Do you trust Mahalo?
Mahalo is encouraging people to do this by giving them points in a level (belt) system, providing positive feedback (from their great full-time staff), and importantly by rewarding everyone with real money.
In exchange for these rewards, people give Mahalo large quantities of time, experience, excitement, content and value.
Mahalo has the ability to stop these rewards without reason. Topic Pages can be taken away from users without justification. There is no guarantee that Mahalo Dollars will be paid out. Entire accounts can be banned.
Do you implicitly trust Mahalo with the time and value that you've been adding to this system?
If so, why? What qualities make Mahalo trustworthy to you?
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$26 Answers
Obviously I think folks should trust us, but I think skepticism of "the new" is natural for people (see Anton Ego's Speech in Ratatouille for some thoughts on the support of "the new"). We've had folks say Mahalo wouldn't work, was too out there, etc. However, we've built it into the 200th largest site in the US--not an easy task.
Now, reasons to trust Mahalo:
1. Our behavior to date: I like to judge people by their actions, and if you look at our organizations we've been very fair to folks while working hard to make this system grow and thrive. Additionally, when there have been people doing unethical things in the system we've reacted quickly and transparently. So, I give us an A+ on our behavior thus far.
2. Our realistic approach: We have quickly moved to the most efficient system. We had more full-time editors and we had to laid some full-time folks off to move to the revenue share system. We tried having guides off-shore, etc. Through all of this we did our best to inform folks of what we're doing... in fact, I personally did it as the CEO.
3. Our Motivation: Our motivation is to build one of the top 100 sites in the US with the mission of "helping people find information they can trust." That is a lofty mission and we've been very upfront with it... we're here to serve and we expect the community to have that same service mentality. You see this in the small details: removing negative/obnoxious comments, responding quickly to emails, giving out our IMs and email addresses, etc.
4. The Bottom Line: At the end of the day Mahalo is a business and will do what is in the best interest of the shareholders AND stakeholders. That includes the Guides who are working with us. It makes the most sense for us to build a system where good people can do good work and grow with us. Right now we have over a million dollars in AdSense revenue, but that's really not our goal. We want to get to 10M, 25M and then 100M in yearly AdSense revenue. The quickest way for us to do that is to have 100, then 500 and then 1,000 Guides making M$25,000 a year. Remember: for every M$1 a Guide makes we make a dollar.... so, we're excited to see the checks go out each month. AdSense revenue DOUBLED from June to August--doubled. In fact, the Coupon pages are now making over $200,000 a year in revenue just a month or so after the big barn raising. We want to do 200 Barn Raisings Like that!
5. Competition: If we don't listen to the community they can leave and join another community like Wikia, ChaCha, Associated Content, About.com or Weblogs, Inc. (my last company!). In fact, if we were to suck folks might even start their own company. We can't keep anyone here! I
6. Track Record: I had 500+ bloggers working for me at Weblogs, Inc., and 150+ writers working for me at Silicon Alley Reporter and you won't find anyone who would say something bad about me (at least not on record!). So, I think the track record is solid.
All that being said, things are going to keep changing and evolving. Some day we may change the % we share (up or down), the way pages are managed (maybe some day there will be two managers per page, or maybe a supervisor who gets 10%), etc. However, through those changes and evolutions we will always communicate... in fact, over-communicate!
I'm the CEO and founder of Mahalo!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$I had lost trust when Mahalo had an issue (and banned) a person I was quite close to. Although it turned out to possibly be a problem on the user's side, how Mahalo (re: Jason) decided to handle it was very balanced and fair. My belief is that, if ANYTHING negative happened, Jason and the staff are very responsive and willing to listen.
So... my trust increases when I see Mahalo admit they might have made a mistake and take an earnest look into the problem and, from my view, erring on the side of the user.
Net-net... I trust Jason and the Mahalo staff.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I think Mahalo did pretty well with Darcygate. However we didn't get to find out what happened until people started asking questions, and even phoning her.. And then we found out in dribs and drabs, with the first Mahalo statements being rather vague. So fairly transparent , but not full marks.
