocratic way. What he is writing is just a biased opinion. The text he erased is just far better than what he was writing. Maybe he is just possessed by the "brazilian spirit", what would explain this vandalism. Everissimo 06:12, 13 May 2005 (UTC)

You don't have a personal user page, don't have minimum contributions and you attacked me. I'm not to consider this a personal atack because you is a newbie, probable brazilian come of orkut. --Mateusc 01:42, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
Well, I’ve read the orkut article and this talk page and consulted the history of the article. I have a few comments to make regarding the current neutrality and factual accuracy dispute over the "Brazilian invasion" section.
There are entire sentences in that section that are biased. Mateusc wrote, "Creating joke communities and speaking Portuguese in English-native others, Brazilians changed orkut to an authentic 'Brazil party service' distimulating people from other cultures and countries from using it". This is his own personal impression, since one cannot be certain and state that this so-called invasion is actually what makes people from other nationalities supposedly “run away” from orkut; besides, none of the links provided corroborate that opinionated statement. But more on the links later. The next sentence of the article is still a result of Mateusc’s personal impression: "Many brazilians have numerous profiles and they vary from jokes and porn to simply for vanity when the friends' list is full". Again, no other source proves this, and the use of the quantifier "many" doesn’t exactly look factual either. Another point I’d like to bring up is the caption of the second pic of the article. I disagree with it. The image shows the percentage of users given their nationality. It does not show that "The Brazilian Invasion: north americans has abandoned orkut and migrate to Friendster". This caption is yet more prejudice. Then there’s the "Common Brazilian Acts" section, which is even worse. Hiba put it well; that is indeed highly biased.
You know, I thought of something. Trolling and the likes are natural occurrences in every online community. If 68,7 % of orkut’s users are Brazilians, of course there is a greater probability that a given troll on the community is a Brazilian; this is logical, I think. Yet, this absolutely doesn’t mean what is implied in the article by "The common acts of the brazilians in orkut are". That phrase makes it sound like all the Brazilians on orkut behave badly because they are Brazilians. Terrible.
As for this talk page, Mateusc said he has an orkut account. To me, it sounds like he has had negative personal experience on orkut, which makes him prone to have a certain point of view on the subject (which is a very human trait, by the way :) ). He says the "Brazilian invasion" is a "fact", yet all that people can come up with are links showing a specific Reuters article or a retelling of it. Those links direct to blogs and comments from visitors to those blogs (Slashdot [1], Boing Boing [2] and Many-to-Many [3]). Kaonashi also linked to a similar text, this time to "an article portal for Internet and Technology professionals", Webpronews [4]. You can have a look for yourself. These four links all refer to the same Reuters article written in July 2004 which discusses two points:
a) orkut "has more than 769,000 members", and "about 23.5 percent of the users are from the United States, while another 41.2 percent are Brazilians";
b) SOME English-speaking orkut users (the article mentions two individuals: Tammy Soldaat and John Gibbs) are complaining about the fact that a good portion of the messages on orkut are in Portuguese.
About the two other links Mateusc posted, Orkut Community Crazy Brazilian Invasion and Brazilian Reaction, I can't comment on them because they are located on the orkut website and I don't have access to them, since I don't have an account there.
Considering all of this, my position is that Kaonashi’s edit should be brought back. The "Brazilian invasion" section as it is now is very subjective and does not reflect encyclopedic standards. One of the merits of Kaonashi’s edit is that it respects what is said on WP:NPOV: "The policy says that we should fairly represent all sides of a dispute, and not make an article state, imply, or insinuate that any one side is correct." I would like Kaonashi to precise what these hoaxes he has mentioned consist of, though. If he could give a link telling about those, it would be appreciated. I think a consensus is on its way to being reached, but it would be better if more people gave their opinion regarding this matter. -- Audrey 03:00, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
I disagree, because Kaonashi edition hidden facts shown in the media and the uselessing services of orkut had the invasion, as Friends Search and Community Browsing.--Mateusc 01:42, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
Whenever I see a post or a profile in a language that not English I become a little sad. I initially thought of orkut as a site where I could invite all my friends. But there is so much information only in Portuguese in orkut (and even in my profile) that it is almost useless to invite people that do not speak Portuguese. Very, very sad. Not to mention the Portuguese posts in the communities. Is there a community where I could cry out and loudly my sadness about it? (or a hate group? :-) ) Besides, so many Portuguese information makes orkut useful even for the "Portuguese only" speakers (5% of the world?)... My mind is divided.
Sorry for opening my heart in this page, but I needed a place to say it.
Oh! About the article... Besides my personal opinions, I'm sorry Mateusc, but Audrey has got a point. Kaonashi's version of the article seems much less biased than yours. And I do would appreciate his version back. Akira - Cleber Akira Nakandakare 05:46, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
You're right. When I say "Brazilian party service" is because into that brazilians transformed orkut. It has serious people and space for they in orkut? Yes. But the acts of the Brazilians had killed the utility of the tools as Friends Finder and Community Browsing. Try to post an opinion about this fact in a community dedicated to discuss it and you will be hostilized in scrap book and your community changes to a Brazil Trolling Place.
Follow external links for orkut (only members can access) that proves what I am saying.
[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] --Mateusc 15:05, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
The major problem here is: User:CAkira is Brazilian. He does not have conditions to see the damage made in the services for the invasion as Friends Search and Community Browsing, because it uses orkut as a Brazilian and probably he does not feel yourself antagonized and in a lot people takingover communities speaking Portuguese. I will wait for foreign users opinions that really use orkut, and active there inside. --Mateusc 01:42, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
Mateusc, you say you disagree that Kaonashi's edit should be brought back. You say his edit hides "facts shown in the media". Seems like I have to quote myself and point out one more time that this "media" you mention is one Reuters article published in July 2004, and the "facts" it presents are:
a) orkut "has more than 769,000 members", and "about 23.5 percent of the users are from the United States, while another 41.2 percent are Brazilians";
b) SOME English-speaking orkut users (the article mentions two individuals: Tammy Soldaat and John Gibbs) are complaining about the fact that a good portion of the messages on orkut are in Portuguese.
I disagree simply because he occults occurred information and facts, this violate NPOV.--Mateusc 19:50, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
Now, let's see Kaonashi's version of the orkut article. Kaonashi wrote:
1) "The amount of Brazilian orkut users has reached approximately 68% of the total of users, followed only by United States, with about 7,74%." (Those statistics being more recent than the ones contained in the Reuters article.)
2) "Due to the amount of Brazilian users and communities in the Portuguese language, users from other parts of the world have become upset with the service, which had English as its default language. Some went as far as to start online communities and discussion groups dedicated to complain about this phenomenon."
The two links on the article actually comes of two big and popular sites and links that I cited inside of orkut is worse still (and they give the real dimension of the occurrence).--

