About MG Siegler promotion of branch
So MG Siegler is claiming here that:
the curated nature of the conversations allows for a back-and-forth that is actually insightful and free of bullshit. Here’s a Branch I created today about the iPhone 5 “cuts”, for example. If this conversation took place in a comment thread, half of the comments would be something like: “fuck you Apple blogger dickhead bitch! LOL” or “you’re such a moron because Android” or “your don’t get Microsft lovez to teach apple things like u know”.
Lets take a closer look at the participates of the iPhone5 conversation MG gave as an example:
1. Mg siegler: among his many attributes, he is also a self proclaimed apple fan.
2. Rene Ritchie: editor of iMore.
3. John Gruber. apple blogger
4. Seth Weintraub: owner of 9to5mac.
Im not sure about the other 3 participates in the branch "debate", but my point being is that its easy to have a civil conversation when you choose in advance debaters that agree with your view on most things. Difference of opinion, while can lead to heated conversations can also be productive
The limitation of branch is this exactly, they aim for civil by you choosing the debaters, but run the risk of uniformity.