Thanks for that DrMatt.
... and of note in that instance of the user who we were all friends with, well, she wasn't actually banned--she left. We wanted to keep her around, etc.
@philipy the reason you didn't hear about it at the start was because we wanted to work with Darcy to keep her as part of the community. If we published everything she did folks would have attacked her and there would have been no way to keep her involved.
Our hope was that she would say "I screwed up, I stopped and I'm sorry." If she did we would have kept her around for sure! So, we don't publish issues until they are fully investigated as a policy.... that whole presumption of innocence thing. :-)
I give us an A+ for how we handled that. Most sites would have banned the person and said "They were banned and we don't discuss bans."
nice comments. on the second cash-out, Mahalo wants a w-9 form. I put in a request for one, for my second payout. If you haven't done so, that might help.
@jasoncalacanis: I see it as... she banned herself. But, you're absolutely right... she left... after initially being banned. Which is my point. If something happens to you, it seems you and the staff are willing to listen - a part of trust-building.
@krysstel: I faxed in my W-9 a number of weeks ago.
Yes
"If so, why? What qualities make Mahalo trustworthy to you?"
Like I have stated before, the fact that Mahalo users are able to communicate ideas and suggestions directly with the Mahalo staff, including the CEO, gives me confidence (and trust) in Mahalo as a whole.
Mahalo users are not just "numbers", they are valued individuals (at least when they provide something of value)
And I trust Jason's judgment when it comes to making changes to the site.
As @qdietz mentioned, there really is no reason why Mahalo would do anything to betray our trust as that would cause Mahalo to fail.
I also agree somewhat with @philipy. If/when Mahalo users are counting on Mahalo as their primary source of income, then maybe a few new "rules and regulations" will be needed to give more assurance that they will get paid for their work. Though in today's business world, there really is not such thing as "guaranteed employment".
I am currently using Mahalo for entertainment. I have a full time job, so Mahalo is a secondary pastime for me. But I also look at my time spent on Mahalo managing pages and building relationships as an investment in the future potential of Mahalo. If the site grows as Jason intends it to, then there is potential for my involvement (and income) to grow along with it.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
a) Do they mean well? Are they in a mindset of looking out for #1, or do they seem to look out for others as well?
b) Is their idea of what's right or what's fair the same as my idea?
c) Do they stick to their principles when it's tempting not to?
d) Are they actually competent? (It's one thing to mean well, another to actually be able to deliver what you promised.)
Overall, I'd probably give Mahalo a B for trustworthiness.
Things that make Mahalo feel trustworthy:
- The people are very friendly and helpful, and mean very well
- When there is a screw-up they do fix things, apologise, and sometimes for the bigger issues give tips by way of making up for the inconvenience
- There's a reasonable amount of transparency and plenty of discussion
Things that make Mahalo feel not-so-trustworthy:
- Mahalo gives itself a lot of lattiude to change the rules of the game, and there actually have been plenty of unexpected changes
- Jason gets pretty twitchy and lawyerly if I so much as use the phrase "my pages" about the pages I manage. I bet he's getting twitchy just reading this sentence. :)
Maybe I was being a bit kind giving Mahalo a B. Let's call it B-.
There's nothing so trustworthy as actually having rights. The kind of people that say "oh... you don't need any actual rights... we're really nice people and we'll do the right thing"... well, usually you want to keep a close eye on those people!
I guess even that B- is relative. It's B- when this is a fun hobby site where there's a few hundred bucks at stake. If we were talking about working to make original content that could generate $100k pa here, I wouldn't find the way that things are set up here trustworthy enough to do that as things stand.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Obviously you can do whatever the heck you want, and so can we.
But every time a guy asserts "I can do whatever the heck I want", he's not doing anything to earn my trust, and he's not giving me reasons to commit too much to the relationship.