Mateusc 19:50, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

I really don’t understand how anyone can say that "Kaonashi edition hidden facts shown in the media", because it does the exact opposite. His version retells with great accuracy the "facts" shown in the media (i.e., the Reuters article written in July 2004) that I pointed out in a) and b).
There is a certain way to write on Wikipedia; see WP:NPOV. Here are some excerpts taken from WP:NPOV.
  • "Wikipedia policy is that all articles should be written from a neutral point of view. According to Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales, NPOV is 'absolute and non-negotiable'."
  • "Articles should be written without bias, representing all views fairly."
  • "The notion of 'unbiased writing' that informs Wikipedia's policy is 'presenting conflicting views without asserting them'." (In my opinion, the current version of the article very much asserts one view.)
Reuters article does not treat the subject duly, sees the article of the Slashdot.--Mateusc 19:50, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
Kanoashi's edit doesn't deny nor hide the point of view that is expressed in the current version of the article – Mateusc’s point of view, that he shares with other people such as Tammy Soldaat, John Gibbs and Akira. On the contrary, it explicitly shows that this point of view is existent without affirming that it is the correct one.
Not, He hides information and occurred fact and not NPOV.--Mateusc 19:50, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
I must admit I was shocked to see Mateusc write, "The major problem here is: User:CAkira is Brazilian" and "it uses orkut as a Brazilian"; this is highly ironic. Sure, Akira is a Brazilian orkut and Wikipedia user (just like Mateusc) who is aware that articles on Wikipedia should not be biased. Being from Brazil or Québec (in my case) or Finland or any other country and using orkut or not has got nothing to do with being able to express one's opinion on the current dispute. Saying "I will wait for foreign users opinions that really use orkut, and active there inside" is against what Mateusc says he stands for on his user page, that is Wikipedia's democratic character. It is against freedom of speech. One's opinion on the current dispute does not weight more because one is a foreign orkut user.
High, ironic? this is fact. The discussion took routes for defense of the Brazilians before treating the fact with imparciality. --Mateusc 19:50, 16 May 2005 (UTC)
At this point I would like to summarize the opinions expressed on this talk page about the "Brazilian invasion" section of the orkut article’s current version. I have to be careful with the wording I use. Anyone can propose another wording for the different groups of opinion. I apologize in advance if the words I choose are offending to some.
  • The content of the "Brazilian invasion" section as it is now is biased: 5 people (Kaonashi, Hiba, Everissimo, Audrey, Akira).
  • The "Brazilian invasion" section should be completely removed from the article: 2 people (CWdeLima, 66.93.3.242 who removed the “Common Brazilian Acts” section [13], saying it was "just idiotic", edit which was reverted by Mateusc).
  • The content of the "Brazilian invasion" section as it is now is appropriate for a Wikipedia article: 1 person (Mateusc).
  • Indifferent: 1 person (Reason).
I'm not sure of where Gargaj stands, because I didn’t understand the implications of his comment.
I want to reiterate that I think Kaonashi's version should be brought back. Everissimo and Akira have also expressed the same wish. And I take it Kaonashi also thinks his edit is more appropriate for Wikipedia and should be brought back. :p -- Audrey 22:02, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
No, I don't accept votes of Everissimo (personal attack) and Hiba, because they registered tself to emit the opinion and does not participate of the Wikipedia. Akira and Kaonashi are brazilians and they doesn't have conditions to analyze the question of the point of view of an foreigner and it's clearly that they are arguing the reputation of the country and not a occurred fact. I go to disrespect editions of the other anonymous because they simply delete information and they had not justified, this is vandalism. I bolded your final smile (:P) that seem you is being sadic and only it wants to revert instead of discuss, make your arguments without voting and justifying the reversion not knowing how the wikipedia works. If you want to start an edition war, go in front, I'm an user as you, but if you want to make a voting, you know that votes in the wikipédia only are considered with users with the minimum time of frequency and editions. --Mateusc 20:09, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

