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September 01, 2009 09:03 PM
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Hi @duenhsiyen,
I asked this question shortly after Mahalo 2.0 was released (though I can't for the life of me find it right now. I will look again in a minute)
@buddawiggi is correct. Jason did say that selling pages is not allowed.
The biggest issue is probably "speculation", where people could go and snatch up "valuable" pages and sell them to someone else without doing the work to manage the page. Mahalo wants to encourage people to build interesting content.
Mahalo states the rules on the Terms of Service page.
If you haven't read it, it's a good idea (it's not nearly as hard to read as most TOS info is)
Here are the basics:
Mahalo does not own your "Content", but you grant them the right to use it.
However the Mahalo pages themselves are owned by Mahalo. You are just the page Manager. Mahalo reserves the right to revoke that management for any reason.
Does that mean that they are going to go around yanking pages for no reason? Absolutely not.
In fact, Mahalo has been very lenient on when they take away a page. They only do it when it is obvious that no work is being done or something against the Terms of Service.
I don't think it's any different than a sight like Facebook.
You post your Content on Facebook and can make the page "valuable", but you can't SELL your page to anyone. It is the property of Facebook.
The last thing I heard from Jason was no selling pages.
And he is the only one that can make that decision.
But I would venture to guess that Jason and Co. are working on many ideas as to how to add more incentive to managing pages.
It's our job to keep throwing out the ideas!
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I see a couple of ways it could go.
Firstly the manager could sell the page, however not the actual domain because it is not his to sell. We are strictly talking about the post of manager would be left free for an employee of the interested firm.
Secondly the company could pay the page manager to continue managing the page, alas under their command and in their favour. Perhaps to edit the page in some ways that the company would prefer.
Thirdly, the manager has no right and the company can step in if it wishes, however I have no knowledge on internet laws and regulations so I am not sure who would be right here.
Another important factor is what about celebrities and public figures? Their publicists might be interested in good press of their star so they would certainly look at Mahalo pages, if they do indeed become significantly popular.
In the ideal world for us page managers if Mahalo really takes off we could sell our page manager post to interested parties and reap profits. Maybe give a 20% stake to Mahalo. Who knows...
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There would be a balance between how much a page is expected to earn, and how much it would sell for. That amount would have to be determined by the seller. I think this would get a lot of money moving around the system.
One negative that others have mentioned is if users just went around claiming popular words and brands, and then tried to sell them to the owners without developing them. Mahalo pages are not quite at the website domain level yet, but they are gaining popularity and they may hold a more significant importance in the future.
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Answered Question
Mahalo is adding a tip to all questions that don't offer a tip.
Can one sell ones "managed page" ?
I've only written one, but I'm wondering if one day, people are going to be selling their pages here? Is this possible? To me, it seems like the early internet where everyone is staking a claim. People used to reserve domain names, and ordinary people owned domain names of major corporations. As I recall, I think that the corporations had to buy the domain names back if they really wanted them. Or create a new name for themselves, which might not have been the most succinct or advantageous to them. Is this going to happen here? Does Mahalo have the right to confiscate the work here, or is there some kind of policy on this.
Right now, managed pages might not be worth that much, but if Mahalo really takes off, which it seems to be doing, it could be the right paradigm, and then human powered search could overtake algorithmic powered search. I'm betting on it right now, considering the time I'm spending here! I need to get away now to do other things, like eat lunch, brush my teeth, go to the beach!
Right now, managed pages might not be worth that much, but if Mahalo really takes off, which it seems to be doing, it could be the right paradigm, and then human powered search could overtake algorithmic powered search. I'm betting on it right now, considering the time I'm spending here! I need to get away now to do other things, like eat lunch, brush my teeth, go to the beach!
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Best Answer Chosen by Asker
| September 01, 2009 11:45 PM |
I asked this question shortly after Mahalo 2.0 was released (though I can't for the life of me find it right now. I will look again in a minute)
@buddawiggi is correct. Jason did say that selling pages is not allowed.
The biggest issue is probably "speculation", where people could go and snatch up "valuable" pages and sell them to someone else without doing the work to manage the page. Mahalo wants to encourage people to build interesting content.
Mahalo states the rules on the Terms of Service page.
If you haven't read it, it's a good idea (it's not nearly as hard to read as most TOS info is)
Here are the basics:
Mahalo does not own your "Content", but you grant them the right to use it.
However the Mahalo pages themselves are owned by Mahalo. You are just the page Manager. Mahalo reserves the right to revoke that management for any reason.
Does that mean that they are going to go around yanking pages for no reason? Absolutely not.
In fact, Mahalo has been very lenient on when they take away a page. They only do it when it is obvious that no work is being done or something against the Terms of Service.
I don't think it's any different than a sight like Facebook.
You post your Content on Facebook and can make the page "valuable", but you can't SELL your page to anyone. It is the property of Facebook.
The last thing I heard from Jason was no selling pages.
And he is the only one that can make that decision.
But I would venture to guess that Jason and Co. are working on many ideas as to how to add more incentive to managing pages.
It's our job to keep throwing out the ideas!
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• Thank you for clarifying and contributing!
