Should Mahalo implement an minimum participation requirement to remain a member in good standing?
Should the feature question be removed since it has turned into an advertising tool?
Should site advertising of businesses by members be disallowed?
Should adult content by removed and censored by Mahalo?
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M$6 Answers
- absolutely not, any member that joins and does not abuse the system is "in good standing" there can be no other definition otherwise it becomes subjective and may include prejudices like "asks too many questions" or "asks too many questions all at once" and then too much participation would cause a member to fall from "in good standing" status. No one person is more important or "good" than another.
"Should the feature question be removed since it has turned into an advertising tool?"
- I am with you here Dave and I feel that the democratic voting up of questions should determine what is a featured question. As well the democratically "elected" featured questions should be at the top of the front page of Mahalo Answers.. not the highest tip. This would in effect lower the value of the "highest tip" section and therefore allow more inclusion and a lot lower prices for "highest tip" questions.
"Should site advertising of businesses by members be disallowed? "
- this is already NOT allowed and would be considered spam and removed unless the question asked was in a very carefully worded way that remained objective. Terms of Service restrict users from using Mahalo Answers for promotion of any business or website except for other Mahalo pages. Even in the using of Mahalo Answers to promote Mahalo pages is considered spam and a violation of the terms of service by some users.
"Should adult content by removed and censored by Mahalo?"
- I cannot stress this enough.. No content should be removed from Mahalo unless it is in violation of a law governing the country of origin of Mahalo which is the United States. A search engine NEEDS to have all topics covered.. every last topic... including adult content (definition will vary). because a search engine that is missing content or disallows legal content is incomplete and therefore useless. All content should be allowed and promoted if it is legal content.
a lot of mahalo experience
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M$
personal opinion
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M$
I'm sure you think daily about different questions your wonder about. For example, different types of food to eat for breakfast; how earthquakes are affecting the 24 hour clock; how the new health bill will affect your pay check; is inflation rising; the drought in SouthWest China; the affect the earthquake on loosen plates along the San Andreas fault, etc. Ask questions about simple events around you is my suggestion. Simple is the best approach.
A1 (answer to Q1)
No. Quite impossible to be implemented.
a. Nobody can guarantee he can participate every day. Even @jasoncalacanis and all Mahalo staffs’ account will be cancelled :-)
b. There are users who choose to be less active in Answers but active in Tasks, Pages etc.
c. Even on Answer, some chooses to ask more, some chooses to answer more.
d. There will be a lot of grievances on account being cancelled, disruptions.
A2
I see no wrong in “featured question”.
It’s Mahalo’s right.
I would think current sections are brilliant. It caters for the urgency/rich (high tipped), Mahalo’s biz decision (featured), community interest (popular), underpriviledged (new, unanswered).
The placement/sequence and amount are debatable though.
A3
It’s not allowed in current TOS.
Mahaloians may report it.
Actually almost every question has some form of advertising, be it products, issues or ideologies.
A4
I would hope Mahalo has separate sections for family-friendly and adult contents.
This would be win-win.
Youtube has such functions.
Family-friendly section
a. can cater for even younger age users than the TOS allowed.
b. users will not feel odd to share them on Facebook to family, friends etc..
Adult content (especially the hardcore content)
a. cater for these audiences.
b. searchable but required login and with warning.
The separation will also help in penetration to countries with censorship.
opinion, internet experience
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
@davepamn
Google and China is another interesting issue.
See my answer in this question.
There are different approaches in the world:
1. Censorship (China)
2. Cases of : don't censor but jailed (Italy), fine (Brazil)
3. Some forms in between..
Brazil fines Google
I agree that not all audiences are the same. I think Mahalo needs more pull options rather than push. Many times the push media is shocking and offensive and seems to push the barriers of decency, safety, and reasonable social interaction. I perceive push media as predator and aggressive and taken a defensive posture against it.
I think the two site option is a brilliant idea. Should I vote your answer as best for that reason? You acknowledge the censorship issue. Google has breached contract agreements with the sovereign nation of China and received angry response from their non-conformance. Google business arrangement requires them to censor pornography and subversive topics and illegal content from the public. However, Google decided not to follow the strict operational guidelines that China mandated. A sovereign country, such as, China could ask Google to leave and give up a 170 million internet user base with over 1.5 million millionaires. Microsoft Search then would assume position as the number one foreign search engine in China.
The others, I'm not as vocal on, except the last one, and here, I agree with Budda - to have a well rounded site, even adult material should be included.
I got love for you man, but I think you're just a little left of being on-base with this one, tho I understand where you're coming from. Not long ago, I asked the question of "Should we answer questions that are obviously school-work?" - I feel it's paramount to kids helping kids cheating in class, and seeing these questions bothers me a lot.
Anyhoo, I appreciate your trying to keep our community up to standard.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Brands are not well rounded, they are very specific and differentiated from their competition. You can't be everything for everyone.
