15 minutes a month seems on the short side unless that includes answering related questions. One has to scan other resources to put in new links and such or read the links and place them in some order.

Perhaps one of the metrics should be the volume of new content that Google is generating on the pages. Some topics don't change much (15 minutes a month perhaps) ... others are much more dynamic and need more managing. Some also are more news-oriented so the Google results probably account for much of "updating". Other topics require bringing in links that may not be showing up in Google links.
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I think it is fantastic to see Mahalo doing so well, after working for almost two years within this fine community of researchers it's great to see our work showing in growing traffic, the key to building a human powered search engine is of course, the humans, it's been great to see many more of them this month.

I have a lot of input in regards to how page management should be handled by Mahalo.

Before we set limits on how many pages Mahaloians can/can't handle, I think it should be noted that some pages require more attention than others.

I think for each belt level there should be a limit to how many pages they can manage. However, before we set those limits we should figure out a way to categorize the urgency of updates for the types of pages Mahalo has to offer.

Here is how I recommend pages be categorized.

-High Priority Topics Pages: These pages need constant attention, perhaps being updated weekly if not daily. (high level celebs, buzz topics, popular websites, upcoming movies, high traffic how-to's, upcoming events, coupon pages etc...) These are the high priority pages, the Mahalo pages that get the most of our unique traffic, it is important that we keep these pages updated so new users get trustworthy and recent information.

-Medium Priority Topic Pages: These are pages about topics that are not always buzz worthy, but still need to be updated regularly (sports teams, players, music artists, cities, countries, companies etc...) The types of pages that get just enough traffic that you feel should be up to date and presentable.

- Low Priority Topic Pages: These are pages that once they are created and perfected may never need to be tampered with again, perhaps only need to be checked once a year. (low priority how-To pages, deceased people, old movies, historical pages, low level actors/names, old news events etc...) These are lower traffic pages, but should still be accurate and current.

To understand the importance of categorizing pages, just consider, a user maintaining 2 High priority pages needs to do more updates than a user maintaining 2 low priority pages.

Once you figure out how many of each priority Mahaloians can handle, that's when hard numbers should be put place.

For example, We can say a black belt user can manage 720 Pages, Total.
50 High Priority Pages
200 Medium Priority Pages
500 Low Priority Pages

I think at that point we could start putting numbers together as well as an auditing system. I don't think each user will need to be highly monitored, but I do think patterns will surface if we display the update habits of users.

I wholeheartedly agree that it would be very useful to profile pages to offer a simple list of the "Last date update" to the current "Pages Managed" tab. Being able to keep track of the last update date is key. I've posted this future screenshot before, mods and managers could really benefit from viewing the "last date updated" on each page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3598210817/

I also think it would be really helpful to the viewers of Mahalo if the patented Mahalo badge offered a bit more information about each page, such at the latest update date.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33749589@N07/3825052641/

I think we should let top Mahalians race up to large amounts of pages, as long as they are willing to update the high priority pages often and maintain their low priority pages periodically.

What needs to figured out first is how we manage and determine the level of priority that individual pages have.

Anyway, great questions Jason, and great job on a great summer... You'know they say this is the down season of the Internets...You sure killed that theory :D
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1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date?

I agree with @jeffhoard that it's difficult to gauge how long each page will take as some pages need less work than others. But I would have to listen to @lon when he says around 300-350. He would know better than anyone else.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle?

Yes, but allow for a bit of flexibility for certain cases where the manager is showing that they can handle more.

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order?

To me what is really needed is some system for non-page managers to have incentive to suggest updates and inform page managers that there are issues with one of their pages.

Even if a page manager only has a 1 or 2 pages, there are going to be times when something important goes unnoticed. Or with coupon pages, there may be a great deal that someone else finds that would be a great addition.

So if there was some system in place for suggesting changes and some way to compensate these suggestions, I think that would make a world of difference.

Even better would be some sort of system where "qualified users" could make updates to non-managed pages automatically.

4. ..do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages?

If something like what I mentioned in #3 was put in place, then yes.
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Hi,
I don't think that it is that much straight forward. Because the tasks are also variable in value and priority. Take the answers division for instance. I usually get around 10% of my answers chosen as best answer. but that doesn't mean that i cash out a lot even if I answer a lot! Simply because i win the low-tipping questions!
In conclusion, i think that you should also count the value of the task in your equation!
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I Don't think it is a good way, because I feel this rule will decrease the users satisfaction! because I dont think one person can concentrate 15 minutes per page, because all are thinking to create a new page only, past is past, so no one is ready to work with already created!

But you can set a limit of pages per month! for example, if you set a 100 pages per month it is fine. because the limitation is the only way to get a quality pages!

I hope you can understand deeply about my answers!
Source(s):
own

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0) "I think we did M$2k in cash outs every month for the past couple, but for July we have almost M$10,000 is cash leaving the system!"

Wow! That's really great. I requested well under $1000 and appreciate every penny. Thank-you Mahalo!

I suspect that a lot of the payouts are to former / current remote guides and Mahalo staff though, right? It's confusing to see things like "M$10,000 is leaving the system". That M$10,000 wasn't available to the general public, it's part of Mahalo's previous payroll, right?

Also, M$10,000 is only $7,500. When I think back to the last month, the barnraisings, the tasks, the traffic surges and generally the amount of work, $7500 sounds like a crazy low number. This is good business and I find the model very interesting.

===

1. What is the maximum number of pages?

It depends on the type of pages that one manages. There are different categories of pages. Each category requires a different amount of time to manage.

2. What should the maximum number of pages be?

My crystal ball (and a comment by Jason in a Mahalo Tutorial video) both lead me to believe that I don't think Mahalo is going to allow folks to claim any page that they want forever. My crystal ball says that Mahalo is going to lock down page management and only offer a page to a person who completes a task for it or is maybe part of some type of "page creation group". If I'm right, then I don't think that there should be a limit on the number of pages, only the number of tasks that a person can complete in any one barnraising / vertical buildout.