Personally I have no idea where I stand. The brazilian invasion is self-explanatory (people on Orkut know) - but i'm not sure this is the way to present it. // Gargaj 21:24, 2005 May 16 (UTC)

As I said before, this discussion would be carried very well without me. I was waiting for people to give their opinion, and that's what they're doing. Despite of what some might think, everybody is entitled an opinion. Everybody. Who they are and where they come from matters nothing. We are all humans, and in that sense, equal. Wikipedia's guidelines say absolutely nothing against this idea. It's an axiom.
Anyway, this will be solved soon enough. I've given my opinion already, and even if I've seen so many amusing little comments showing up since my last reply, I'll refrain from making remarks on them. A consensus has been reached already. I'll just wait some more time, then I'll take the necessary measures. Actions work. Talking to doors doesn't.
P.S.: Absolutely no voting will be necessary. Audrey's post already shows what's the opinion of the majority. And once again, opinion knows no bondaries.--Kaonashi 01:58, 17 May 2005 (UTC)
To Mateusc: my final smilie was not meant as an insult. I sincerely apologize if you were offended by it. I added it after saying something like "I guess Kaonashi thinks his edit is more appropriate than what the section contains now", meaning that this guessing (Kaonashi must think his edit should be brought back) was pretty obvious and I had little merit to come to this conclusion. If anything, that smilie was to make a little fun of myself and to keep things gentle, polite and civilised in the discussion. I'm not a sadistic person. I think it's very important that no personal attacks should be made, and I tried my best not to attack anyone personally. So again, I'm sorry that you were offended by my smilie. It didn't apply to all of what I wrote, only to the final sentence. Therefore, I don't think it lessens the content of all that I wrote. In the future, I would appreciate if you didn't edit my comments on this talk page. Simply quoting me (and bolding words in the quotes, if you want) would be better. Thanks for understanding. -- Audrey 02:32, 17 May 2005 (UTC)

I would like to submit the notion that this article is prejudiced and/or racist and should be unfit for Wikipedia. What would a section on "Common Acts of the Jew" sound like to you, no matter what the subject? - anonymous


Wow! A lot of things happened here. My name was mentioned more times than I ever expected and I would like to say that I can not tell if my opinion is biased or not (I think no one can tell that about his/her own opinion). But I know that currently orkut is almost "useless" (in fact the word "useless" is too strong, but I want to be dramatic) to someone that does not speak Portuguese. As I said I don't like this too. But IMHO, that's not the point. What I don't like in the way this article was written is the fact that it tends to speak as if every average Brazilian did the "Common Brazilian Acts". Perhaps I don't like it because as a Brazilian, it touched my proudness. But I do not think so. I think I don't like it because the article talked about a minority (in fact I'm not sure it is a minority... anyway, can anyone prove that it is not a minority? I mean a high percentage) as if it was the whole. In my opinion, it sounded more like a complain than an article. And yes, I would like to complain too, but wikipedia should not be the place. The "Brazilian invasion" section of the article should be enough.

Anyway, thanks for reverting the article yourself, Mateusc. I'm not sure many people would willingly do that. Akira - Cleber Akira Nakandakare 05:54, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

Well put, both of you. Since the only individual sustaining that point of view gave up on those ideas, the article will remain the way it is now. Reverted. No other measures taken. Any disagreements as to that shall be discussed here in the future.--Kaonashi 06:41, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

It's for that reason that Portuguese Poetry is not amongst the greatest poetry of the world. Fernando Pessoa, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, and others, are the greatest poetry writters of all times, but they are forggoten by those who think that English is the "Superior Language", like I heard. For me, thats Nazism. Who is right? I agree with the Brazilian's point of view. After all, he talks the both languages...

"Common Brazilian acts" section (again)

I didn't think this content would be put back on the article after a clear consensus had been reached back in May 2005. At that time, Mateusc's gesture of conforming to the version of the article that was considered as more acceptable by the majority by reverting his edit seemed both rational and nice to me. It was an impressive gesture. I don't understand why the part that was disputed at length on this very talk page was put back yesterday by Mateusc (who didn't leave an edit summary). I still think that section contains racism, bias, POV, redundancy, and shouldn't feature in any Wikipedia article. Labeling those behaviors as "Common Brazilian acts" is highly discriminatory. We should not forget that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Here are three quotes taken from this talk page about the "Common Brazilians [sic] Acts" section, to refresh our memories.

