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lon lon
 
M$2 June 22, 2009 11:12 PM

When should you include a "Mahalo Top 7" on your page?

Until now, we have asked Page Managers to put a Mahalo Top 7 on every Mahalo page. However, more and more, we're noticing that there either aren't enough great links on a top to warrant a whole section at the very top of the page, or that a News or Blogs section atop the page will be more timely.

As a result, we're removing the Top 7 from most page templates and are going to make the inclusion of a Top 7 section completely optional. If you have 7 great links you want to highlight first thing when people come to your page, select "Mahalo Top 7" from the Page Builder and throw it up there. Otherwise, you are free to skip this step and just add other sections with links that will update automatically.

What do you think of this change? Will you still use Top 7's on your pages, or do you think it's better to have automatically updated sections like "News," "Twitter" and "Blogs" up top?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20671413@N02/3654825563/
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the_brain the_brain
 
 June 23, 2009 11:44 PM
Good idea:

1. People will not put bad links in the Mahalo Top 7 just to fill the space. I think that the Top 7 is extremely important, however, in my own experience, I find it is a good idea to form when I have an adequate handle of the page and am ready to find quality links.

2. Mahalo members new to Managing Pages might also find it easier to have one less section to be concerned with from the start.

3. Sometimes new methods need to be implemented to see what will and won't work. If this idea makes the pages worse, then the Mahalo Top 7 can be mandatory again.



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ssmacd ssmacd
 
June 23, 2009 11:45 PM
This is a great idea! Users who come to a page that is "in process" with only 3 or 4 links in the Top 7 are probably confused by the title "Top 7". This way if there are 7 awesome links, a page manager can feature them - but if they're aren't, they can focus their time on other aspects of the page.

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philipy philipy
 
June 24, 2009 12:12 AM
I think it'll be confusing if there isn't a Top 7 on every SERP page. (Fine not to have them for How To's of course.)

Personally I am not bothered by whether there are exactly 7 links there. It is "at most seven", so you don't get overloaded with clutter.

However if you can't find seven good links, it might be worth wondering if it's really a worthwhile topic in the first place. With just about anything you can easily find an official site, a Wikipedia page, a good fan site or blog, an important news story, a useful video etc.

There might be exceptions. It might be useful if you told us some example s where a Top 7 doesn't seem relevant.

As for there not being many links up because the page is under development... fine. Just as long as it doesn't stay that way for months. :)

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philipy philipy
 
June 25, 2009 04:09 PM
As a follow-up, I'd be interested to know if for a newsworthy topic you think the Top 7 should be pushed down and the newsfeed put first.

Case in point, Roger Federer.

No shortage of great sites to link to, but depending on what the page is supposed to be for, it might make sense to order the elements differently.

Namely...

Mahalo = Human-powered search engine => put links first

Mahalo = Handy info aggregator => put news feed first

Mahalo = concise encyclopedia => put great content first, e.g. video

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gno gno
 
June 24, 2009 12:46 AM
Goodbye, Mr. Top 7! You were a fickle friend that sometimes served me well, but mostly just hogged the coveted spot at the top of the page. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

I'll be very grateful to see the Top 7 appear somewhere on most of my pages, but just not seated at the top. I hope you'll still leave it as an option with navigation up and down the page.

Personally, the tops of my pages will be reserved for Featured Videos, "News", and maybe "Photos" (I have a lot of pop culture pages).

Thanks for taking a shot at mixing things up. Reinvention is going to make these Mahalo Pages really great!

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buddawiggi buddawiggi
 
June 24, 2009 01:52 AM
I'm excited. I think it's a great idea. I'm learning all this as I go so this is not a change to me. I'm having a lot more fun in this area everyday.