3. How should auditing work?

Before auditing, I think that Mahalo should figure out exactly what levels of pages exist and how long they take to manage. Then, if you figure out and average how long pages in each category take to update, you can form real expectations. I think that @jeffhoard is right with this category line of thinking but think that there are a lot more than 3 levels of page management.

I also think that Mahalo should reward people for updating. Currently, there isn't a reason to update other than fear.

4. Do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages?

I don't know. I would ask the following questions:

• How well are those 300-600 pages being updated?
  
• How do the current pages compare with competing serps?
  
• Where's the traffic? Do the top people already have the top 10% of the pages?
  
• What exactly will the prerequisites be for high level page management? Right now, it's just former remote guide experience or Lon's quick review.
  
• What happens when someone hits the upper limit of page creation? Do they get bored and leave or transition into a simple updater?
  
• Are there enough people in the community to maintain a wide base of page management creation? Do you need to allow people to manage that many pages?

6. Post how you feel with a song. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMJKLPFIVBY
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@jeffhoard brings up some awesome points, especially about pages that need more effort than others. Even the low-priority pages would need a quick look, to see if everything is still awesome, and a minute or two for promotion. Lets do some math. Assuming that low-priority pages need five minutes a week, medium-priority pages need 10 and high-priority pages need 15:

If someone had 300 pages, 150 low, 100 medium and 50 high:
(150 x 5) + (100 x 10) + (50 x 15) = 41 hours and 40 minutes.

Someone with double that amount would need 83 hours and 20 minutes to keep them fresh, or almost 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

While I have no doubt many dedicated and awesome users would be willing to put in that time (it's so addicting that it's hard not to spend so much time here), adding in a audit system would keep everyone honest and make the system fair. One suggestion would be to focus the audits on those managing over a certain amount, say 20 or 50 pages, which would give leeway to newer users who are still mastering the process.

I really like the idea of having a "nudge" button on pages, allowing one user to flag a page managed by another that may need some love. Perhaps a certain amount of justified flags per user would send an alarm to the staff, notifying them to a possible area where a closer look may be needed.

Overall, there are so many awesome users who are doing an excellent job with the pages they have. It's really fascinating to see such an overwhelming effort and shows that when many work together for the same common good, the possibilities are endless.
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1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date?

I think most people should be capped at about 300 pages, but would like to see them split in categories as described above. New buzzy stuff needs to be worked on every day for a limited time, while the Coconuts page might need to be looked at once a month. While it might not need any changes, I firmly believe if you own a page you should glance at it to make sure someone else hasn't come along to mess something up. There should be a way for us to mark a page as checked, instead of making a needless change to a pretty perfect page.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle?

Yes. In a few cases people are just not doing high quality work. They are claiming top buzzy pages just for the revenue, without adding a single thing. Makes me pretty upset to see a top buzzy page claimed by a user with no guide note or fast facts. (Note, this doesn't happen with the people that are active on answers, I've only seen new users do this.)

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order?

I think the only good way to do it is through periodic spot checks. Seeing the last date edited would be nice for the users, but for staff, we need to see the page is actually current. That last edit might have been to pin a picture or something just to show the page has been worked on, while it really may need a full update.

4. Do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages?

If they can prove that they won't cut corners and make their pages successful, I would say go for it. But, I'm afraid the number of people who can successfully do this will be limited. Big kudos for those that can!

5. What do you guys think about all this!??! Are you as excited as me!?!?!?

I'm excited, but wary at the same time. I want quality pages, along with the quality. We must have this for Mahalo to be a success in the long run. What would be the point of attracting new people if they look at a page and say "huh?" They'll remember it the next time their search comes up in Google, and they won't be back.

6. Post how you feel with a song. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzPOSXttWv0
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This answer has been voted unhelpful by users. Please click to view

Lol - Thats like asking how long is a piece of string :-)
Hide

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First let me say I am extremely glad this topic was brought up - I think the dialogue is super important.

I tend to agree with Lon that 300 may be closer to the target for someone working 40 hours per week on these pages BUT I also think that depends on the type of pages the manager has claimed and the manager's ability to do updates in a timely manner. If they are all the How Tos the "regular" updates won't be needed as often - this leaves time to promote them. However, if one takes a number of "buzzy" pages, that will need regular updates, I think even 300 is pushing it. Hard. If someone claims or creates a page on a breaking event - off the top of my head I'm thinking things like wildfires, terror attacks, hurricanes (I'm definitely thinking about hurricanes a lot right now, unfortunately), etc. - these are pages that may require more than one or two updates a DAY. If someone comes to our Mahalo page on (Insert Developing Story Here) for information, we should provide them with the most up to date information available. I wish there was a way to let the page manager know, "Hey, awesome that you took/created this page but be aware this is a developing story and may require multiple daily updates for a period of time." Something like that. The "nudge" button idea is a stellar one - I'm all for it.

I'm excited that we have so many people willing to create and manage so many Mahalo pages, no doubt! But to whom much has been given, much is also expected.
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1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date?

First off, I love Jeff's idea about splitting them into categories but I think this is really based on the individual doing the work. I thought 100 was going to be to much but some of our users have just really stepped it up and are handling more now.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle?

I think the limit should be raised on a individual basis like we do now.

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order?

Spot checking when people ask for increases has been a huge plus for me. I've taught quite a few people (and confused a few along the way).

4. The folks with these large number of pages are mostly former remote Guides from Mahalo who made $10 an hour. They are now actually, on track to make the same amount they made working 160 hours a month (i.e. $1,600). That's a great sign.... as such, do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages? This would be a big sign of good-will on the part of Mahalo and we would have to trust folks to do a good job maintaining them.

Anyway, as you can see from the attached image, we have four users with 300-800 pages managed.

Problem is most of these pages haven't been updated since ownership.

5. What do you guys think about all this!??! Are you as excited as me!?!?!?

I am very excited to see what lays ahead for our users. It's exciting to see users like jkepler and a few others really get going and do so well!

