When Gawker unveiled its new invite-only comment feature recently, the reaction was... well, judging from the actual comments since, let's say "low-key." Although some people unaccountably begged to be let past the velvet rope, most realized that the system's elitism would hurt, rather than help, the cause of exciting conversation. The fact that some of the people who did get invites seemed to be the blogosphere's biggest losers only made matters worse.
But as the old saying goes, snarky backtalk wants to be free, so meet Gawker Talker, "a real-time forum for discussing the latest Gawker posts, flown in regularly via RSS" by blog genius (and, tellingly, non-invitee) Jim Hanas. Gawker Talker is open to all and unmoderated, almost as if it was some kind of blog.
