Is Mahalo Answers trying too hard to be too much? Is the search / answers feature being compromised for other content?
Should Mahalo Answers stick to what it's really good at / for, or should it continue to risk becoming diluted by offering too many features (i.e. Yahoo!)?
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M$12 Answers
I think that this problem isn't unique to Mahalo. I've noticed that when a product is truly innovative, it often has trouble "fitting in". It's difficult for one to compare Mahalo to Yahoo, Google, VBulitten, or Wikipedia. However, it draws queues from each. This innovation leads to trial-and-error along with results that are erroneous and hard to measure.
Specifically, I think that Mahalo is having two problems right now. First, the products and services that Mahalo is offering do not identify with unique brands. Mahalo could be conceived as the parent brand, Mahalo SERP's could be the Wiki information pages, Mahalo Answers the Q&A product, etc. This brand is currently fuzzy as the company and the products themselves define each other. While each product works together to form "Mahalo", there are clear and real differences between each product.
I think that the second problem lies in education. User experience analytics and polls would almost certainly show that there is a long learning curve for new and casual users. Mahalo has started to form the processes of an educational component in the green chalkboard new user notes in the upper right hand corner of the site. While useful, I don't think that this effort adequately connects with users or gets new folks up to speed efficiently. This problem in education isn't the fault of the excellent user interface design but rather the innovative features and interconnections between each Mahalo feature.
So, I disagree that Answers is being diluted or compromised. In fact, I think that Mahalo Answers continues to drive what's really great about Mahalo. I think that the underlying problems are brand clarity and education. This is however an innovative product and like any innovation requires patience and revisions to grow.
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M$
Out Mission is "to help people find information and answers they can trust." We see three ways of doing this:
1. Mahalo Search
2. Mahalo Topic Pages (Mahalo search with human intervention layered on top of it--i.e. a guide note, sorted results, etc).
3. Mahalo Answers.
We want to build one page with three services on it: content, Q&A, and search. That is the Mahalo topic page.
Layered on that is the tactic of who we build 3m of those pages... and the way we are going to do that is with a community of revenue sharing experts.
So, it is a little overwhelming I think... but we're getting there. The top users in Mahalo Answers understand the service perfectly and they want MORE features. The new folks coming in seem to learn quickly what is going on.
Now, Mahalo 2.0 ( the topic pages) is a whole new service that is 10 days old... we have at least three months of work to do on it to get people to understand it... but already we see good signs that folks are digging it and claiming a LOT of page which will make them M$50 to M$2,000 a year!
We'll get there...
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M$
I don't believe Mahalo Answers will become a diluted service, simply because it has 3 distinct parts of Mahalo. The video below shows an interview with Jason Calacanis, and he explains what Mahalo is all about.
1. Mahalo.com (news and information)
2. Mahalo Answers (questions and Answers)
3. Mahalo Pages
Anything more than this would possibly be too much, if they do not continue to perfect what they already have. Mahalo should not stretch its features out to anything else, until these are working perfectly, and that's just my opinion. Let's say they started Mahalo Games, or Mahalo Concierge service, etc. then I think Mahalo would be veering in the wrong direction. Mahalo seems to pride itself on the following:
1. News
2. Information Gathering
3. Question and Answer
Although I like Mahalo Daily from time to time, I do not see this as its main focus. It's just one part of the puzzle. If Mahalo were to become an online television network like Koldcasttv, then it would not be moving in the right direction, and I would think it would be offering too many services.
If Mahalo started and devoted its efforts into a comedy channel, then it would divert from Mahalo Pages. I think the beauty of Mahalo is that they do a great job as a mash up, and integrating videos from YouTube, photos from Flickr, products from Amazon, and updates from Twitter. Mahalo does not need to be a store like Amazon or Yahoo Stores, as that's not its focus, at least I do not believe this is what they are about.
In the end, Mahalo is mostly about cleaning up search, and allowing humans to power the Internet through SERPs, and these SERPs are what draw its traffic, from "how tos" to informative pages on celebrities, movies, and more.