  • "'Common Brazilians Acts The common acts of the brazilians in orkut'

This is making it look like all the brazilians using orkut are there only for disruptive purposes." (Hiba)

  • "I would like to submit the notion that this article is prejudiced and/or racist and should be unfit for Wikipedia. What would a section on 'Common Acts of the Jew' sound like to you, no matter what the subject?" (Anonymous)
  • "What I don't like in the way this article was written is the fact that it tends to speak as if every average Brazilian did the 'Common Brazilian Acts'. Perhaps I don't like it because as a Brazilian, it touched my proudness. But I do not think so. I think I don't like it because the article talked about a minority (in fact I'm not sure it is a minority... anyway, can anyone prove that it is not a minority? I mean a high percentage) as if it was the whole. In my opinion, it sounded more like a complain than an article. And yes, I would like to complain too, but wikipedia should not be the place. The 'Brazilian invasion' section of the article should be enough." (Akira)

The "Common Brazilian acts section" shouldn't have been brought back. It should be removed (again). -- Audrey 20:57, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

I was somewhat bold and removed the "Common Brazilian acts" section by myself. It is clear, reading the present talk page, that a consensus against its inclusion in the article was reached last May. Its reinclusion is not in any way more acceptable. As for the "Crimes" section that was in the "Brazilian invasion" section, I also (partly) removed it. I mentioned the police case about racism involving orkut in Brazil (with its accompanying link in Portuguese) in the "Hate groups" section of the article. I removed the drug trafficking incident because I couldn't find a place where it could fit in the article (but it is certainly not related to a "Brazilian invasion", and even less to the "Common Brazilian acts" on orkut). Please comment here if you don't agree with my edit. -- Audrey 21:54, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

My last Rev.

I reverted and back with the informations because:

  • Audrey just deleted LOT of informations, hiding FACTs. If delete information before considering something, it is obviously wanting to occult, judging shameful.
  • No conseusus here, Still not opnions that had been requested, only one Administrator who banished me being involved, motivated by a war of futile patriotic honor. (Mackeriv, aka Kaonashi).

I'm observing the modifications in the article until somebody proves that such facts do not exist without delete information. Don't delete information, add or improves. This is the rule, if you disagree, just proves that the information contained in the article are false, don't put YOUR POV as a reason to DELETE information.

Thanks. --Mateusc 00:10, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

I don't understand how cynical you can be. You are the only one trying to add that information to the article. Everybody else disagrees with you. Everybody else says it has no place there. But you keep going there and adding it. And you are trying to lecture us in the ways of Wikipedia? You know nothing about nothing. A consensus was reached, and you are way too childish to admit that, so you lie to yourself. Unfortunately, your childish actions have somewhat made my actions a bit harder to carry with now, so this will be a waiting game. A game, yes, consisting of me waiting until you get framed for this. Me, waiting until you stop with the jokes you call "improvements". I sincerely hope that something like that happens very, very soon, so you'll maybe understand how much of a deranged Wikipedia user you are.
Oh, think I'm being disrespectful with you? See if I care.--Kaonashi 00:27, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
Again, you call-me "cynical". The only thing you made here is disrespect Wikipedia Administrator rule, blocking-me being involved. After all, you not fight for POV, you fighting for a your patriotiocal honor, because you know what's happen in orkut (external links show this) and consider shameful the exposition of simple facts.
It doesn't have consensus here. I see an administrator involved, committing basic errors, Brazilian, and another one that simply deleting information, simply this. --Mateusc 01:19, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
I agree with what Kaonashi said.
Mateusc, please stop assuming bad faith on my behalf and on the behalf of others. I did consider the matter before removing the "Common Brazilian acts" section. This talk page is a testimony to that. Please refrain from accusing me of "obviously wanting to occult". I can tell you this is not the case. Very far from it. Also, you were blocked for one hour and a half, not banned, and that event doesn't have anything to do with supporting your opinion about the "Common Brazilian acts" section - nor mine and that of all the others. About the article, I won't take any action for the moment, even if I know that the section has a racist wording and shouldn't feature in any Wikipedia article. Thank you. -- Audrey 01:26, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
I see only you and Mackeriv try hide the facts and information to simply disagree. This is real facts, contains external links that proves it. After Mackeriv involved block act, there no consensus anymore here. Only two guys look to HIDE and REMOVE real information, facts. And an Ironic Brazilian Administrator who can't opine anymore, because him disrespected Wikipedia Administrator's Rule, being involved and pressing your POV alltime here. --Mateusc 01:31, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
Just to make sure, when you talk about people deleting and removing real information from articles, do you mean something like this? -- Audrey 01:45, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
You really want that I consider this commentary? Make your argument to be valid something and proves (with sources) that what I written are not true. --Mateusc 01:56, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

Mackeriv try press your POV

I'm posting the links, proving the user:Mackeriv, Wikipedia Administrator, Brazilian, committing acts that proves the pressure of their point of view.

User:Mackeriv is Brazilian. He look for intimidate Mateusc (Me, Brazilian too) about my editions, because He simply disagree and consider orkut Brazilian Invasion details shamefull for your country. User:Audrey simply disagree too and only thing him made here is delete and hide informations with reversions.