If Mahalo could promoting more pull technology rather pushing adult content on their site. I don't see much value for having adult content promoted on the site, it degrades the site and makes it less marketable.
You would not bring your children into a saloon for dinner and say, "this will give you a well rounded experience". Mahalo needs to be cleansed from adult content and then it will be clean and safe.
Well, using your analogy of a "saloon" if you were going to go that route, you couldn't take your kids to Chili's either (or the like) as they have a bar there too - and they tout themselves as a family place, am I wrong? Chili's also has folks that go in there specifically to drink, and they're welcomed - and reprimanded if they get out of line.
The same goes here. Folks are rapidly "talked to" if their questions are out of line or simply too raunchy and add nothing to our community. Sure, there are some bawdy questions, but I'd wagrer those questions are in the VERY limited minority compared to the rest of MH.
And really, we're all adults here, if you don't like the adult content, simply don't go there.
Seriously, I don't think it harms the site at all.
It depends on how you make youre mahalo status be higher.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
If you don't go the dojo then the instructor puts you on probation. A high quality school requires minimum performance participation. Mahalo should create stronger incentives for performance. Will a participation status be effective? Jason is always talking about voting as a means of participation, but voting earns no money; it costs money.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Dave taking away a best answer from me does not really accomplish much but if you were offended by my comment in any way I am sorry. I was in no way intending for you to take offense to any of my comments.
See my comment #3 .. there is no free lunch.
Incentives to participate include "Working Out" daily. Sitting on the sideline is not an option. I don't think "Asking to many Questions" is a problem, but not participating in answers because of "Comfort" is a problem. Mentoring should assist the new member to engage in the conversations. If the member is sitting on the sideline then their status should be decreased. If Black Belts are comfortable with their rank they should lose active participation status. A circle of iron requires black belts to engage to keep their skill sharp.
comments
1. Mahalo's current policy is 1 YEAR without activity will cancel an account so a "active daily" requirement is completely unreasonable.
2. Terms of Service is what protects us from spammers and abuses. The TOS promotes good behavior by allowing Mahalo Staff to get rid of those who violate it. The guidelines set within the TOS are the glue that hold the Mahalo civilization together.
3.Revenue sharing is great and allow user to pick and choose what they are willing to ask of answer by this now additional factor. Previously only curiosity and tips were the factors used in selecting questions to ask and answer. No one is making serious bank by not doing anything.
Each question asker is limited to $100 Mahalo Dollars in revshare and each best answer is limited to $200 Mahalo Dollars in revshare. A user must continue to ask and answer new questions to continue to receive revenue sharing beyond this per question and per best answer threshold.
4. We have direct questions and profile communications to allow any user to ask any other user any question they like. In these communications email address could be exchanged to continue asking and answering questions with each other.
You can control when your questions get posted by simply waiting 30 minutes between questions. The front page is public, all inclusive, and for everyone to use. Using it to flood Mahalo Answers with questions that could be directed right to a particular user(s) is preventable by consideration of others when asking questions. Right now there is no individual front page customization and I think that is good, I want to see all of the questions... just not all of the questions from any one user all at one time.
5. Again Mahalo is a search engine.
Incomplete search engines are useless and have no value
6. I was using the Disney channel to provide a "family friendly" metaphor to represent what Mahalo was not. Mahalo is a search engine that should have all topics represented not just what a small group of people feel is "family friendly". Mahalo should dream to be bigger than Google not limit itself to what "amazon" might like. Google has pages on *everything* even illegal pages... this makes Google the most useful tool on the internet.
If Mahalo wants to be as big or bigger than Google and have real dreams of being as big as possible the addition of "family friendly" as a qualifier for what is acceptable as content would stop that progress in its tracks. It took Google 12 years to get this big .. Mahalo will continue to grow to the size of Google in a similar amount of time if Mahalo places no "Mahalo killing" restrictions on what is good content by any qualifier .. "family friendly" included.
Mahalo must allow all content.
So are you asking for an Internet Government?
I only see the internet as a tool not something that needs to be governed. Google just so happens to have created the most powerful tool for using the tool of internet out there now. Mahalo could be that big or contend with the big search engines if they do not limit themselves.
I find it quite impressive for a company to be mentioned in the same sentence with the words "defiant with China" there are not many entities on Earth that can make a claim to have been meaningfully defiant with China. I believe it is Google's willingness to make easily accessible all information available that has allowed this contention. If Google had limited itself to "family friendly" they would not have ever been in the ring with China to begin with.
Amazing isn't it ~ Google (internet company) vs China (most populous country).
Mahalo can contend in the future with any of the biggest if they continue to be open to new nonrestrictive ideas about what is allowable or acceptable content.
1. I'm make a suggestion, not a policy; but if my suggestion became policy then members would have to work daily to remain active.
2. TOS is not an incentive to perform. TOS provides the membership terms for expulsion.
3. Rev Share allows earnings without much production. A person can answer a question and start earning money from the answer. The more popular the question/answer the more revenue that is realized without any additional work. Easy money.
