January 27, 2000

12:48 PM

Note to MF users: posting a link is down for the rest of the day until I rework some of the scripts. Too many "hey look at me" posts for one day, thankyouverymuch. Read an earlier set of comments to see what's coming soon.
posted by mathowie (9 comments total)

Matt --

I totally understand where you're coming from here. Don't be bummed. This is just a symtom of the fact that you've built a really wonderful place, and people want to take part. And I think the solutions you've suggested (especially the mandatory delay time between registering and posting to the home page) are a good start.

Good luck. And let us MF-lovers know if we can help.

-- Derek
posted by fraying at 3:19 PM on January 27, 2000

OK Matt,
This is a great site, so I'll try not to get miffed that somebody removed the log I posted earlier today about the site where I work, eBookNet.com. Despite your tag line saying "This is your web, log it," I can see how this is your site and you call the shots. But it would be nice if you posted some guidelines about what is or is not appropriate, rather than just zapping people's entries. And do you seriously expect people not to say "look at me?"
thankyouverymuch,
Wade
posted by wroush at 3:33 PM on January 27, 2000

Yeah, the guidelines are coming tonight. I had hoped that people who visited would lurk for a while, get a sense of what the place is like, before posting a link. And it's just my personal bias that I don't think people should highlight their own things. If you look back in the archives, this place is about finding interesting things on the web and sharing it with others.

I thought the self promotion could be "earned". If you consistently post provacative comments or links on the site, people will click on your name to know you better. On the profile page, you can put your own URL and people can check that out. There are numerous cool pages done by the members of this site, click on a few people to explore.

Maybe part of the confusion is that I never defined the point of view of this site in the first place. Anyway, thanks everyone for the feedback, it helps make this a better place.
posted by mathowie at 3:58 PM on January 27, 2000

I think they just need a little fear. I am terrified to post, because of fear of being ostracized from the community. Commenting however is just as nice.
posted by corpse at 4:15 PM on January 27, 2000

Corpse - I think if you post something, and no one replies to it, then it's a good sign of what people might like to see, and what not.

Matt - I think that if people do something cool, and it gets acclaimed by other folks, I see no problem with showing it off - on the other hand if it's a "check out my kewl site" sort of thing, then I agree.
posted by tomcosgrave at 5:55 PM on January 27, 2000

so what's the final word on the new policies, matt?

posted by mmanning at 1:26 PM on January 28, 2000

I guess, my little idea is that the main page should only be for 'qualified' people, people who have posted enough quality links and so forth to another part of this page which is just for 'unqualified' people.

That way, anyone can still post, but no one can take advantage really of the fact that anyone can.

Hope this somehow help.s

-Mark
posted by Mark at 1:30 PM on January 28, 2000

I put the delay in place, right now it is <24 hrs, but will be set to 24 later today. I also force at least 1 comment post before link posting is allowed. I'll be adding more blocks in place, like limiting the number of main page posts (including myself) to like only 3 or so. I'll think about the issue of separating the qualified vs. unqualified posts.
posted by mathowie at 2:26 PM on January 28, 2000

as someone who signed on after all this went into
effect, it has inconvenienced me not one bit. the
"hey, stick around and add a comment" thing seems
completely reasonable, as does a waiting period.

maybe see if this all helps and determine if
stronger measures are necessary? rock on.




posted by jessamyn at 8:13 PM on January 28, 2000 [2 favorites]