I ask for consider this. The only things that are being made here, are pressure so that a text is deleted that Mackeriv does not agree, and already demonstrated that it is capable to use the administrator force to take advantage on the POV. --Mateusc 01:53, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

I am a brazilian and many brazilian people makes shit, we are the country that uses cheats, hacks "more" than others.. =/ But are many brazilian people that dont make this, look at conquer online, a great amount of brazilians uses cheats, hacks. And i think the brazilian ip is banned now. But are many brazilians in conquer that dont make shits, and got banned because they are a brazilian. Its ok hate that cheaters, "hackers", but not say it all.

-Sorry for my english.. ---


changes

Please comment of the changes I made. As an outsider, i hope to retuce the tension in here a few notches. Remember, it's only an online encyclopedia, people! humblefool® 02:30, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

  • Also, Mackeriv, it's considered very bad form to block someone you are in conflict with, especially content disputes. Blocks are a last resort, not a negotiation tool.
    • P.P.S: does the brazilian wiki have an orkut article? humblefool® 02:33, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
You mentioned last resort. As you can see by this talk page, it was last resort. It was far more than I could take, so yes, it was last resort. I have already apologized for that in a page you recently took a look at, judging by your contributions list. However, that was the only "wrong" thing I've done. You said I've "cursed". I never did so, in any occasion, here in Wikipedia. I've never sworn or said anything close to that.
As for your changes, they consider "some complaints" made, regarding the situation of Brazilians in orkut. While I do think your version sounds pretty neutral, I think you (and we all) should consider the fact those complaints are being raised by a single person here, who has as his only argumentation tools, a handful of articles from sorted Internet sites (not the big news sites I asked for, and some are actually web journals). Those are the only complaints we are getting. Anyway, you pretty much hit the nail in the spot. orkut is an online community. It's a sub-reality inside Internet, and for being so large within itself, it mirrors several characteristics from it. If we have crazy people and all sorts of scum wandering around the cyberspace, why wouldn't we have those in orkut, which is just a sub-product of Internet itself? As I've been saying a lot of times already, these fact must be considered at all times.
Anyway, you asked about whether this article exists in the Portuguese language Wikipedia or not (there's no Brazilian one; that wiki covers both versions). Yes, there is. You can see it here. It doesn't have anything of what that user is trying to add. It looks pretty clean to me, which is very interesting. And before anyone can raise that question, I do not make contributions to the Portuguese language Wikipedia.
I do think, however, that your changes won't stay in the article for a long time. Perhaps they "hidde facts".--Kaonashi 02:49, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
  • Don't mock people. English is obviously not his first language. And WP:AN exists for this sort of thing. get backup if your at your wits end, you don't have to go it alone. That said, I hope M doesn't revert me; I talked with him for a half-hour on irc about this article. humblefool® 02:55, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
    • "Don't mock people" - As you are seeing, Mackeriv is very elitist, doesn't respects the users, bad example of an Administrator, Ironic, confirms the fame that the Brazilians possess. --Mateusc 16:37, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
    • Set aside your indignation at his behavior and tell me if the article's content as it stands is acceptable. humblefool® 17:15, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
I think your version is more neutral than the previous one. You found a good way to put the "crimes on orkut" part, although I feel the paragraph should form a new section of the article instead of being in the "Brazilian invasion" section. Don't you think so? The latest reversion by Mateusc inadvertently overwrote an edit by Thsgrn, I don't know if you noticed that. I think Thsgrn's edit is good (he changed "are susceptible to breeding" to "can easily form", commenting that it was a "slightly less POV wording" [14]) and it'd be nice if it were included in the article again. Also, this doesn't have much to do with anything, but I would just like to precise that out of you, Kaonashi, Mateusc and me, you're the only one whose first language is English. On another note, I'm tired of personal attacks. Thank you. --Audrey 21:38, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
Humblefool, I like your revision and I'm satisfacted with the true facts being keep here in this article. Mackeriv lost. Thanks CesarB for unblock me in 20 minutes (Lol) and put Mackeriv in your place. Very Thanks! --Mateusc 22:06, 31 July 2005 (UTC)
I lost, eh? I don't see your revision there. Not the "true and proved facts" you made up, either. Anyway, congratulations by making everybody understand how terrible cyber-terrorists Brazilians are, when you turned yourself into one at the same time. I am retreating from this discussion and this article as a whole. What has to happen will happen. If somebody gets delusional again, hopefully people will leave their caves and take an action. Not me.
One more message for you, Mr. Mateus. Before you try warning people about how much of a nazi elitist totalitarian administrator I am, remember how much of a sockpuppeteer, consensus-ignorer, skeleton-hider you are. I am tired of hypocrisy.--Kaonashi 01:03, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
YAY Mr. Mackeriv accused me using bad words! Get education first Mr. Mackeriv/Kaonashi (you have a name?), because you don't have. Talk with your mother, her can help. --Mateusc 17:46, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
On 26 November 2005, I tagged Orkut for general cleanup, on the grounds of both (1) consistent standard English and (2) elimination of various minor instances of POV (per my note on the Cleanup page).
On 27 November 2005, Mackeriv removed the tag, commenting (Needs no cleanup). This was both inappropriate and rude. I am re-adding the tag. Please do not remove until after cleanup has been made.

