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I think that the thread
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/can-someone-explain-buds-position-to-me-from-this-blog-post
showed there might be the appearance of impropriety on the part of some Mahalo guides.
However, I think that we want to be careful with kowtowing to every criticism that is lobbied at Answers. In this case, I agree with implementing some additional guidelines for Mahalo employees.
I also think Mahalo employees should be encouraged, though not required, to give tips freely. Like warm fuzzies.
I think that with the new restrictions guides are under, it would be even more helpful to have an easier way to identify who is an employee and who is not. For the employee's sake more than the other user's sakes.
I also noticed that there's a new button to directly send tips to others who have answered questions. This way someone other than the "best answer" can also be rewarded. I think this is fabulous. It makes it much easier to give tips away, and It will go a long way towards spreading the wealth.
For example, I had a gaming question that garnered some wonderful responses, but I could pick only one. I recently went back and tipped everyone who'd answered me as a thank you. I wanted to do that in the first place but the mechanics were not there to easily do so.
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While I'm still trying to figure out if this is worth my time in even sticking with it, I do appreciate your break down and strategy.
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I'm guessing that this was not only stimulated by questions in Mahalo but articles by the blog entry atGeek News.
http://geek-news.net/2008/12/mahalo-answers-success-story-user-pulls.html
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In my own start up I am facing a similar challenge long before I have lots of users of how to balance he business model with and integrate with what the users expect, potential VCs expect, and etc.
On one hand my business model of building a Loopt clone that avoids paying Mobile Operators revenue sharing screws Mobile Operators like Sprint and Verizon.
On the other hand by freeing up the need for heavy operating costs I gain the value of offering more features to users due to open-ness of using clouds like Google, Brightkite, and etc. And that means more users which indirectly increases Mobile Operator revenue.
I think what I am learning in this product launch is that I have to integrate my startup message with the players self-interests involved such as Mobile Operators, potential VCs, and etc.
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We are here to get answers and people should get those answers, whether it be from another user, or an employee. Might I suggest that you add the functionality for your employees to "Pass the Buck" to another user. Sure there could be issues with people trying to copy answers from Mahalo employees to get it, but If people answer the question with their opinion even if it's already been answered, the person who asked the question can be that much more assured that the answer is correct.
Thanks!
Brent
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Answered Question
M$1
December 22, 2008 07:41 PM
Quick somewhat-official statement on Mahalo employees inside of Answers
A couple of threads have started around concerning who is a Mahalo full-time employee in the system and who isn't, and the role of Mahalo staffers in the system.
Our goal as a team is to "eat our own dog food" as the expression in the tech industry goes. Therefore I've asked every single Mahalo employee to use Answers *every* day. I've given each of them M$100 to spend each month as well.
Additionally, I've asked all the editorial folks to answer questions during the beta (basically first month) in order to a) help set the tone and b) make sure people asking questions get amazing answers.
There are some rules however:
1. Mahalo employees can NOT take money out of the system. If they make any money answering a question they HAVE TO spend it asking another question.
2. All Mahalo employees are required to put that they work for Mahalo on their profile. You know a lot of us already because any time we talk about Mahalo in a related question we say "As a Mahalo employee..."
3. Starting today I'm asking Mahalo employees to NOT answer money questions for the first hour, and to only answer those money questions where they have something that will help the person asking the question (that is why we're here!).
4. Mahalo employees should only consider giving a tip to another Mahalo employee if it is absolutely, far and away, the best answer. If two answers are close we should give it to the non-Mahalo employee.
Right now Mahalo employees are probably 2% of the activity in the system. In another month it will be < 1%. In fact, over the weekend we saw the majority of the top 30 ranking go to users.
For the record, our business model is to make money off of a) the 25% fee and b) advertising on the site (the Google ads you see). We don't want to make money from Mahalo Answers by answering questions as the cost of our in-house employees--who have benefits, etc.--is MUCH greater than they could make answering questions.
So, in fact, we would LOSE money if our in-house team focused on answering questions.
Any feedback you have, or questions you think were unfairly handled just ping me any time at jason at mahalo.com.
All the best,
Jason
(CEO and founder of Mahalo)
ps - M$1 to the most considered, intelligent response to this.
Our goal as a team is to "eat our own dog food" as the expression in the tech industry goes. Therefore I've asked every single Mahalo employee to use Answers *every* day. I've given each of them M$100 to spend each month as well.
Additionally, I've asked all the editorial folks to answer questions during the beta (basically first month) in order to a) help set the tone and b) make sure people asking questions get amazing answers.
There are some rules however:
1. Mahalo employees can NOT take money out of the system. If they make any money answering a question they HAVE TO spend it asking another question.
2. All Mahalo employees are required to put that they work for Mahalo on their profile. You know a lot of us already because any time we talk about Mahalo in a related question we say "As a Mahalo employee..."
