Justin Hartman: What I’ve learnt not to do on Muti
Nic
· 2 years ago
Dude you so beat me to this post. I was just sitting down to write the EXACT same topic. As most of us know I am close to this subject and have blogged about it before. I think that you are right, we dealt with the issue a few months ago but now the site is growing and it seems like users are becoming complacent about their role on muti.
Users need to get sticky and get involved. Don't let people muti thier own content, vote them down and make a point. Don't vote down others to get yourself ahead and don't use fake usernames. Simple. 3 rules.
Dave Duarte
· 2 years ago
Spot on Justin! I also use Muti as a way to collect information which I would liketo come back to at some later stage. Voting articles up, and tagging stuff relevantly helps me organise the information for myself better. Acting with a different username would undo this process. Thus the "invisible hand" of economics (i.e. self-interest) will ensure the site remains a rock solid resource for its top users.
Rock on Neville!
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
Nic well I must admit I'm pleased I beat you too it :) It certainly has increased but y suspicion is that it happens mostly because people don't realise that submitting you content is not so lekker. This was true for me until I read Rafiq's post in December so I understand it completely.
Dave you are 100% correct. Muti can and should be used for exactly this purpose and I find myself doing this all the time. It's weird but it works well. Multiple usernames simply defeat your own end goal!!!
The problem I guess with Muti is that people(bloggers) have egos and everyone would like to have the most "Kudus" or posts ranking in the "Top 25" and as long as this exists people will try cheat. It's just the way life works.
Marc Ashton
· 2 years ago
I dunno maybe I slightly disagree with certain aspects. I'm guilty of posting my own content
I agree on: 1. Creating false user names to promote your own site. Seems pretty feeble 2. Voting your own stuff up.
I disagree that people shouldnt be able to post their own content for 2 reason:
A) The whole point of something like Muti, Reddit etc is for the community to decide what they think of a particular post. Its like submitting an artwork for a competition. You've put it out there so people need to vote on it.
B) 90% of those sites on Muti don't have a real readership of more than a handful of readers (call it under 50 real readers). Realistically a big % of them are going to fall away over time. Those that survive and develop a following wont need Muti to promote and develop their community. But without something like Muti to kickstart it they will never get going...
Dunno those are just my thoughts.
Marc Ashton
· 2 years ago
Sorry just to correct on my previous post.
It should read that I agree that Voting False User Names to promote your site is pretty feeble and should be frowned upon.
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
Marc I hear what you are saying and agree to a point. I'm all for submitting "some" of your own content but I think it becomes a problem if you submit "all" of your content to muti. A site like Reddit also largely accepts self-posting but discourages spamming and I think there is a difference.
Users of Muti aren't going to hate it/you/or your blog if you submit your own stuff but the continual submission is something that affects everyone.
90% of Muti is good articles and interesting to most users of Muti. If we opened it up and allowed everyone to submit their own content it would turn Muti into another blog aggregator and Muti simply isn't that. It's not why it exists and other services like Afrigator or Amatomu exist to give new blogs the kick-start they deserve in a hope to give bloggers a chance to be heard.
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
Also remember that the guidelines are just that and are not hard and fast rules. There is no right or wrong thing to do but users of Muti do determine the social aspect of it and I'm almost positive than any new blog would hate it if the community frowned upon it and stopped visiting the blog. Surely this would kill any new blogs hope of ever succeeding?
Marc Ashton
· 2 years ago
Agreed.
But I think the beauty of Muti is in its simplicity.
We wrote an article on it a while back and how it actually still has some potential to be used as a business tool. A lot comes down to how the end user ultimately uses it.
As part of that media experiment we are currently running we are operating 10 blogs in totally different spheres. In all the time we've had those blogs I have not once visited either of the aggregators beyond signing up with them. I dont get them I'll be honest - its too many clicks for me to enjoy.
Muti on the other hand - Submit my content. Poor stuff gets voted off the island and the top stuff you enjoy clicking through to because its 2 clicks and its whatever is topical at the moment.
