Welcome Wednesday - What is your best Advice For New Mahalo Users?
Good things are happening on Mahalo, we are seeing a lot of new users and I wanted to make sure that the new Mahaloians are getting the best possible advice on how to become successful within Mahalo. The Welcome Wednesday thread worked well last week, let's do it again even if it's a day late. That's just how we roll.
I put together this page, Advice For New Mahalo Users, it's a collection of advice given from members on Mahalo who we have recognized as being the best on site. Check it out, and leave comments.
I find it helpful when our veteran users engage new users with helpful advice, even by just sharing the page How Mahalo Answers Works could be the difference between a ugly yellow belt deserter and a potential black belt pro.
In my past experiences, a lot of communities that are built from the ground up tend to stress during periods of rapid growth. Considering Mahalo is poised to have continuous rapid growth, we should all agree not to get super stressed when newer users jump right on into Mahalo. As long as a user isn't spamming we should encourage them to answer questions in whatever manner they wish, and not judge their potential.
We were all new once, no matter how much of a lost cause you think a user is, offering advice and links to helpful pages and explanations for unhelpful votes means a world of difference. When you think your advice is a lost cause, consider the lurkers and new visitors who read your words, they might become the next black belts.
Today, during your Mahalo travels, make note of at least one new user who is struggling with their answers, comment on their answer by giving any type of How Mahalo Answers works advice that might help them. Show us how helpful you were by linking to your comments, feel free to discuss helpful advice.
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$9 Answers
so here goes...
i found @rejinx. he asked this question: Is Mahalo Answers Not Searchable?
you had answered the technical part of his question, but i wanted to add how he could get general and specific information about Mahalo.
i spent an untold amount of time trying to find information when i first started, and kept having to go search for answers i had read to find links back to the How Mahalo Works and other pages designed to help us.
how to find them is not intuitive.
if only i had known what i told him... would have saved me a lot of time. =)
i pointed him to the link by the search button that goes to that section of the site, explained what it was, and gave him a possible reason that his answers were not showing up. don't know if that is why, but it is one possible reason...
and on that note... nowhere does it tell you that submitting an answer is a two step process. i think it should be on the How Mahalo Answers Works page and at the very least i think that the first button you push when you answer a question should say "Continue", "Next", or at least "Go To Step 2", rather than "Submit". i think it is misleading because it does not submit anything, it just takes you to the next step. =)
so that's my advice to new users... and the link to the question and answer is above...
personal experience... and a lot of wandering =)
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-technical-issues/is-mahalo-ans...
http://www.mahalo.com/how-mahalo-works
http://www.mahalo.com/how-mahalo-answers-works
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
#1. Do not come here expecting to get rich. :-) There is no such thing as a free lunch, and the same thing applies here at Mahalo. However, it is evident that hard work can pay off.
#2. Come here for the experience. I've always thought that my head was a treasure trove of useless information, and found it incredibly fulfilling to write answers to questions that people had for which I understood the topic. For a person who likes to spout off trivia, it's the ultimate self-fulfilment.
#3. Watch and learn. My first couple of answers were poorly done, with a simple statement. The best answers (and questions) are thorough and self-explanatory.
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$
Another action that helped me immensely was reading. I read what seemed like thousands of answers from the top members to see how to deliver a best answer.
The top members were easy to find either on the "top member" list or even better all around participating actively in questions of interest to the community.
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$
1. Check out everything – Mahalo has a bunch of different parts, so check out Answers, Tasks, Managed Pages. You may naturally gravitate toward one area, but try to branch out a little. For me, I jumped all over Answers at first, but I’m trying to move my way around to some other things to make sure I’ve seen it all.
2. Engage – Don’t be a afraid to learn by experience. Answer a couple questions. Find a page to manage (maybe a small one or one about a topic you are passionate about). See if there is a task you can take on.
3. Find a niche & grow it – Once you’ve tried out a bunch of different things, I think it’s good to pare things down a bit. Figure out where your successes were. Find out where your expertise is valued. Focus there for a while and then grow from your experiences.
It’s a bit cliché, but as @Teflashfire said, don’t come here expecting to get rich. It will be a far more fulfilling experience if you are participating because you enjoy it – let the money (if it comes at all) be the icing.
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$
Never assume that just because a lot of people have already answered questions - some of them very experienced users - that you don't have something unique to contribute that could win you the Best Answer prize.
Go ahead and give it a shot. Answer the question, and be really thorough in your explanation. Provide pictures or videos. Name some sources, if you have any. Put a little heart and a little humor into each answer.
You'll be surprised just how many "helpful" votes and Best Answers you'll receive!
Taking a chance on many a question where I didn't think I could make a difference.
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$
2. MANAGED PAGES: Give your pages some time. Many pages can take up to a month (sometimes longer), before they start generating income. Also, keep in mind the pages that generate the most income are product/coupon pages, how-to pages, and even popular news stories. You can check sites like Google Trends to find out what is being searched online to give you ideas on topics to create pages about. http://google.com/trends
Also, don't forget that you can ask Direct Questions to other users. If you see another member do something that you'd like to know how to do, send them a Direct Question, and I'm sure they'd be happy to explain how they did it.
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$If you are being friendly, helpful and giving out trustworthy info, you won't go far wrong, you'll be welcomed into the community, and you'll most likely come to love the place.
What that means in practice is things like this...
Friendly - Feel free to disagree with people, but don't be snarky or nasty. No trolling and flaming here. If you start flaming, people will throw bucketloads of cold water over you PDQ. :)
Helpful - If you answered a question, does your answer actually help the asker or anyone else that reads it? For example, if you don't explain things properly, or you write in text speak that's hard to read, it usually doesn't help people.
Trustworthy - Don't just give an answer, tell us why we should believe it. Give us a link to the source you got the info from, or explain how you know about it because this very thing happened to you, or whatever. And don't bother using sources that aren't trustworthy themselves. It's ok to back up your point with a link from NASA, but giving a link to Yahoo Answers isn't going to convince anyone that your info is solid. Even if it happens to be a well-researched Yahoo Answer, you'll want to tell us where the info originally came from that made it a credible answer.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
So.... I was going to make a smart@ss remark about trolling and flaming, in an attempt to be funny. I realized as I was typing it that I could not say that to one of your post @philipy, even though I would have been joking around the simple fact that you are ALWAYS so kind made being a smart@ss seem wrong!
Congrats, I think you will be getting a call from my girlfriend shortly asking how she can achieve the same outcome lol
Sometimes I have to bite my tongue too, and not deliver the one liners that spring to mind. :)
Esp when I've been watching The Wire. As they like to say, it contains "very strong language" - and it's catching.
I just wanted to say thanks for forcing me to go of on a tangent researching the history of chicken nuggets.
I was especially happy to learn about my new term of the day: Meat Slurry
Interesting, but perhaps better left to the imagination of you are a big fan of nuggets.
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$and all of you are member of that family, so you have to
make trust,honesty with other members of that family.
And all the new users may have thanked by me for giving
their costly time to Mohalo .I give advise to new users that
keep Mohalo as your family and make money and friends
by it.
SO TAKE CARE AND ENJOY WITH MONEY
Have A Nice Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
thanks! =)
Very helpful Smartweb, I'll go ahead and fix the How Mahalo Answers Works page so that it notes the 2 step submission process.