6. Post how you feel with a song. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjrSZNm4_vs
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I agree with the earlier post by jeffhoard. It would be great to see "Last date updated" information on the "Page Managed" tab. This would help both the page managers and the Mahalo staff. It would help the staff members monitor who is doing updates.
In my opinion, it is a matter of personal responsibility to keep pages up to date and make sure we only create and maintain superior quality pages. If the pages are of poor quality, it is a reflection on the manager and the entire Mahalo community. One bad experience by a user will hurt the chances of that person returning to the site.
The question is how many pages someone can manage without sacrificing the quality of the page. It depends on the how much time someone is willing to spend on their pages. If someone churns out 100's of low quality pages, we all will suffer in the long run. Maybe I am focusing to much on quality, but it is important.
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1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date?

I'm not comfortable putting a maximum number on the pages a person can handle in 40 hours because I think the amount of work a person can (and is willing to do) greatly varies from person to person. I honestly think the top contributors should be able to claim as many pages as they can keep up with. I also think a system for classifying "high priority' pages is a great idea, as long as there is clarification as to how often the page should be updated.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle?

Lon suggests 300 as a maximum number of pages managed in a 40 hour week. If a person has 280 low priority pages and has 20 pages that need frequent updates, I think it would be unfair to put a cap on managing more pages IF their high priority pages are well maintained. Assuming the person is making Mahalo their "full time job," I think those dedicated people, should be able to manage more pages.

On the other hand, people who have pages that are not being updated or kept up to par should be limited when it comes to claiming more (especially high priority) pages. I would say the amount of pages managed should be on a case by case basis.

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order?

The "nudge button" is a great idea! I also think we should have something similar to our old "updates" team weeding through the high priority pages (or our top content), adding a quick update and then messaging the page manager so they can get the feel of how the pages should be updated. After seeing our example, if the page manager is willing and able to keep up with the page, that's great. By doing this, the 'update' team will be able to gauge which page managers are able to maintain and produce quality pages. I also think the "nudge button" is a great idea!

4. Do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages?

Absolutely yes if they can maintain quality pages and are willing to put in the time.

5. What do you guys think about all this!??! Are you as excited as me!?!?!?
Of course : )
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In answer to each of your questions, @jasoncalacanis:

I haven't read any of the other answers yet, I want this answer all to be my own thoughts.

1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date?
This varies according to the page type taken. Certain pages take a lot of maintenance (e.g. Celebrities or In the News (Iran, Swine Flu, etc)), whereas other pages take minimal maintenance (e.g. many of the "How To's", historic pages (e.g. old films, past years (e.g. 2001, etc)
Infact lots of "How To's" were so professionally written in the first place that it's hard to make wholesale improvements, e.g I picked up How To Clean Suede today and it needs minimal changes.

Assuming that high maintenance pages take about 50 minutes per month and minimal maintenance pages take about 20 minutes per month, I would say if a Mahaloian has equal of both then an average page would be 35 minutes per page per month.

Therefore for 160 hours, the calculation would be (160 * 60 / 35). This comes out at 274. So I guess a sensible limit for 160 hours per month would be the management of about 300 pages.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle?

This really varies from person to person. You can't realistically set a limit by belt because there are many high earners on pages who are on modest belt levels.

I think Mahaloians need to make a declaration of there weekly hours they will work just on managing pages and then a number can be agreed. For every 10 hours per week they commit to work on managing pages, they could be allocated 75 pages, up to a maximum of 50 hours per week or 375 maximum.

Based on my 20 minutes for a low maintenance page, a Mahaloian could manage 160 * 60 / 20) of these or 480 of these.

Mahaloians need to choose what they work on within Mahalo. I have recently prioritised on managing pages and have stopped answering questions. All other effort on Mahalo has to be treated as irrelevant when calculating how many pages a user can manage.

For every 10 hours per week of dedicated page management a Mahaloian puts in then, the limit should be 70-120, depending on how tight/generous Mahalo wants to be. Perhaps this matters less as Mahalo builds up the pages?

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order?
I think Mahalo need to check a certain % of all the managed pages per month, if 8% was checked this would mean all pages were checked once per year. Under this scheme 8% of a Mahaloians managed pages would be checked by approved staff. These staff would send out suggestions where the manager had 7 days to fix or they would lose the page.

Another method would be to check the highest priority pages more frequently. Priority would probably be determined by the number of visitors a page gets, Mahalo would have the stats for this. Perhaps high priority pages could be checked 6 times per year and lower priority pages just twice per year.

5. What do you guys think about all this!??! Are you as excited as me!?!?!?
I'm really impressed and definitely feel the highest earnings for a Mahaloian are through managed pages. That's why most of my energy has been invested in this area lately. I'm frequently pleasantly surprised by the high Google Search Engine positions generated by Mahalo. Ultimately income will be derived dependent upon the popularity of the search term X search engine position (mainly Google) X visitors disposition to click adverts for that term.

6. Post how you feel with a song. :-)
I've attached Boston's "More than a feeling" as A) It's a classic, B) I have more than a feeling that Mahalo will be a future success and C) It pretty much describes my mood right now!

7. Add a tip and we'll give the prize to the person who's answer is voted the most insightful.
I've added a $0.50 tip
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I am one of the former remote guides who have been given the privilege of managing a large number of pages.

I currently work 40-50 hours on Mahalo. It has been my full time job for over 2 years.

Most of the pages I manage are How-Tos or history pages, many (if not most) of which I built.

I currently spend 3-5 hours a day on updates. I have a spreadsheet that lists each of my pages. On a daily basis, I review the Google Rank and content of my "Top 25". I also review all pages that have received a view (or earned revenue, if views haven't been updated) to make sure the page has been updated recently and is holding it's Google rank-- this is usually about 200 pages.

I then sort my pages my date-- and review some older ones to make sure they are holding their rank.

Any page (from those I've looked at) that has dropped off page 1 on Google gets some attention either through adding keywords, backlinks, blogging, or posting to social networks

I have very few "newsworthy" pages-- but I update them if something happens--and have also been known to update another news page if a story breaks-- such as Eunice Kennedy Shriver's death last week--when the user who had the page hadn't updated it by 9am, I did a quick update and let Mahalo staff know.