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Other Answers (4)
September 01, 2009 09:14 PM
What about the text themselves. I vaguely recall reading whatever I write, I own the copyright to the words themselves, and can use them elsewhere. I suppose, the value of those words is considerably enhanced on the Mahalo platform
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September 01, 2009 09:21 PM
I am not a lawyer.
I remember when Mahalo 2.0 came out at the beginning of June a few ideas like this one (selling pages) came up and Jason Calacanis the CEO of Mahalo said this was a no-no, and if I'm not mistaking, no-no was the exact wording he used to describe the idea.
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I remember when Mahalo 2.0 came out at the beginning of June a few ideas like this one (selling pages) came up and Jason Calacanis the CEO of Mahalo said this was a no-no, and if I'm not mistaking, no-no was the exact wording he used to describe the idea.
September 01, 2009 09:36 PM
I can certainly understand the connection you're trying to make between selling pages and selling domains. As someone already stated it's property of Mahalo, it sounds fair. People give up their pages regularly, and it's not like they receive points. If Mahalo were to develop a system for selling pages, I'm sure being smart business people they would profit the most of course. I don't for see anything like that happening. It will be interesting to see where things go as Mahalo continues to grow.
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September 01, 2009 10:08 PM
Well, the truth of the matter, is if Mahalo confiscates the page, peoples antennae would pop up, because why would you want to work on something, only to have it taken away? The company would start to collapse once word got out. It has to be a win win.
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September 01, 2009 10:43 PM
You made a good point, I think it would be worth reading the legal terms of the Mahalo Agreements. Have we established who's intellectual property our contributions belong to once we post on Mahalo?
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September 01, 2009 10:15 PM
Great question! The same thought has crossed my mind, lets say you own the Credit Suisse page and one day the bank decides your page is getting a lot of attention and they want to use it as a medium to present themselves to customers. However they wouldnt necessarily want a non-employee to have control over what the page says, what could they do? And what are the page managers rights? I see a couple of ways it could go.
Firstly the manager could sell the page, however not the actual domain because it is not his to sell. We are strictly talking about the post of manager would be left free for an employee of the interested firm.
Secondly the company could pay the page manager to continue managing the page, alas under their command and in their favour. Perhaps to edit the page in some ways that the company would prefer.
Thirdly, the manager has no right and the company can step in if it wishes, however I have no knowledge on internet laws and regulations so I am not sure who would be right here.
Another important factor is what about celebrities and public figures? Their publicists might be interested in good press of their star so they would certainly look at Mahalo pages, if they do indeed become significantly popular.
In the ideal world for us page managers if Mahalo really takes off we could sell our page manager post to interested parties and reap profits. Maybe give a 20% stake to Mahalo. Who knows...
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September 01, 2009 10:37 PM
Yeah! A Credit Suisse employee could join Mahalo, and do a side deal where you abandon your page, and the employee picks it up right away.
Or, Credit Suisse hires you as an employee and pays you wages and fringe benefits, but as you say, you are now under the control of Credit Suisse.
One thing though, is I would like to be independent, to present the independent view, and not always be bought by someone.
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Or, Credit Suisse hires you as an employee and pays you wages and fringe benefits, but as you say, you are now under the control of Credit Suisse.
One thing though, is I would like to be independent, to present the independent view, and not always be bought by someone.
September 01, 2009 11:03 PM
I agree, Mahalo should be a zone of freedom of speech and opinion I guess and big firms cant come in with propaganda and bias.
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September 03, 2009 12:23 AM
I would like to see this feature added. Managed pages do have a lot of value. The top pages are worth thousands of dollars based on their yearly projected income. With pages making a lot of money, I'm sure there would be users out there who would like to use Mahalo dollars to buy pages from other users. Likewise, I bet there are some users that would like to make a quick buck by selling some pages to other users. There would be a balance between how much a page is expected to earn, and how much it would sell for. That amount would have to be determined by the seller. I think this would get a lot of money moving around the system.
One negative that others have mentioned is if users just went around claiming popular words and brands, and then tried to sell them to the owners without developing them. Mahalo pages are not quite at the website domain level yet, but they are gaining popularity and they may hold a more significant importance in the future.
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http://www.observer.com/2009/media/tech-top-pimp-jason-calacanis-presents-mahalo-20 and at CNET
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10255071-2.html
Jason speculated that ownership of pages may be transferrable in the future:
"Pages are given out only to registered users, and the number of a pages a user can claim depends on their "belt" level on the service (white belts can claim only two pages, for example). If a user who owns a page doesn't keep it maintained, then the system can take it back and puts in on the leaderboard where another user can grab it.
In Mahalo 2.0, that's the extent of ownership transactions. In 2.1, maybe, users will be able to sell the pages they're maintaining. Calacanis speculated that Mahalo might take a fee for enabling the transfer of control from one user to another."
So there is the speculation that pages can be transferred in the next version of Mahalo, although right now, the answer is no. I presume such a page is already generating income, if a fee is going to be imposed. The fee would be to insure the transfer to a particular party. Right now, can't anyone just abandon a page, and then inform the party that might want it, to go pick it up before someone else does?
Yes, they can, but I'm not sure if Mahalo wants that to happen (at least yet)
But good find on the articles. Sounds like it could happen in the future.
Hopefully Jason can clarify for us soon!
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/can-we-sell-mahalo-guide-pages