It's just a simple fact of life that people put far more work into a home they own than a home they rent. And they put more effort into getting a home that's rented for a year into great shape than a home that's rented for a month.
Whole economies have thrived or been ruined on those facts.
If you offer people a deal that says "you can come live in my house, but I can throw you out any day I choose, because it's mine", you will get the corresponding level of effort and commitment.
Sure if people see that you don't actually throw people out very often, and don't raise the rent every week, they will trust you more. But never as much as if there's a contract that says you have the house for six months, and the rent will remain at $Y for that period.
Whether you like it or not, changing the rules of the game frequently, will lose you some trust, and whether you like it or not, reserving the right to change the rules of the game at any time will lose you some trust.
It doesn't mean you're a bad guy. But it does mean there is less reason for us to invest time and effort on Mahalo than if there was more certainty.
>> - Mahalo gives itself a lot of lattiude to change
>> the rules of the game, and there actually have
>> been plenty of unexpected changes
I don't actually have to give us a lot of flexibility.... we all have it. Mahalo is 100% opt-in for users AND for Mahalo. We can choose who we want to work with and the folks who work with us get to choose to do so. I think this is the balance that makes things work.
If we put things in Mahalo Tasks for .25 we might not get too many people involved because they opt out, and if we put items at M$10 we go out of business--opting ourselves out.
So, that's the good news: we all get to make a choice of being here, and since we are the ones who own the business and put the capital at risk to build it we get to decide the direction of the project.
Of course we want to build a community so that requires take OTHER people into account when we make decisions. Thus the reason we all talk so much.
>> - Jason gets pretty twitchy and lawyerly if I so
>> much as use the phrase "my pages" about the
>> pages I manage.
Actually, the only reason I correct you on that is because I like to be SUPER up front and honest about the relationship. You get to manage the pages but you don't own them.
The same is true of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, etc. Those services own their services, urls and IP.... you get to use them, and in some cases share revenue, but you don't own the URL www.mahalo.com/iPhone even if you manage the page.
Over time folks will see two things (and many have already noticed this):
a) things are going to be changing all the times: the rules, the deal, features, processes, etc.
b) we are never going to change our honest, fair and transparent style (at least not if I'm CEO.... and as the largest shareholder, who also doesn't need to work any more, I can assure you i'm not going anywhere).
The basic reason is that Mahalo is a for-profit company. It is not some non-profit with a good goal spelled out in a charter. If it turns out some change will make Mahalo more profitable it will be done regardless of the consequences to its current participants. The only time to trust a for-profit company is if you have an iron-clad contract. Which members such as myself do not have.
Less theoretically, Mahalo often claims to be aiming at both quantity and quality. However, clearly Mahalo has actually been emphasizing quantity as much as it can and only giving secondary attention to quality. An example of that are the Twitter questions. Twitter format is not amenable to either good questions or answers, it should have been pulled after a brief experiment if quality was a concern. Another example, Mahalo makes no effort to discourage the people who are asking countless questions just for the sake of asking questions, another factor clearly reducing the quality of questions and answers. Another example, what appear to be Mahalo employees deliberately asking strings of tabloid questions, which spread misinformation and wastes everyone's time, presumably to increase traffic somehow.
Another untrustworthy indicator is the way Mahalo wavers between portraying itself as a fun volunteer thing and a money earning thing. Mahalo Answers clearly ought to be presented as volunteers only, and the Mahalo Pages are pretty much that way too, for all except some specialized, non-scholarly pages (coupons, certain commonplace how-to's).
I like answering questions and even puttering with a few pages. But trust Mahalo? Not likely.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You make some good points. It's good to hear from the opposite end of the spectrum. Maybe Mahalo could make some kind of grantee contract to give users a little more security.
Albanian I must humbly disagree with your answer.
I believe that innovative companies will always strive to keep their members and following happy. If they don't then they where not innovative to begin with.