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jdnyc jdnyc
 
June 24, 2009 07:08 AM
It would seem to be useful to have a Top 7 on more permanent pages, such as locations and people, but for pages that are tied to current events it seems to be outdated. The Fast Facts and other sections on the left or right hand side seem a more appropriate place for the outside links that are permanent on pages for people or sports teams, where the real info people are looking for will be what is most current and up-to-date like news and twitter.

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marcand marcand
 
June 25, 2009 12:50 PM
This is exactly the way I feel as well. I think locations, education centers and people ... proper nouns as such ... should probably have a Top 7. Other than that, I would rather rely on the Mahalo 2.0 news and blogs aggregate feeds to serve up new and relevant content.

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timcadieux timcadieux
 
June 24, 2009 09:19 AM
Excellent, I've been struggling for relevant info to put here.

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soundboy soundboy
 
June 24, 2009 01:41 PM
I like having the option of whether or not to include the top 7 section. Like you said, it's good for some pages, but other pages don't really benefit from it.

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lesliec lesliec
 
June 24, 2009 02:27 PM
I have to admit I am going to miss the top 7. After 2 years of creating them it's gonna be hard to say goodbye!

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philipy philipy
 
June 25, 2009 04:01 PM
I'm interested to know if there is a change in philosophy behind this as well.

Like making the pages less about search results, and more like a mini Wikipedia entry.

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rogeniobel... rogeniobel...
 
June 24, 2009 06:17 PM
It's a great idea!
Often the "Mahalo Top 7" creates meaningless links, so it better be optional. Only pages that have interesting links, more than 7, could choose to have this item. But we could choose the number of items in the Top #, e.g. Top 5-20.

Tags: top7, mahalo, mahalotop7

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morriss003 morriss003
 
June 24, 2009 06:32 PM
Yes, this is a good idea. I have a page that has only 3 or 4 of the top seven. I didn't add any more because I was waiting for better links to come along (for me to discover them.)

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n4thanl n4thanl
 
June 24, 2009 06:55 PM
Well, I'll be contrary and say I liked the Top 7. You immidiately know the best pages, according to an expert on the topic. This keeps mahalo as a search engine, and not just as an alternative to Knol.

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davepamn davepamn
 
June 24, 2009 07:28 PM
Mahalo Top 7, should be automatic and prefilled.

Let the managers override the top 7.
Source(s):
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socalsue socalsue
 
June 24, 2009 10:48 PM
This is great. Would also be cool if it were just Top Picks so we could set the number. Top 3 can be very useful and give a novice user of the page a good starting point. Some sections are way to long and I would like to limit the number of videos and images displayed as well.

Too much information and too much scrolling makes for a bad user experience.

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jkepler jkepler
 
June 24, 2009 11:19 PM
I'm a fairly new user, but I didn't know they were mandatory and I've been deleting some of them anyway! I guess I have pretty good timing as it turns out.

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mdwife mdwife
 
June 25, 2009 07:33 PM
I have only been on Mahalo a few days so I also did not realize the Top 7 were previously mandatory.

I do like to have a consistent look and feel to all the pages since a lot of people tend to like to know exactly where on the page to look for something and don't want to have to examine each page in a lot of detail to locate their information.

That being said, a less than stellar Top 7 may not be the best use of real estate in such a coveted spot on the page.

So, I guess either keep it or get rid of it based on the preference of the end user.

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harmonydaw... harmonydaw...
 
June 26, 2009 05:14 AM
Some SeRPs were ideal for finding Top 7 sites... but there have always been some that don't lend themselves to having a Top 7... I don't think the Top 7 should be done away with. But I do think if a topic doesn't lend itself to having a Top 7 then there should be leeway to have a Top 5 or a Top 3... or what ever. I think including a Top 7 has given the people who look at our pages a really good starting place to find good information about the topics.

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docwho2100 docwho2100
 
June 26, 2009 03:40 PM
I actually like a "top" set of links because on Wikipedia - I always look for the references first anyway as they "verify" the topic and do point to other resources - I mean why are people coming to these pages.... for information....

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