Controvery Section of Orkut

Please note: This section was blanked, restored from RC patrol, and balnked again, editors more in tune with this article may want to review it for changes. Xaosflux 18:44, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

Off-topic personal comment

I don't invite anyone a long time ago because all of my friends have orkut or don't want to have. Even my mother has orkut.

But i have three or four real life friends which still don't have. Trying to convince they to accept one of the dozens of invites i send...~

This may be a tip of the brazilian internet phenomenon. Lots of my friends are in Fotolog.net too, some of them with more than one account.

Victorwss 04:41, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

How to locate orkut friends and acquaintances

How do people locate orkut friends and acquaintances the first time?... dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.edu 21:31, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

Brazilian Trolling Phenomena

A brazilian girl with 1 billion scraps [15] Herself and their lovely friend using Javascript methods, flooding the system only for vanity and "curtição" Sorry, but this a fact. I never saw north-americans, iranians or europeans making this on Orkut. And now brazilians here are talking about "is not brazilians..." Brazilians, YES are the main reason why Orkut died (except in Brazil, off course...) -- 201.8.108.22

  • Yes. This is sad and I find it extra sad that orkut maintains to cater towards Brazilians even though all this. But. Get your english straight and CHILL. Then reform your argument. // Gargaj 20:10, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
Who must arrange other arguments here is YOU that need PROVE not only brazilians are Trolling orkut system. --201.8.108.22 20:16, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm from Brazil and I really don't care about nationality. I'm an anarchist. I think that the "Brazilian invasion" is ok, but could be modified to avoid people discussing about if it's moral or not... About the javascript attacks and the like made by brazilians imho I see that it's everywhere on the Internet. The fact is, brazilian youngs uses Internet a lot (including me). We spend more time than others, so this is why the majjority of Internet attacks and the like are connected to Brazil. But, please, don't blame brazilians for that. If USA youngs used Internet on computers more than us, it probably would be different... Henriquevicente 18:59, 21 January 2006 (UTC)Henrique Vicente
  • Your reference is broken, but even if it wasn't: linking to the profile of one person -who allegedly committed vandalism- in a service that has nearly 14,000,000 users (as of march/06) does not prove that Brazilians as a whole, and there are more than 10 million of them, are vandals. I did a little search and found a "Nazi Hackers from Iran" community on orkut. Could that be used as fact in a supposed claim that Iranian Nazi Hackers have “invaded” orkut? Calua 3/3/2006
  • You can't see much of that from non-brazilians in Orkut, but you can see a lot a trolling perfomed by Americans on Myspace. It's not about nationality. Noone is that shallow(in opposition to not deep personality) to be judged simply by the place they were born. Infinito 19:05, 11 Jan 2006 (UTC)

Yamla blanking

User:Yamla is blanking a sourced fact documented by Katilce in brazilian press [16], that she was invited by Rede Globo to act in novels and turn artist. He is actually call me vandal to back with the text without proper discussion and accusing-me of vandalism and now blocked-me for informations that he seems to dislike. 201.58.104.110/--201.58.116.89 17:59, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

No. Get your facts straight, this was explained to you over and over again. You cannot act in a book. You were claiming over and over again that this person was going to act in a book. I see you have realised your mistake and have changed "novel" to "Telenovela", not at all the same as "novel". --Yamla 18:09, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Novel, Telenovela is all same thing in Brazil. Was a misunderstanding by your side and no reason for a IP block. You aren't capable percept a misunderstanding? You need resolve this calling vandalism and blocking users?
"Novel" may be a common term to describe Telenovelas in Brazil, but in the English language a novel is a book and books consist of text. Telenovelas, by contrast, are more similar (and in my opinion nearly identical) to TV soap operas.
It's a misunderstanding by YOUR side if you keep on adding a factually wrong sentence without considering why it was removed. -- Ashmodai 02:55, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

cleanup marking

Well, I don't understand why is the article marked for cleanup. My opinion is that it is unnecessary, but I don't think that it would be nice to just remove the template (at least for now). Any comments? algumacoisaqq 15:48, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

  • Just take a look at the grammar and spelling of the article for one, and the actual content for another. // Gargaj 10:39, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Brazilian Invasion

"Brazilian Invasion"?? That's extremely offensive. Plus, it's all a POV rant: I believe it should be removed. --Brazucs 19:59, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

The title is offensive, yes, but a sudden, drastic increase in Brazilian users is noteworthy enough to stay. If you think something in particular is POV, point it out or rephrase it yourself. -- Ashmodai 03:06, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
Don't know who did it, but it looks much better now. algumacoisaqq 02:03, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Hate Groups

Several hate communities focused on racism, Nazism, white supremacy and pedophilia have been deleted due to guideline violation.

I didn't know pedophiliacs can have hate groups. It's not a mainstream topic, but I don't think pedophilia can be classified as a hate ideology akin to racism.