I'm not sure the number of pages that anyone person cam handle can be standardized. It depends on the types of pages, the topics of the pages, and the ability/experience of the individual user. I'm not sure belt level is the best way to allocate numbers-- as some upper belts received their level primarily from answering questions, which is different from managing pages.

I weed out pages each day that I feel no longer make sense for me to hold onto, and still have time to research topics and build new pages.

I'm not sure what everyone else does--but that's what I do. I don't feel I've reached my limit yet.

Susan
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Working a full time job doesn't allow a lot of free time to manage pages, but those who can treat Mahalo like a full time job can manage a lot of pages.

It looks like 300-500 is the agreed upon figure at the moment. I think 500 is very generous. 300 would be plenty for most people. I do think users should have to work up to that point kinda like how we do now with having to request page increases. It wouldn't be good to have a new users sign up and immediately claim a lot of pages before they know what they are doing.

I think there should be a page limit cap. The only problem with the cap is that once a member reaches that point, they are less likely to make new pages because it means they have to drop pages they already manage. This is an issue at the low numbers, but I think it would be ok once a user is in the 100's level.

For monitoring updates, I like Jeff's idea about publicly displaying when the page was last updated, in the page list, and on the page itself. The nudge button would be a nice feature also.

It would be difficult to assign a page priority, especially since there will be lots of new pages being created everyday, so I'm not too keen on the priority categorizing.

Also I don't like the idea about members having to manage a page for a whole year if they claim it as a task. Sorry Jason, but that is a huge commitment to hold onto a page for a whole year, especially pages that don't need a lot of updates and are not making any money. Users like to be able to claim new pages and drop old pages quickly.

Last comment, Philipy said he thought most of the good pages have been claimed already. This is true about the pages that already exits, but the thing is, there are still hundreds of thousands of pages yet to be built that have just as much potential to be in the top earnings page list. It's just a matter of figuring out what those pages are and then making them.
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Hi Everyone!

Wow. I am not sure where to start. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts to offer. Sorry if I go from one topic to another. I want to answer all of Jason's initial questions, but also comment on some of the general ideas that others have offered above.

First, I am one of these former Remote guides that Jason has spoken about that is managing 500+ pages. Jason is right -- my August earnings will be around 1600 regular dollars, not mahalo. I suspect they will be higher for work in September as I am finally getting an idea of what works as far as profitable pages.

While I agree with Jason and Lon on some levels regarding page management caps, I am also leery about them. I definitely agree a user needs to prove they can manage a significant number of pages and do so well. Those of us former remotes know the page building system well, even with the new one in place, and have a better idea of how to work in the system. As such, we have known more what to expect and how to delegate our time. Obviously, if there is a cap, I am going to agree with Jason's 500 limit because it affects me directly. He is right -- I can definitely release some of my pages to get to 500 and not lose profit, as many of the pages are not high earners, and some have not made any at all. However, as an active, full-time job participant (More than 40 hours a week at this point), I would then be concerned about being able to create new pages when I get an idea I want to experiment with. If I, or other users have already reached their cap and do not want to release the pages, then we may be less likely to build a page that could be profitable. For that reason, I think caps should not be the focus of the next few months as Mahalo continues to grow. I think encouraging users to experiment and build pages is the most important thing to focus on. When more users are on target to make thousands of dollars a year, I think more and more dedication will be given to the site as far as time and word of mouth and quality. That said -- there defintely needs to be a system in check for users who qualify for a large amount of pages. 500 + pages is a LOT for anyone, even an old hat user like me, to manage effectively.......which brings me to types of pages managed and answering the initial questions:

1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date?

I really think that is difficult to say on many levels. I would refer back to Jeff Hoard's comment about high priority vs. low priority first. I was not on board with the way he categorized the various pages in each priority section, but definitely agree that certain pages need more attention than others.

For example -- how tos. When I was a remote guide I was part of the how-to team. As such, almost 300 of my managed pages are all how tos! For the most part, I would say they are low-priority pages, even some of the ones that have high traffic. There is a point, IMO, when you can provide too much info. in a how to and a user will just scan the bulk of content and move on rather than hanging around. Certain pages benefit from adding and taking away content in the how-tos, while others do not. A lot of the how-tos I manage are ones I actually wrote. I know I always spent more time on them back then, off the clock time, to bulk them up. I know the ones that will and won't benefit a great deal from updates. That said, about half of my 500+ pages are how tos, so I feel like I can successfully manage 400 others on top of that if I devote most of my 40+ hours a week to those 400.....FYI. the other top page managing remote guides pages are at least half how-tos as well. It is easier to maintain over 500 pages when so many are how tos that you wrote!

To me, one of the biggest benefits for Mahalo regarding former guides managing how tos has to do with us going through and fixing all the bad formatting. To me, having a few wrong facts in a GN is not the only turn off a user may have. In my own experience, bad formatting turns me off, and ALL of the how-tos that came over from the old system had formatting issues. ALL OF THEM. I put that in all caps for anyone managing a how to now that did not build it themselves. If you claimed a how to and did not change anything on it then you should go back and look it over. All the guide notes were duplicated and appear in both the GN section and in the main portion of the text, above the introductions. Half of the pages also duplicate the tips section both below the guide note and in the body of the text. The table of contents on the hows tos also aren't that relevant to the new system, and can be removed entirely from the guide note. There are also extra sections for resources that need to be removed on some pages. I've seen numerous how-to pages managed by active members that have these mistakes and have been meaning to send out a message about it. I try not to get sidetracked and fix these things on managed pages when I am trying to get through my own updates, though in the beginning I did. I know I need to go back through and double check my own as well, as I am sure I missed a page or two when the system was having kinks and I was unable to change things at certain times, so I am making a note to myself to do that this week.

Anyway, my point is that sometimes the main updates that are needed are the initial ones, which are often VERY important. Then, depending on the type of page, page management ability and time will vary.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle?