4. Posting questions in the queue would be more efficient, if they could be routed to people who share interest. Show friends queue is designed for that purpose. I can't control how the answer pages distributes the questions. New Questions and Feature questions are Add no value and Show friends queues should replace that queue when active.
5. Adult Content sales should not be the interest of Mahalo. Mahalo should be interested in building a brand and a social network position so that a big company like Amazon is willing to pay billions for the acquisition. Will the acquisition be beneficial for the acquirer? Mahalo should be preparing to the desirable bride for the larger groom company.
6. I'm glad you acknowledge my approval and value. As far as Disney, Disney lost hundreds millions of dollars as different Christian investors withdrew millions of dollars over the subject of content. The public investor may have filled some of the transfer of wealth, but Disney did not ignore the fact a large chunk of their company shares were sold as undesirable. Sometimes big companies do stupid things because they think they are invincible to the power of the customer.
Dave all of that is unreasonable and gestapo like.
~New members only need to not violate the terms of service to remain in good standing. Mahalo accentuates the positive and promotes them moving up.. not the negative by moving them down.
~ What is not fair is to even think about demoting anyone for participating to the level they enjoy and are comfortable doing. No one pulls paychecks without contributing and the amount they pull as payment is directly attached to the amount they positively participate. Your $100 dollar challenge is not for everyone or even most people. I challenge you to spread your questions out and not inconsiderately clear the front page with your questions in your quest for 100 dollars a day. Your efforts are getting in the way of others enjoyment of Mahalo answers. Not everyone finds your questions interesting. I like some of them but they push my questions off of the front page and that bothers me.. I would like a restriction on how many questions you can ask at once.. maybe one question every half and hour... if one wants to remain in good standing they should not irritate other users by being inconsiderate.
~ People who sit on the sidelines do so because they want to. Mahalo is not a boss/employee relationship atmosphere and nobody is required to do anything they are not happy doing and if they ever were required to meet a level to be considered "good" they would leave.. so would I.
~ Adult content sells and your definition of what adult content consists of is vastly different than what I or others might feel is adult content. Mahalo reserves the right to do whatever they want with content and NO content has "rights" on Mahalo. All content that is not illegal is welcome because without it Mahalo is incomplete.
Mahalo should not ever remove content.. this is not the Disney channel it is a search engine where people come to look for information on everything..not to look for things approved by @davepamn Both conservative and liberal ideas and pages must be included and not restricted in any way for Mahalo to remain useful.
Googles defiance of China suggests it is willing to promote content that clashes with government and law. I think Google is in error in its defense of "Freedom of Expression" by promoting pornography and illegal content. Google should obey the laws of the land. Google seems to be fighting a political battle. Google is a search engine, not a government.
Adult content has no rights of domain on Mahalo. Mahalo reserves the right to remove "Any" content it desires. I'm proposing that it is moral plus and a positive feature for Mahalo to cleanse its site from all adult content and related questions.
I'm not saying "Adult content" is illegal. I'm saying it is immoral and improper for a safe and comfortable site. Adult content and words attract a tough crowd, harsher, and more predator in nature. The Saloon is not a safe place for a family to be.
I don't think this rule would be undemocratic. Mahalo requires members to participate in page management, tasks, question, and answers and operates like a club requiring members to fit different profiles to be a part of certain niches. Jason encourages voting and participation and hard work. The work rule would be a status element to remain a part of the club. "No Free Lunch"
Should I vote NBA for calling my idea, "gestapo like"?
Dave, what about those who don't make their M$ on Answers, and do Tasks and How-Tos every few days? You want to punish them too?
I'm calm, but thanks for the concern.
Maybe the active rank would be rate on a weekly or monthly basis. Inactive members would be encouraged to participate and maybe questions could be suggested to them by other members based on interest. "Suggest a question" could be directed to inactive members to engage in the conversation by other members. More facilitating and engaging of conversation needs to be a part of Mahalo culture, don't you agree?
Try to calm things down a little..
@davepamn
Min participation requirement will hurt Mahalo biz.
A hilarious scenario:
How many will still in Mahalo if there are these requirements:
3Q, 3A, 3 votes on answer, 3 interesting votes on questions, 1 page, 1/2 hour-section on GoTeam, 1 Task, 1 How-To per DAY (without fail for 365 days), compulsory attendance on Wednesday meeting
Even normal employment has off days, medical leaves, annual leaves.
I guess even Jason and Mahalo staffs will not be Mahaloians.
Peoples will ask: you mean during my holiday trip, I still need to do my Mahalo "obligations" ?
There are actually middle ground, win-win solution for family-friendly + adult:
separate section (details pls see my answer)
A new member and existing members need to maintain their standing by participation. If member is not going to participate in the questions and answer then would lose status. It is not fair to sit around, pull a paycheck, without participating and producing.