This Post is a case in point. Now imagine you didn't have a following and nobody knew who Justin Hartman was. Why would they check your blog? I checked it because it was a hot topic on Muti. Nice and easy and simple.
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
And I agree with you as well - Muti's beauty is in its simplicity.
You said that in all the time you've never visited the blog aggregators apart from signing up but muti on the other hand works for you. Do you not think because Muti is kept spam free (to an extent) that this is the reason why you keep coming back because you always get good stuff?
Marc Ashton
· 2 years ago
Hahahahahah good answer - touche.
Don't like the interfaces of the aggregators - cant tell you why I just don't.
I'm narrow minded in my Internet reading. Need a few people to find the find the good things before I follow on...
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
Look I run one of the aggregators and I can tell you we've got a lot of crap on there. It's the nature of aggregating content and for me thats why I still come back to Muti. I love the aggregators but it's more a main-stream function dealing with masses of content while a site like muti is simply picking the best of the best.
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
And to top it all off you get a site like this which offers a paid for service in submitting your content to social bookmarking sites. I see muti isn't there yet but can you imagine the junk that will arrive if this service is extended to muti?
Marc Ashton
· 2 years ago
;-) I think its all part of an evolving Internet and not much you can do about it.
Thats part of what we've been trying to achieve with this media experiment is to find out:
How to develop a self sustaining on-line community and how to monetise it.
Some interesting things have come out of it in the last few months but its part of helping us to understand whats happening with the Internet and hopefully be able to advise people around it as we go...
This is a good debate tho!
Justin Hartman
· 2 years ago
Well there is no doubt I'll start watching your blogs more closely. I'm interested to find out what you guys are up to and what you discover!
Neville Newey
· 2 years ago
Hi Justin
Thank you for writing down these points. You have really captured the "rules" very well, a lot better than I possibly could have!
Regards
Derek
· 2 years ago
Thanks for the pointers, I have submitted my own content in past and I see the the relative lack of worth in it, however I'm not convinced about the absolute lack of worth. The"invisible hand" (Dave) would want me to release news on behalf of a client, and kickstart it through self-submission. It needs a better peer review?
Secondly, I'm for different personas. Many people have 3 basic personas: professional, social, family. To carry one persona online is therefore not being true to self. I dont want my client who is a CEO or company secretary to read my thoughts on politics or what I did on the weekend. I know many people in this community who have at least 2 blogs, and allowing personas allows whistleblowing and anonimity which is one of the pillars of the web
robert
· 2 years ago
Justin,
I agree although I have broken the rules mainly through ignorance of them. Maybe a prominent FAG would help.
There is only one thing about Afrigator that bugs me and makes my teeth itch.
It is: There is no FORGOT PASSWORD? on the login page. Why on earth not?
I forget it and because there is no easy identifiable way to apply for a LOST PASSWORD, I navigate to other sites and simply do not return to Afrigator. Today is a case in point. I thought Ihad remembered it, but........ So I am going to go read Dave Duarte's site thn Champers, then Misty in Sweden then Blogebrity.com......!!! No way. The last is a joke.
I use one fat pipe to read all my feeds, and whenever that blog i updated, i get it in my outlook 2007 inbox.
Come drop by for "my" personal take on aggregating. I dont care much for the rest but recently decidec that less is on fact less, so i decided to join more networks to increase my feeds database.
All Comments
Users need to get sticky and get involved. Don't let people muti thier own content, vote them down and make a point. Don't vote down others to get yourself ahead and don't use fake usernames. Simple. 3 rules.
Rock on Neville!
Dave you are 100% correct. Muti can and should be used for exactly this purpose and I find myself doing this all the time. It's weird but it works well. Multiple usernames simply defeat your own end goal!!!
The problem I guess with Muti is that people(bloggers) have egos and everyone would like to have the most "Kudus" or posts ranking in the "Top 25" and as long as this exists people will try cheat. It's just the way life works.