For the most part I think I answered this question initially. I think in the coming months that freedom for experimenting with pages and what works is very important for Mahalo and its users. I think types of pages are way more important than putting a general cap. Obviously a system will be put in place to determine which users can manage the largest amount of pages. At that point, I think the monitoring system will be more crucial than limiting pages. Some people can handle high priority updates on 350 pages, while managing 300 or 400 low and medium priority. I say that only because even high priority pages, depending on the page, will not need but a couple updates a month. Regarding coupon pages, I think the most important thing is blowing them out (building them completely) within the first 2-3 weeks. I have built a lot of amusement parks. Building them out involved a few SOLID links (not just the generated link section) as well as a video, a section on hours of operation, a map to the park and how far the park was located from various major cities, ticket prices on some pages, major attractions listed on some pages, general promotions that were ongoing throughout the summer, and a link to the official site with the latest promotional updates. To me, a page like that only needs an update once or twice a month for a new deal you want to highlight. This does not mean the page isn't high priority, as these pages generate a lot of traffic, but more that the initial building of the page is important. You could take a few month to add everything to the amusement pages and that would be counted as updates, but I like building it initially and not having to do as much later on. Just my preference.

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order?

This is the most important thing for me. First, I think it is difficult for those remote guides that are still with mahalo on a full-time basis to effectively oversee all of us and perform other tasks as well. We can help them out by monitoring each other! I think this is where the community involvement should come into play the most, and why I think those sections on last page update, etc. are so awesome. Now, bare in mind that because of all the initial experimenting the last two months, some of us may not have been as diligent as we intend to be once we have a rhythm down. I will call myself out on this one. I am viewing mahalo as a full-time job right now. When I moved over to profit share I did so with 'gusto.' I knew it would take awhile and a lot of experimenting on my part to see what worked and what didn't, but I believe in what Jason and the crew at mahalo are doing and have been doing. I've been involved with Mahalo for almost 2 years now, and it has been awesome to watch it evolve.

That said, in this early phase of page management and building, I have spent a lot of time experimenting, and some of my pages have not been given the time they deserve. For my part, I have dropped quite a few pages -- pages I fixed formatting issues with (how tos are not the only ones that have them) and updated, but felt I could not do them justice. This mainly applies to bands and actors that just need way more attention than I can give. I feel like I benefited those pages greatly though, as they are now in the system without needing technical tweaks. Even so, there are other pages I intend to update and really devote time to that I haven't yet. Case in point: spoiler pages for the tv season. I have about 7 of these for shows I watch that will be updated constantly come September, but as of now just have top 7s, cast lists, remiere dates and fast facts.

My point is, as a community I think we should be monitoring one another with nudges and what not, but keep in mind that some pages that need love will get them :) I am almost done with my experiment phase, so the next several weeks I will be devoted to blowing out pages I've already created, which is one thing I regret. I wish I had been blowing them out completely as I went and not trying to get them in the system first. I did that because of the indexing issues, but I think I have learned that if you create the page fully to start with, you only have to go back with little updates and are less likely to be called out for it -- and I do think we should call one another out. If I am not managing a page efficiently and someone suggests nicely that they would like to manage if I am unable to devote time to it, I am more than happy to consider that and offer my thoughts. I think that is what nudging is all about. I want this community and this service to do well and I think helping one another and the public/users is the way to go. For me personally, a nudge will cause me to go back and fix/update the page right away, but consider too how I am managing my time and whether or not the page could do better in another's hands. I'll say it now -- this will especially apply to Spoiler pages. I am managing a lot of them, and may have to give a few up in the fall. I created the pages and have put time in them already, but I think pages like that are good for mahalo and encourage community involvement, but are high priority pages that the community should keep an eye on to make sure managers like me are updating them effectively this fall.......... :)

4. The folks with these large number of pages are mostly former remote Guides from Mahalo who made $10 an hour. They are now actually, on track to make the same amount they made working 160 hours a month (i.e. $1,600). That's a great sign.... as such, do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages? This would be a big sign of good-will on the part of Mahalo and we would have to trust folks to do a good job maintaining them.

I have babbled enough, but again, I think encouraging users and community is important at this stage. Granted, we want quality pages. However, I think those people that have been building in the community and showing their devotion should have the chance to experiment more freely. Maybe some encouragement could be given to these people picking up pages already created and updating them as well as creating new ones though. A lot of the pages I dropped for lack of being able to update them frequently have still not been claimed, so they are no better off than when I had them.

5. What do you guys think about all this!??! Are you as excited as me!?!?!?

I am so EXCITED Jason. You were right, we CAN make as much, and even more, doing profit sharing.

6. Post how you feel with a song. :-)

This is me being CHEESY!

7. Add a tip and we'll give the prize to the person who's answer is voted the most insightful. :-)
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I have to preface this by saying I've not been on Mahalo long, so I'm unaware of the nuances of the situation. But topics related to knowledge communities are something that have interested me for a while, so I'd love to throw my 2 bits in.

1. Maximum number of pages one can handle? and 2. Should there be a cap? 3. How to audit?

There's never going to be a perfect answer to the number of pages one person can handle, because of differing requirements of different sites. On the one hand, adding limits pushes the person to build the 'maximally profitable' collection of sites, in the long term.

No cap offers the possibility of collecting infinite pages, with the member taking on the role of the site itself: creating a sub-economy to notify them when pages need work and supply the necessary edits, and then keeping a percentage of the profit.

Either way, over time more users are going to be reaching the levels of these few, experienced members. And this is where your concern is: the transition from a site where the 'super-users' are well-known and trusted, to one that is more truly community owned. The answer is: how much do you trust the basic social structure of the site? Is the rigorous journey to a high belt level enough to insure that anyone reaching the level of responsibility of managing hundreds of site is capable of not only maintaining standards, but knowing if they are failing to do so?

And, is it possible for the community itself to recognize when there is a breakdown? So long as the ability to recognize neglected or incorrect pages is part of the daily functionality of the site, it should be possible to individually deal with a specific situation that may arise with one user. All you need, if the others are performing to the expected standard.