Jason (if I might opinionate) has repeatedly said in countless interviews and elsewhere , that mahalo has always been a idea.
A place to build something for others, and give people a chance to build something sustainable for themselves.
Innovation is the paradoxical divide of your answer, and i'm almost certain any backlash because of otherwise would be tremendous.
Also,
I'm almost certain that if A contract (digital or otherwise) (much like brighthub and others have) would allow you to trust mahalo further, that jason would certainly entertain the notion.
You make some good points. It's nice to hear from the opposite end of the spectrum. Maybe Mahalo could make some kind of guarantee contract to give the users a little more security.
I have to agree. With my past employment experience I do not trust any for-profit corporation. Loyalty in America has disappeared like the downtown business in almost every small town in America.
test
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
First of all the community here is of a good size, and if they didn't pay out and betrayed the community, the community would strike back and cause an uproar.
Mahalo needs the community to live, who else is going to write all the articles? They have no reason to get rid of us, or start being dishonest and losing a great part of their population.
All in all, if Mahalo betrayed its users, the site would plummet, funding would probably stop and well, nobody wants that.
Cheers!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You bring up a good point in the fact that what if Mahalo one day makes drastic changes to their policy that might have a negative effect on the users. I really hope this never happens. Like others have mentioned if they did make a change and the users felt betrayed, there would be a huge uproar, members would leave, and the good reputation would be tarnished.
The Mahalo staff is very in touch with the community and I think there is a mutual respect between the members and the staff. I think this is one of the reasons Mahalo will continue to be successful.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$www.Mahalo.com, www.google.com, www.facebook.com
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Mahalo and its staff has been nothing but -respectful, -courteous, and has listened to every concern I have had since I have been a member.
They have welcomed me and one other in my immediate family with open arms, and have given many the opportunity to create an income when the economic structure of the world is in terrible health.
Mahalo and it's staff have been fair with all individual members practices, faults, and accomplishments.
Mahalo has given people hope in a time when hope is so greatly needed, and has given a feeling of accomplishment to those who want to help others engage companies, people and give business's a chance for real world collaboration.
Simply put ~ a chance to get something done .
Do I trust Mahalo ?
You better !#$%^&** believe I do!
I will trust any system that rewards others for their hard work and sources.
Passionate Regards,
One very happy mahalo apprentice.
EDIT:
Also, I'd like to re-iterate my response to @albanian 's answer.
Mahalo is a innovative business model, I believe a paradoxical divide exists between trust and what it's purpose is. I don't believe its a matter of trust that mahalo keeps its following happy, rather the opposite.
Mahalo has always been a innovative business model, and anything otherwise I am certain would have a tremendous backlash from its users and pose a tremendous risk to its staff.
The almost 2 years I have been here , answered numerous questions, collaborated & created informative pages and helped hundreds of people.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I doubt Jason would want to ruin the goodwill he has by screwing a bunch of people over, but it's his company backed by a lot of investors, so what they choose to do with their property that we help create is out of our hands. Mahalo has devised a system to get people to create its content at a very cheap cost, they couldn't pay people such low rates legally. They would have to spend more if they had employees.
Ultimately, Mahalo exists to make money. That's why people have invested money in it. Not just because they think it would be neat to have a nice little online community. With the current model, the more users make, the more Mahalo makes. I have a feeling this model will probably persist, but it could change at anytime. The staff is great (interaction with the staff members makes me more trusting of Mahalo because they've always been very helpful and great to deal with), but staff members can come and go anytime. There's a reason there's so few people are on staff though. Why hire employees when you can get people to do the work for almost free? Mahalo will pay out no more than it has to to get the work done.
I trust Mahalo as much as I would any company (well, a little more because I know a little more about it than I do the average company and have received from Mahalo what I expected) but I wouldn't invest more time and effort than I could afford to waste, or make long-term plans based on any projected revenue to be gained from contributing to the site. I trust Mahalo because I think Jason's reputation is not something he'd want to screw with, but if, in his mind, he has to change the model completely and leave those who contributed out in the cold, if the benefits outweigh the cost of doing that, that's what he'd have to do. It's a business and not a social club and we should all understand that.