Also the notion of "racism, Nazism [and] white supremacy" sounds awkward. A better expression would be "Neo-Nazism, White Supremacism and other racism" or something like that as Neo-Nazism and White Supremacism are both heavily based on racial hatred, although especially Neo-Nazism is about more than that (especially German Neo-Nazism is a lot about national and cultural superiority, whereas non-German Neo-Nazism is usually just an offspring of White Supremacism, especially in the US).

I guess the easiest way to fix this mess would be to rename the section and rewrite it from scratch. This seems to be more about borderline ideologies and topics than hate groups in particular. Pedophilia by itself is not a crime in most countries, although acting it out is, and racist ideologies seem to be covered by the freedom of speech in the US, thus (legally) "borderline". -- Ashmodai 02:40, 26 March 2006 (UTC)


I removed the sentence "Because of the invitation-only structure, closed groups of like-minded people were, and with the invitation free structure are able to thrive," which seems to say that hate-groups thrived because Orkut was invitation-only and also because it isn't. I really don't know what evidence you could use to defend either of these statements; certainly, it isn't sourced. If anyone can rewrite it so that it is verifiable and more understandable, feel free to put it back. Lesnail 18:52, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Terms of service

They might watermark your pictures, or truncate your posts (derivative works), and they're definitely going to be copying, distributing, performing and displaying them. The paragraph literally describes the terms of the service you'll be receiving from Orkut. The fact that the Almighty Register decided to hype some unconsequential bullshit, as usual, doesn't mean you don't need to think about whether it needs to be part of the wiki article.

Look at the fact that people "terminated their accounts in protest". Nobody gave a shit, despite having been given the ToS on signing up, until someone else decided for them that it was somehow a privacy concern. Nothing about people deciding not to sign up in the first place based on the ToS. Oh no! Orkut is reserving the right to distribute this information that I'm uploading of my own free will! They may as well be breaking into my home with a camera!

If it's also included in "other popular social network services", why isn't there a section about it in those articles? Because the Register did an article on this one?

Brazillian popularity?????

I'm just wondering why in the heck Orkut is so insanely popular in Brazil. It kind of strikes me as one of those weird, inexplicable phenomena, like how popular David Hasselhoff is in Germany ;) ;) . misternuvistor 22:17, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

We just... like it :D
Brazilians tend to be much more social-driven rather than patrimonial-driven (this is a overall observation, can't really steriotype Brazilians as "X" and Europeans as "Y", as you always find exceptions) people like to share experiences and talk about themselves like an open (or partialy open) book in order to find people with their same interest. In find that in Europe peope are more reserved in this aspect.
What Orkut does is that it gives people the ability to find and be found, such as Friendster. In fact, I joined Friendster first, but when Orkut was launched it had more aparent features than Friendster and others: I could quickly find former school colleagues that I thought I would never find again, and people could create communities based on common interests and past associations (such as schools and "class of 92") -- but also create silly communities like "I hate ketchup on pizza" or game-based communities such as "Eu Já..." (where members would share with other members thing that the already did... sometimes embarrassing or surprising things, such as a girl that said that she was an "escort girl"). Most of the times, these communities serves as "badges" on the user profiles, much like Wikipedia's userboxes, to illustrate the user's interests.
Also, its long gone the time that the Internet users were all unatractive nerds on the other side of the monitor, and many Brazilians tend to use Orkut to find potential partners. Through messenger, it is common between Brazilians to ask for eachother's URL to Orkut profiles rather than simply asking for pictures. --Pinnecco 10:19, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

interesting article i came across.. apparently it's all about the pronunciation. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=3082 125.23.55.211 17:18, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree with you Pinnecco, I like orkut because I can say what I am. I hardly ever talk in the comutities and not very good in english as you can see. Communities in orkut for me it's a way to show my interests and a little more about my personality. I'm brasilian and don't see much wrong at orkut except about the fake comuntities and peolple. --ArielMX 10:41, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism

I seriously think this page has been vandalized. Whoover heard of Jan 45 and 1224 as the starting date of Orkut? 202.161.131.71 10:30, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Clear cleanup tag?

This article seems to be NPOV, clean, well documented, and generally well written. What do you think of removing the cleanup tag? TK 10:26, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

"Case studies"

Anyone willing to lift out some of the stories from http://www.anthonyhempell.com/papers/orkut/ ? // Gargaj 14:59, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Instant celebrity

Moved from main article:

(change by Brazilian)

+ PS: The boy name is Victor Santos, but the girl Katilce Miranda have more scraps (you original profile have ben deleted with record). + Katilce profile (Fake?) : http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=43641368189763842

+ Victor profile (original) : http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=14349656706307257447

Y'all ought to sort out who the instant celebrity really is...· rodii · 23:53, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

List of social networking websites on AfD

List of social networking websites is currently an AfD candidate. You are invited to partake in this discussion. Czj 19:05, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Lingering writing problems

It looks like there has been a great deal of discussion around the removal of a cleanup tag here, so I didn't want to put one back on... but here is my comment on one section (obviously it is "relatively well-written" since I am getting a little picky here):

Hate groups

There has recently been controversy revolving around (surrounding? involving?) the use of orkut by various hate groups. Virulent (virulent has a connotation of nastiness spreading quickly which is correct in this context, but it is not explained until the end of the paragraph -- and even then not strongly conveyed) racists allegedly have a solid following there. Because of the invitation-only structure, closed groups of like-minded people are able to thrive (again, if thrive means survive well, it is obvious, but I think the connotation is of reproducing quickly, which again is not explained until the end of the paragraph). Several hate communities (which) focused on racism, Nazism, and white supremacy have been deleted due to guideline violation (violations). However the number of these communities and profiles has not stopped growing because they can be very easily created and it is hard for orkut to check them. (With all the hints (virulent, thrive) that the racism is actually spreading rapidly, I would think this sentence would use a stronger phrase than "not stopped growing".)