One notion is the ability to petition for a page, managed by someone else. If it's being neglected, and an interested user wants to put in the effort, the community can decide the fate of the page - sort of like Child Protective Services stepping in. Otherwise, the ability to flag a page, putting it under an 'audit' status by the community, should locate issues. So long as the 'audit' system works just like Mahalo's 'answer' section, with reward to the best 'auditor,' pages should be fairly evaluated in a manner in line with the community structure.

4. Should more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages?

It has to happen eventually for the site to be a true knowledge community. BUT, what we tend to see, over and over, is that equal-opportunity communities do not tend to maintain without outside interference. Rather, subsets of users form 'elite' units, which distribute information/power/assets according to their own rules.

Right now this seems to be the structure - only it's institutionalized, and thus somewhat transparent. If Mahalo continues to grow it will be -necessary- to either allow more members into this elite group, or to create a way for the trusted users to effectively manage more pages through long-term subcontracting (rather than outsourcing bits of page-building, the member would outsource the page upkeep, and be held accountable for abuse.)

I'm a huge fan of apprenticeship. It's fallen out of favor in recent years, but really is the best way to prepare individuals for a job. So while I do think more members should be allowed to manage large numbers of pages, I think it should happen through a mentorship program with the currently trusted members. Since the mentors will receive a percentage of the pages managed by their mentorees, this would offset any loss of income from having a reduced personal workload, and would likely set them out ahead. All in the name of progress!

5. Are you as excited as me!?!?!? 6. Song.

No one could be as excited as you! But I get really excited about the maturation of online society. You have no idea. Sugarcult's "Bouncing off the Walls" is bouncing a continuous loop around my cranium.
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How many Mahalo pages can one person working 40 hour a week handle professionally?

I think that depends on many factors.

Everyone here might think I may sound a bit unreasonable but I believe their shouldn't be any SET limit. The limit should be based on a persons bounce ratio and stats.
As well as the type of internet connection they have.
I have a Fiber optic connection at home and at work, when I had a dial-up and then DSL connection it would have been almost impossible to *professionally* manage any more than 100 pages.
Both of these 2 things can massively affect a members capacity to professionally manage multiple pages.

As well as but not limited to.
If a member has many sub pages that don't require constant attention then that should also be taken into account.

For instance, I am the manager of both

/Trillian /Trillian-Astra /Trillian-Web

Now the attention that each one of these is very different.....let me explain.

Believe it or not the /Trillian page requires less attention because of the newer, more mainstream, and more widely used /Trillian-Astra
Even more so now that it is out of beta.

However: now because of the massive spike in users do to it being out of beta both the bounce ratio and the page views will probably go up.

So I believe if a limit is imposed all of these things should be taken into consideration.

Excited Regards,
XDS

Oh and if their is a limit i'd say that I could professionally handle about 6-700 pages a week and probably a couple hundred sub pages as well without any problems, things like RT twitter stats really help with this.
Source(s):
My experience so far using different methods of page manipulation.

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I am a former remote guide, and currently manage over 600 pages. The majority of them are how tos, and need very little updating. I purposely avoid taking on too many "buzzy"/current events pages, because I realize that I can not update hundreds of them regularly enough. I honestly believe that my pages are being well-managed, and I am capable of handling at least as many as I currently have.

I think that the maximum number of pages given to any user should be determined by the types of pages claimed, as well as the user's history.

That said, Mahalo is my full time job, and has been my only job since I was first hired on to the how to team. I am still nowhere near earning $1,600 monthly with my managed pages, but my income is supplemented by the how tos and other pages I build through tasks. I love working for Mahalo, and chose to stick around after the switch to M2 despite the pay cut because I think this is an awesome site!

I enjoy brainstorming with the other former remote guides, and coming up with new ideas for successful, money-making pages. We've done pretty well at that so far, earning a good deal of cash for ourselves and for Mahalo with the pages that we have created over the past couple of months. I am afraid that if we are capped too low, the creativity and brainstorming may end, since we will need to be more conservative in our page creation.
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Since I'm one of the four users referenced, I suppose it's good for me to come in here and share my comments. However, I think the general discussion we're all having is leading in the right direction. As Jason has said many times, this is all one big, fun, exciting experiment.

I find that I can accomplish things faster and faster with every passing week. I just signed up for Mahalo in June, and do not have nearly as much experience at this as the other power users. When I first started page promotion and SEO it was REALLY slow. Now I can do it reasonably quickly. The faster I can accomplish things, the more I can get done in the same amount of time, and I think that's probably one of the things that will separate the high earning users from the medium-earning users regardless of where we set the page limits.

To answer the question, I think the 300-500 limit is fine for most users. However, I hope no one is feeling threatened by that limit, as there will probably always be at least a few exceptions. If I ever get to the point where I'm really sure I can manage 700 pages, and I can prepare Lon and Jason a wonderful report or slide show proving it, then I'm sure something could get worked out.
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I've been watching this thread since it started, and hesitated to put in my 2 cents...

I'm still pretty new here, but I think I'm ready to weigh in on this issue.

First. While I understand the desire for a cap... I think it potentially limits some people. What if instead of a rigid cap, we had a cap that triggered a review... similar to what we have now?

The problem as I see it is that you are trying to put hard numbers on something that is very variable. Some people have a lot more than 40 hours a week to put in. Some people have more experience finding information on the web, and could add quality content more quickly. Some are more experienced with the system.

Then you have the bugs. As long as we have a buggy editing system it will be hard to say you have to spend x amount of time on each type of page. Some pages that should have taken me minutes have taken closer to an hour to update. I have workarounds for most things now, but just this evening I couldn't get the system to keep a title change I made. I finally gave up and will try again later.

I think it is fine to set an overall limit of say, 500 pages, as has been discussed... but I think that if an individual shows a propensity for doing this and does it well, he or she should be allowed more. Lon recently said in a Mahalo tutorial that he could see some members doing 500-1000 pages and keeping them up. I'm sure he had a mix of page types in his head, as I can't see ANYONE being able to do even 300 buzzy pages but some just do not need updates very often.