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M$
Now that we're expanding and packing on new features - and new ways to spend/waste our time - of course we're going to experience some loss and distraction around Mahalo Answers. But I wasn't sweating this growth at first, figuring the true loyalists, the amazing community members that make M.A. a rich, fun, and fulfilling forum would always hang their hats right here in the Answers division. Right?
The moment I became concerned that I was wrong was when the Powers That Be changed the Brown Belt requirements so that all members must not only earn points, but also manage a minimum number of Mahalo Pages to advance to higher-level belts. Now don't get me wrong - I see many, many benefits to this new requirement.
But there's one big down side: Mahalo Answers loses.
Now we're required to divert our attention. I can feel the fingers on my back saying, "Go, play. Don't be a wallflower. Mingle." Now my precious Internet/Mahalo time is divided in a BIG way. I'd better maintain my Pages once a week at least, or ELSE!
And when I get done doing that...meh...maybe I'll have time for one Answer. Maybe two.
Mahalo Answers isn't just allowed to be Mahalo Answers anymore. Now we have to play nice with all the new features. But my strong hope - nay, prayer - is that Answers can still remain strong once people realize that maintaining a Page isn't what made us fall in love with Mahalo. I think a lot of us will drop most of our Pages, come back here, and not worry about the belt levels so much. For many of us, Mahalo Answers is our Mahalo Home. And home is where the heart is.
I think a separate and unique community will attach itself to Mahalo proper. And us Answerites will keep on being the same site we've always been.
But still, let's just hope that this is as thin as they're going to spread us. I can only imagine how many Answerites might stray to another Mahalo feature for good if things keep getting bigger and bigger.
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M$
As my rank increased, the community feeling began to increase, and that was fun, too. It's been great watching the community evolve, and to be part of that.
Then when I got better at managing the stats I cared about (about when I hit brown belt), the opportunity to manage pages made itself clear (Hi! Wanna claim this page??). I claimed subjects I cared about, as I was ready for something more after I get my next rank. Questions are great, but it's time for me to...branch out a bit. I'm looking forward to being a specialist in certain areas in Answers, contributing more to the community of Mahalo, and becoming a really good page creator/manager.
I hope new users will begin on Answers and move in much the same path I did. I think Answers is a good place to sharpen a person's skills in 1) creating great answers that will get "best" and 2) learning the social norms of the Mahalo community. Those are the skills that will contribute to writing great pages, too.
It's a bit of a fast pace, but Mahalo seems to be evolving in response to the needs and suggestions of its user base as much as looking at the competition and saying "We can be that, too." It's a little disjointed at times, true. But I notice we're always pushing for improvements and looking forward to the next feature.
I'm enjoying the ride!
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
now I am totally overwhelmed. But I love the people on here who are kind
and helpful to all. Some very nice ones
only my opinion
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M$The claimed pages by key word is not what I expected. I think Mahalo should recommend traffic oriented pages to upper belts. The pages need to be worth the time invested in them.
Return on time investment
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M$
I've been spending more time cross examining answers. The answerer will only tolerate a few cross examining question. So, I submit new questions to follow up on the accuracy of the data in the previous question.
For example, Apophis asteroid question became popular in the Mahalo community. After getting a few excellent answers from @opher, I discovered that Apophis was not likely to impact earth and Apophis doom scenario was promoted to get scientist to think about deflection scenarios and increase government funding.
It took alot of questions and answers to discover the core information and gravitate towards the relevant information. Sometimes, new members don't understand that a question requires "expert knowledge" to answer.
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 think it's ok that Mahalo is trying to generate all these pages as long as the information is original and genuine, and not just a collection of basic information from other websites. I think this will depend on how well the pages are managed by the members. If they are just populated automatically, chances are they will not be very good. If the page managers are passionate about their topic, then the page should be great.
Has the question and answers section suffered because of the new features? I do think it is less active than before because a lot of members are now spending time on pages where as before it was all about questions and answers. Mahalo Answers is still my favorite part of the site, so I hope it continues to be strong and not take a back seat to the new features. Overall I think time will tell what works and what doesn't.
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$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