In short (not that that's possible at this point) it depends what you mean by trust :). Do I think I'll get paid each month for the work I've done? Yes. I have no reason not to, and know Mahalo isn't some fly-by-night operation. Do I trust that Mahalo has my interests at heart in the end? No, of course not, it's a business and it's responsibility is to it's investors not to me or any other user beyond what they have explicitly promised.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
For now, I keep an open mind until I personally observe or myself experience negative actions on the part of Mahalo. Some might call my openness "trust". Let's just say that for the moment I am cautiously optimistic.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$They advertise tehir site as giving money away, yet they make it difficult to cash out. So do I trust Mahalo, not really. Do I appreciate the answers section, yes!
p.s. Sorry for marketing your questions as uninteresting, I just wanted to see if you had to enter a tip amount to mark it :(
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Mahalo and it's users only have to have a W-9 form if you're making over $600 a year. Granted, SOME users are, but most are not!
They need to make this very clear to new users, and they aren't.
And there's no reason to require this for the 2nd payment. How about if you reach $300 for the given year you have to do it? That seems more practical...
My experience with other sites that I've earned income online is that I've always had to do a W9 up front - even before I earned anything. And then if I earned at least $600 during the year, then the company sends me a 1099 at tax time.
I don't work for Mahalo and I haven't researched the law, but I'm guessing that the current setup is probably the minimum requirement from the US government.
If I remember correctly from my days doing small projects, the law is essentially set up to allow a one time payment from a person or company to not require a W-9, as long as it's under $600.
Then the idea is that if you are receiving more than one payment from a company or individual, you are doing "ongoing" work for them, and in turn need to file the paperwork.
I'm sure Mahalo tries to make the paperwork as easy as possible (there is no reason for them not to).
um, having you fill out a W2 is the law. you don't want mahalo or yourself to get screwed during tax season next year do you?
I know it's crazy, but we required to follow the law. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be on the wrong side of the I.R.S.! :-p
We live in an amazin' country.... I love paying my taxes!
Here is what is stated on the How Payments Work Page:
QUOTE-----
A user filling out a W-9 form is needed under these two circumstances.
A) If your first payment request is greater than $600,
B) If you make a 2nd payment request (regardless the amount) and you have not yet filled out the form.
Only American residents will need to fill out an IRS W-9 Form. These are the steps when a W-9 form is involved.
END QUOTE ------------
That is why you were asked on your second request and not the first.
This INCREASES my trust to Mahalo. They are honest enough to know they have to pay the government a part of the income (SSN required).
I've NEVER heard that Mahalo is "giving money away". We have to work for our money and the government gets to take a piece.
The W-9 thing seems reasonable.
But it is "feature" of Mahalo that people are often surprised by all kinds of rules that they didn't know existed until they bump into them unexpectedly. I don't know the solution to that, but I can understand how it frustrates people and undermines their love of Mahalo.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Until Mahalo gives me a reason not to trust them, I will give the company the benefit of the doubt.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$I sincerely hope my trust is well founded, because the services offered by Mahalo are very helpful and the whole concept and idea is a wonderful asset to the general world population.
Please Mahalo do not give me cause to relinquish my trust in you.
I
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
I personally believed mahalo is a great site for professional and beginners in the field of writing. where you can test and improved you writing abilities.
Keep moving forward.
I am in mahalo for the long haul. I am quite satisfied with the service so far.
By the way, here is an interesting article about ChaCha that is relevant to this discussion.
Congratulations, this answer just won the Answer of the Day competition. As always, I 'pay it forward', so here is your tip for this answer! (and yes, I know I am sending this back to Mahalo staff)
thank you for this and I appreciate how staff works behind the scenes to track fraudulent or troublesome Mahalo users, and then blocks and bans their membership.