In 2005, various cases of racism were denounced (wrong word -- reported?) to police and reported (maybe they were denounced in the media?) in the Brazilian media. In 2006, a judicial measure was opened ("judicial measure was opened" may be a Brazilian specific court process but it sounds wrong to me) by the Brazil federal justice denouncing (again, wrong use of this word) a 20-year-old student accused with racism against blacks and spreading defamatory content on orkut. Brazilian Federal Justice intimated (wrong word -- compelled?) Google on (in) March 2006 to explain the crimes (missing word -- that?) occurred in orkut.

--DeweyQ 18:53, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

gmail doesn't read your email

The phrase "allows the company to scan users' emails" is not only false but it further perpetuates the rumour that this is what Google is doing. They're not. The server will scan the text of your email, grab any relevant keywords and generate some ads. The only part of the company that "sees" the text of your email is the chunk of plastic and silicon that was processing it anyway.

Hate Groups

Regarding this:

"In 2006, a judicial measure was opened by the Brazil federal justice denouncing a 20-year-old student accused with racism against blacks and spreading defamatory content on orkut."

Should that not read: "racism against black people"?

Something about the term "blacks" doesn't sound right.

___________________ african americans? i also noted "the blacks"... xD It sounds very wrong

Invitation Only

Just to make a note: orkut is now, and presumably will remain for the foreseeable future, an invitation only site. Don't delete or change this information, unless you have a verifiable source to prove otherwise. And even if you do have a source, actually check. Go to orkut and try to create a new account without an invitation. tepid 16:32, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Cleanup

This page could use some cleanup in several categories:

Thanks -- Writtenonsand 14:34, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

invitation

Until recently, orkut was invitation only, but it now permits users to create accounts without an invitation.

When did they change? Before Brasil took over the orkut (I think this expression is enoughly NPOV, since I'm brazilian and think this one looks kinda "Pinky and the Brain" :D ), some people were selling/buying invitaions for nice fees! o_o 200.230.213.152 02:04, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Ads/Google Talk... Integration with Google

I'm not sure, since it doesn't apper in my orkut, but a friend of mine from orkut in India claims there are Google Ads in the indian orkut... At least in his community... About the community itself, womething that would sell pretty damn good... ([17])

Also, another thing that sould be stated in the article, I guess, is about the integration with Google talk... 200.230.213.152 02:10, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Brasilian block

Hello, haven't had time to register or understand Wikipedia yet, so don't flame me if I get anything wrong.

Anyway, I'm in Brasil at the moment but have registered for various English-speaking communities (I'm from the UK). For the past few weeks I have been unable to access these communities and hence the messages inside them, everytime I try to access it comes up with bad server, no donut. Without recourse with Google I thought I'd try here and see if anyone else is having similar problems or would like to write it up? It seems to work if the community has no language specified but I can't get to a single English community from here. I'll check back next Tuesday to see if anyone's helping :) - ChrisWar666 @ 16:50, 24 December 2006 (Brasilian time)

P.s. Tidy up the invitation discussions someone, not sure how to do it properly and there's 3 of them now (invitation, Invitation Only & Orkut goes Public)

P.p.s. Hmmm, hope that's all sorted now, sorry for so many edits but I kept pressing the wrong button. Everything else should be reverted and just this added, cheers :)


Update: Nevermind, it's been fixed by Orkut now, won't bother writing anything in the article about it, delete this if you want :) - ChrisWar666

Why is orkut capitalized now?

orkut has been and never was capitalized. Why did it change? Behun 07:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Because it's a proper noun. It's the name of something. The choice of putting a lower-case "o" is a matter of Google's styling. They have their stylings, and we have ours. Hence Orkut is capitalised. Chris cheese whine 15:03, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
I too was surprised to see it capitalized, especialy now when there is the Template:lowercase. If according to some rules we should not obey to the author's decision of spelling the name, we should strongly consider changing the spelling in the sameway also in all other articles, like easyJet etc. Personally, I don't think this is the rigt way to go, though... Blahma 19:10, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
I was surprised, but I think it was the right move. The article referenced above states:

Lowercased trademarks with no internal capitals should always be capitalized

So I guess we keep it how it is now... Mambo Jambo 00:10, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

GMail reads your email

It is implied in the article that Google reads your email. Anyone who knows how Adwords work knows this is false information. GMail just goes through the text of the email, find relevant keywords and displays ads. There is no human interaction involved here. Maybe this part should be deleted.