I agree on:
1. Creating false user names to promote your own site. Seems pretty feeble
2. Voting your own stuff up.
I disagree that people shouldnt be able to post their own content for 2 reason:
A) The whole point of something like Muti, Reddit etc is for the community to decide what they think of a particular post. Its like submitting an artwork for a competition. You've put it out there so people need to vote on it.
B) 90% of those sites on Muti don't have a real readership of more than a handful of readers (call it under 50 real readers). Realistically a big % of them are going to fall away over time. Those that survive and develop a following wont need Muti to promote and develop their community. But without something like Muti to kickstart it they will never get going...
Dunno those are just my thoughts.
It should read that I agree that Voting False User Names to promote your site is pretty feeble and should be frowned upon.
Users of Muti aren't going to hate it/you/or your blog if you submit your own stuff but the continual submission is something that affects everyone.
90% of Muti is good articles and interesting to most users of Muti. If we opened it up and allowed everyone to submit their own content it would turn Muti into another blog aggregator and Muti simply isn't that. It's not why it exists and other services like Afrigator or Amatomu exist to give new blogs the kick-start they deserve in a hope to give bloggers a chance to be heard.
But I think the beauty of Muti is in its simplicity.
We wrote an article on it a while back and how it actually still has some potential to be used as a business tool. A lot comes down to how the end user ultimately uses it.
As part of that media experiment we are currently running we are operating 10 blogs in totally different spheres. In all the time we've had those blogs I have not once visited either of the aggregators beyond signing up with them. I dont get them I'll be honest - its too many clicks for me to enjoy.
Muti on the other hand - Submit my content. Poor stuff gets voted off the island and the top stuff you enjoy clicking through to because its 2 clicks and its whatever is topical at the moment.
This Post is a case in point. Now imagine you didn't have a following and nobody knew who Justin Hartman was. Why would they check your blog? I checked it because it was a hot topic on Muti. Nice and easy and simple.
You said that in all the time you've never visited the blog aggregators apart from signing up but muti on the other hand works for you. Do you not think because Muti is kept spam free (to an extent) that this is the reason why you keep coming back because you always get good stuff?
Don't like the interfaces of the aggregators - cant tell you why I just don't.
I'm narrow minded in my Internet reading. Need a few people to find the find the good things before I follow on...
Thats part of what we've been trying to achieve with this media experiment is to find out:
How to develop a self sustaining on-line community and how to monetise it.
Some interesting things have come out of it in the last few months but its part of helping us to understand whats happening with the Internet and hopefully be able to advise people around it as we go...
This is a good debate tho!
Thank you for writing down these points. You have really captured the "rules" very well, a lot better than I possibly could have!
Regards
Secondly, I'm for different personas. Many people have 3 basic personas: professional, social, family. To carry one persona online is therefore not being true to self. I dont want my client who is a CEO or company secretary to read my thoughts on politics or what I did on the weekend. I know many people in this community who have at least 2 blogs, and allowing personas allows whistleblowing and anonimity which is one of the pillars of the web
I agree although I have broken the rules mainly through ignorance of them. Maybe a prominent FAG would help.
There is only one thing about Afrigator that bugs me and makes my teeth itch.
It is: There is no FORGOT PASSWORD? on the login page. Why on earth not?
I forget it and because there is no easy identifiable way to apply for a LOST PASSWORD, I navigate to other sites and simply do not return to Afrigator. Today is a case in point. I thought Ihad remembered it, but........
So I am going to go read Dave Duarte's site thn Champers, then Misty in Sweden then Blogebrity.com......!!! No way. The last is a joke.
Robert@iscatterlings.com
Anyway - the problem Istated above still applies.
Robert@iscatterling.com
Come drop by for "my" personal take on aggregating.
I dont care much for the rest but recently decidec that less is on fact less, so i decided to join more networks to increase my feeds database.
http://megafeed.blogspot.com
I am seriously going to be removing all the SEO and AD sites that are on my list!