Just look at the barnraising we are going into... once you have a page on a mobile phone accessory, or any other product, and it is fully fleshed out... just how much would you need to change it? Especially when it is tied to a particular model of phone which will be obsolete in a couple of years...

And while we are on the subject of tasks... Jason, you mentioned taking on a page for a year when you take on the task. If you combine that with the cap on pages I predict you will have less participation in barnraisings. Some people like to do the tasks and not take the pages. Some do them for the pages. Either way, you could lose participants. I understand the desire to have every page managed... but I don't think that will ever be the case without adding a lot more staff. Too many pages will be in the system that will not be moneymakers and not be something someone is passionate about.

Now I'd like to mention a little bit of how I'm currently working, so you get an idea that not all of us are coming at this the same way.

Because of the testing I am doing I end up starting or claiming a number of pages at once. This means that at any one time I may have a number of sparse pages. Many that I am taking over are missing almost an entire column. So I go through each page I manage, and I start adding content and moving things around to test placements against results.

And since I do so much testing, I would literally have to give up a couple of dozen pages every time I hit the cap, just to keep testing. So I agree with some others that it can limit creativity.

All of that being said, I have wanted the nudge feature for a while already, as well as the last updated column in the pages managed tab. While I'm at it, I might as well ask for the ability to sort that tab by views, revenue or date last updated or managed since. It would help once the list gets longer to be able to sort by what I want to update next. Can't get it if we don't ask, eh? =)

I honestly don't yet know how many pages I can manage at once. I wasn't a guide so I don't have the experience that allison or ninakat or others do. I just make sure I'm communicating with Lon. I do have experience managing web pages, but I'm still working my way around the system, learning what works best in the format you have... which I do love, btw. I'm sure I will know when I've reached the limit of what I can keep updated.

Am I excited? You bet I am! I love what you have here and where you've said you want to take it.

Whatever y'all decide, I'm sure you will make it work. We will all be on board with you and trust that you will continue to stretch the system to grow with us.

I think you've done a pretty great job so far. I had no idea how new 2.0 was when i got here... and I'll say it again... I think you all do a PHENOMENAL job!

Thanks for letting us all be a part of the discussion... it's part of what I love about Mahalo.
Source(s):
my 2 cents... and maybe a little more.

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I'm right there with @angieh on the Nudge button, and also with @jeffhoard on the necessity for Last Date Updated notices -- although it'd be great to be able to track how significant the "update" was. Is it possible for it to say "Last Date Updated: 6/7/09 (2)" with the (2) indicating how many updates were actually made on that date?

But I'd love to see the Nudge button, in fact, play a larger role than just sending off an alert to a staffer. My thought before I saw Angie's post was to have a few different versions of a report-an-issue button, like:

1) a writing quality nudge
2) a fact accuracy nudge
3) an up-to-date nudge, and
4) perhaps a multiple issues nudge

Once the user clicks one of these then they could be asked to rate the issue's severity on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 or whatever. And then like @jasoncalacanis is planning, they could be asked to provide further detail in a comment. To make it worth their while they could get a point for each step of the reporting process they complete... inspiring the community to get in the frequent habit of helping keep the site updated might even be worth light tipping.

And then, like @joyannj said, we should probably start thinking about reinstating an updates team that would attend to the most urgent alerts and maintain contact with the managers of the pages that need the most help -- kind of along the same lines as @sniksnak suggesting that a mentoring program could someday be instituted. If folks knew that pages were being reviewed and managers whose pages are suffering were being mentored, I think they might be more motivated to do a good job with every page they owned.

Right now the grammar nazi in me is seeing enough writing, grammar and fact issues -- from the highest-visibility pages on down -- that the idea of folks managing 100s and 100s of pages is scary. But, I understand that now is the time to boost participation and we can clean up the quality as we go, so that by the time the general public starts visiting Mahalo en masse we'll have a handle on it like Wikipedia eventually was able to do.

So...sky's the limit!
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I scanned the answers already given, but did not read all of them thoroughly so I apologize if I repeat anything that has already been stated.

I am going to address each question in order...

1. I think the answer to this question is very subjective. It depends on the person as well as the type of pages. How Tos, for example, once you have double-checked the formatting and the references if its not a page you built yourself, need little maintenance. On the other hand, a page like Barack Obama is going to need almost constant updates. Some people have more time than others, some work more quickly than others, some consider Mahalo their full-time job, some see it (I am sure) as a sort of competition where they want to have the top earning pages.

I know for myself, I currently manage 124 pages. I don't know if I want to go too much higher than that. I would say that my personal cap is around 150. Mahalo is not my full-time job (though I spend a LOT of time on the site), and if most of my pages were not relatively static How Tos, I would not be able to manage all of them effectively. I have gotten one update nudge from @lon for one of my pages, which I appreciated as it spurred me to look at all of the pages I might not have reviewed recently and make updates as needed. I do have a few pages that need more regular updates, and I keep an eye on those, as well as watch for news items that might have an impact on the page content.

In addition, I also regularly review my list of managed pages to see what ones, if any, I can drop. I especially like to do this if I have picked up a number of new pages in one day. I read a lot of online news sites, and I try to stay on top of what people are talking about and what they have stopped talking about. For instance, I have a page on How to Sell Your California IOU which is obviously no longer something that people are going to need to know about, since CA will begin paying out IOUs next month. So once the payouts begin, I will let go of that page. In this way, I can manage the amount of time I spend managing pages to ensure that I am spending my time most effectively.

2. I don't know if there should be a set limit to the number of pages a user can handle. I would hope that most users could police themselves, and not take on more than they could handle. If, however, a user begins falling behind on keeping their pages maintained, then they should have those pages stripped from them and a strict page limit enforced.

I think another option would be to limit the number of "high-priority" pages that a user could claim. As I said before, How Tos tend to be pretty static, so I don't know that these need to be limited. But a page such as Barack Obama (sorry to keep beating that one over the head!) calls for constant, perhaps daily, updates. So the user managing that page should not have a large number of other pages that also require daily updating. I would say set the limit on high priority pages at between 25-50, depending on the user and their Mahalo history.

