MyBlogLog Responds: Message Posting Rules Being Tweaked April 8, 2007
Posted by Andrew Wee in : social traffic , trackbackI was pleasantly surprised when I got an email from Robyn “Sleepy Blogger” Tippins, MyBlogLog’s new community manager (Robyn’s offical MBL post), less than 24 hours after posting “MyBlogLog Social Traffic Credibility and Attempts To Cripple Spammers“.
Here’s Robyn’s response to my feeling that posting 20 messages a day could be limiting:
Andrew, hopefully this won’t hamper users that are actually engaging in conversation, because everytime you receive a message back, you up your daily limit by one. So if I message you I have 19 messages available, but if you message me back, then my message limit goes back up to 20.
It’s only one method we’re trying, so if you have any suggestions let me know.
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The concept of reciprocity is an intriguing one and goes one step further than just blanket quotas.
I think as time goes by, the messaging model will get refined further.
And it is forward thinking on my part that 20 messages would be insufficient for a community size of 1,000.
It would seem fair to incorporate gradual increments to the number of available messages to MyBlogLog members in good repute. That way, it’ll prevent MyBlogLog members from going out of the network to use email to communicate.
Here’s why MyBlogLog should increase message quotas: MBL is an excellent workaround for blogs which require user registration for blog comments. As an alternative to commenting on the blogs, I’ve switched to commenting within their MBL community (and addressing a community of readers who are personally vested in the blog content).
PS: As eMom Wendy Piersall mentioned, everyone’s psyched about Robyn’s new position. To check out Robyn’s role at MyBlogLog, check out Eric’s “Everyone who is MyBlogLog’s new Community Manager, raise your hand“
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Andrew — as we run the test, we’ll happily increase the available messages if we find legitimate users are being hampered. The definition of a legitimate user, of course, is where things get sticky
I’m working on a post that will hopefully make it clear where I am coming from on that front and spur some great conversations.
There are two other things you’ve mentioned that are worth calling out:
1) You mention that the 20 message limit will hamper communications with your community. I think you may be right on that front, and it may cause us to increase in priority the ability to post a message to all your members. As far as I’m concerned, if you have joined someone’s community, you should be open to whatever they have to say as often as they want to say it. We’ll make it REAL easy to leave the community, of course
2) You mention that some spammers may just create multiple accounts to increase their post quota. I agree that may happen in some cases, but it will likely cut down on the people who simply don’t know better. No solution is perfect, but I’m happy for a 70% one that moves us in the right direction.
I can’t wait to hear more of your thoughts on the human-based moderation. I would love to have something of a craigslist-style moderation system if we can make it work.
Eric,
Thanks for dropping by.
There’s no easy way to come up with answers whether you go ahead on a tech-based or human-based route, though a combination of both approaches seems like it could marry the advantages of both approaches.
There will always be ways to game the system if one tries hard enough. I think if you’ve made it such that the system is easy for newbie MBL users to use, but not that easy to abuse, you’d have succeeded.
The reciprocity of gaining your message quota back is an interesting one, though 20 messages seems more suited to someone who might have a community size of 200-300 members?
I’m looking forward to your MBL post.
I have yet to get to the point I would have a problem with the limit-but I agree, it could be very limiting.
I am new to using social networks but so far I am getting great results and having fun too.
Andrew, I agree. As you know, I’m a beginner, and yet I can see myself running up against the 20 comment quota very soon. I really like MBL, too. It’s been responsible for a real increase in my traffic.