3. Starting today I'm asking Mahalo employees to NOT answer money questions for the first hour, and to only answer those money questions where they have something that will help the person asking the question (that is why we're here!).
4. Mahalo employees should only consider giving a tip to another Mahalo employee if it is absolutely, far and away, the best answer. If two answers are close we should give it to the non-Mahalo employee.
Right now Mahalo employees are probably 2% of the activity in the system. In another month it will be < 1%. In fact, over the weekend we saw the majority of the top 30 ranking go to users.
For the record, our business model is to make money off of a) the 25% fee and b) advertising on the site (the Google ads you see). We don't want to make money from Mahalo Answers by answering questions as the cost of our in-house employees--who have benefits, etc.--is MUCH greater than they could make answering questions.
So, in fact, we would LOSE money if our in-house team focused on answering questions.
Any feedback you have, or questions you think were unfairly handled just ping me any time at jason at mahalo.com.
All the best,
Jason
(CEO and founder of Mahalo)
ps - M$1 to the most considered, intelligent response to this.
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| December 23, 2008 07:49 PM |
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/can-someone-explain-buds-position-to-me-from-this-blog-post
showed there might be the appearance of impropriety on the part of some Mahalo guides.
However, I think that we want to be careful with kowtowing to every criticism that is lobbied at Answers. In this case, I agree with implementing some additional guidelines for Mahalo employees.
I also think Mahalo employees should be encouraged, though not required, to give tips freely. Like warm fuzzies.
I think that with the new restrictions guides are under, it would be even more helpful to have an easier way to identify who is an employee and who is not. For the employee's sake more than the other user's sakes.
I also noticed that there's a new button to directly send tips to others who have answered questions. This way someone other than the "best answer" can also be rewarded. I think this is fabulous. It makes it much easier to give tips away, and It will go a long way towards spreading the wealth.
For example, I had a gaming question that garnered some wonderful responses, but I could pick only one. I recently went back and tipped everyone who'd answered me as a thank you. I wanted to do that in the first place but the mechanics were not there to easily do so.
| Asker's Rating: |
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Other Answers (11)
December 22, 2008 07:47 PM
I think posting this, especially with a tip incentive, was extremely helpful. In fact it exemplifies exactly what the Mahalo employee intentions are from the get go. While I'm still trying to figure out if this is worth my time in even sticking with it, I do appreciate your break down and strategy.
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December 22, 2008 07:54 PM
Thanks for the insight. I appreciate the transparency you provide into Mahalo. I'm guessing that this was not only stimulated by questions in Mahalo but articles by the blog entry atGeek News.
http://geek-news.net/2008/12/mahalo-answers-success-story-user-pulls.html
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December 22, 2008 08:01 PM
It sounds like you have balanced the business model of the product with and integrated it with what the user has come to expect of the Mahalo brand, namely Mahalo is here to help. In my own start up I am facing a similar challenge long before I have lots of users of how to balance he business model with and integrate with what the users expect, potential VCs expect, and etc.
On one hand my business model of building a Loopt clone that avoids paying Mobile Operators revenue sharing screws Mobile Operators like Sprint and Verizon.
On the other hand by freeing up the need for heavy operating costs I gain the value of offering more features to users due to open-ness of using clouds like Google, Brightkite, and etc. And that means more users which indirectly increases Mobile Operator revenue.
I think what I am learning in this product launch is that I have to integrate my startup message with the players self-interests involved such as Mobile Operators, potential VCs, and etc.
Permalink | Report
Reply
December 22, 2008 08:06 PM
I think it's fine for anyone to answer correctly. Employee or not. I like that you are having employees wait an hour so others have a chance to cash in. We are here to get answers and people should get those answers, whether it be from another user, or an employee. Might I suggest that you add the functionality for your employees to "Pass the Buck" to another user. Sure there could be issues with people trying to copy answers from Mahalo employees to get it, but If people answer the question with their opinion even if it's already been answered, the person who asked the question can be that much more assured that the answer is correct.
Thanks!
Brent
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December 24, 2008 03:03 PM
I think the ultimate goal is the best answer. Mahalo employees answering pay questions makes no difference to me. I hope this site gets bigger and more people use it so that I can use it for questions. I think viewing mahalo as a site to earn cash is secondary to it being a site where you can get better answers than elsewhere.
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He's not even involved in the Q&A process here and he's attacking it. Anyone who has spent time in the system knows that the Mahalo guides are policing and asking M$ questions to help set a tone and establish credibility with new users.
We build the FIRST system that pays users ANYTHING for answering questions and we get attacked. How about attacking Y! Answers, Wiki Answers and Askville for paying ZERO dollars to their members!!!
Really! :-)