3. I would LOVE a column on the pages managed section that indicates when I last made an update to one of my pages. I don't know about creating some sort of mechanism for other users to notify a page manager that their page is due for an update - I wouldn't want to see people appoint themselves the "update police" and spend a large amount of time calling people out on updates. On the other hand, I do think that there needs to be accountability on the part of the user. As I mentioned above, I did receive a reminder to update one of my pages. This reminder has made me more vigilant on all of my pages. I again think that the answer to this question depends on the page in question. A high-priority, high-traffic page needs to be updated, and thus needs to be monitored for updates. I think perhaps Mahalo staff could be given some sort of automated mechanism to send an update required message to a user. Hopefully, once a user receives one message, they will take steps to ensure that they do not receive another.

4. While I said above that I don't think there should be set limits, I also don't know that allowing a large number of users to claim this many pages would be effective. I think that someone taking on this many pages would need to express an incredibly strong commitment to Mahalo, and not necessarily have another full-time job. I know that I spend a lot of time just maintaining my 120 plus pages, as well as keeping an eye out for mainstream or offbeat news items that might indicate there will traffic on a new page. Having 300-600 pages is not something I could reasonably handle and still do this kind of research for claiming new pages. However, there are probably some people that could handle it. I think Mahalo staff would need to evaluate each user who wants to manage this many pages on a case by case basis, and ensure they have the time and skill to effectively manage this many pages.

5. I am very excited by Mahalo and its potential! I like the work I am doing for the site, and really enjoy the community feeling. I think that the fact that Mahalo is paying out M$10,000, while probably a little frightening to have to see go out the door all at once, is an indication of just how dedicated users are to Mahalo. And if the users are invested in seeing the site do well, then they become the best source of marketing and publicity Mahalo could have, bringing in new users and new traffic. The fortunes of the two are tied together, and I think feeling a small sense of ownership adds to the excitement immensely.
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Great question! I've been wondering this myself. See, I have no idea what managing pages requires of me and I have been reticent to get into managing pages because I do Mahalo while at work to break up the monotony of my job.

I've been wanting to try my hand at managing pages but, 1. Have no idea how to start; 2. Have no idea how much time it will take me and don't want to make commitments I can't keep since I do this at work.

It seems if a person can handle 300 pages working 40 hours per week as I saw in one answer above, I should easily be able to manage two pages (which is my limit at this time) working just a few minutes here and there throughout the day.

If anyone has any advice on how to get started, let me know. I'm still in the dark about all the in's and out's of Mahalo.
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1. What do you think is the maximum number of pages a person working 160 hours a month can handle/keep up to date? I think Jeff is on the right track with segregating pages into different categories and setting limits based on those categories, as well as the users' abilities. That being said, I also thing top performers should be allowed a certain number of experimental pages, maybe a "kitty" of sorts to play with and see what new pages they can come up with that work well at generating traffic and income. As for the total number and what it should be, I think more evaluation and trial/error is needed to figure it out. Personally, I'm nowhere near any of these limits simply because of my time constraints. However, I do plan on producing more pages and earning more revenue share income as my time permits. I would love to get back to the point where Mahalo is taking a good share of my time and earning me a fair amount of income.

2. What do you think/do you think we should put a limit on the number of pages people handle? Yes

3. How do you think we should handle auditing pages that people own to make sure they are being kept up to date and in good order? I like the nudge button idea as well. I also like having a board or list generated somewhere showing the last updates, or maybe how long it has been since a page was updated. These could then be reviewed by staff or just sent an automatic notice? I'm also a bit unclear on something. Can someone else come along and add links/update a page that I am managing? If so, it would be nice to implement an automated e-mail notifying us when this happens so we can double-check the links and/or veracity of information added to the page. We had this as guides under the old system and it was a nice feature.

4. The folks with these large number of pages are mostly former remote Guides from Mahalo who made $10 an hour. They are now actually, on track to make the same amount they made working 160 hours a month (i.e. $1,600). That's a great sign.... as such, do you think we should allow more top folks to race up to 300-600 managed pages? I think this should be done on a case-by-case basis, just as it is now. Someone already mentioned this, but just using belt levels is irrelevant as many people can advance belt levels simply by using answers and not building pages or completing tasks.

5. What do you guys think about all this!??! Are you as excited as me!?!?!?
It is exciting to earn a monthly revenue share from pages on Mahalo, and I'm looking forward to using this as my vacation fund. It is actually the best revenue sharing program that I have found out of at least half a dozen that I have looked at and tried over the past few years. :-)

6. Post how you feel with a song. :-) See video below. ;-)

7. Add a tip and we'll give the prize to the person who's answer is voted the most insightful. :-) Sure, why not?
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This questions sound as if it may have some roots in Brooks's landmark project cost estimation paper 'The Mythical Man Month' and also lessons from Taylor's empirical methods for improving labour productivity.

Maintaining pages does not seem as unitary or predictable as shovelling coal as the some of the subjects of pages will be more volatile than others and require more feeding and watering. The best way to develop a Taylotistic 'rule of thumb' would be through feedback from those who manage many pages at present. (and there seems to a good number of view here on that) Although this will also have large variation due to ability, commitment & thoroughness. The question lead the jury a little in suggesting the average figure may 15 mins per month per page. Assuming, Jason, you have your finger as well on this pulse as anyone, I would suggest the limit is a function of the time a person is able to commit. Also without an objective (or democratically subjective) measure of quality the result of opening the flood gates may be quantity not quality.

I would say undoubtedly, a motivated person committing all their time could manage in excess of 500 pages per month. Add into this equation that the commitment reward is probably fairly linear the same person could probably exceed this by augmenting regular hours with odd time here and there (on the train even)

The only reason for limiting people in my view would be to control quality. So long as quality is achieved then limits could be raised, a little like your credit limit on your credit card - prove you are good credit risk and you are granted a higher limit.

My feelings in a song:
Jimmy Cliff - 'I Can see clearly now'
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month

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