Think Twice Before You Launch A New Service - MyBlogLog
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So What’s This New Feature?
At first it may sound like a great tool, you can message your community members to tell them how much you appreciate their support, and let them know about your new posts, or stuff like that. But unfortunately it opens the door to spammers. On the day they launched the new service, I received around 110 message from the new “community messaging” thing at MBL.
I have received many many messages of a commercial nature, people pushing affiliate program, and others. And I must say I do not appreciate. Thanx, but no thanx. I do not have an insanely large community on MBL (420 members, and 670 contacts), but I don’t want to spam my members. I’m a member of a lot of communities though, and I receive quite a lot of messages…
My suggestion is they add a “do not receive community messages” option, and remove community messages from the right sidebar, or a least the option to turn it on or off.
Check out Avinash 2.0, there are screenshots and a lot of useful infos about the new “community messaging system”. And I think Andy Beard doesn’t like it either! Check out Andy’s post, it’s a good read, and he also talks about the problems with content tagging on MBL. I have a feeling people don’t like these new features really, hehe!
My Commitment
I will not use the community message service, and you will not receive any message from me on MyBlogLog, except private messages. I still have the “e-mail notification” thing turned on, but will not visit unless it’s a private or personal message. The only reason it’s still “on” is because people are sending me personal messages on there that I want to read. If I notice I receive a large number of spam from a member, I will remove myself from that community. Thanx a lot for your understanding.
If you have any questions or anything, please leave a comment below, or drop me a line.
Your thoughts please
So with all that said, I would like to know what you think of this new thing on Mybloglog. Please share your thoughts, opinions. I think it would be beneficial to MBL if they read what their members have to say (you can also leave a comment on the official MBL blog). Many many bloggers writers are posting about this, so I’d like to have the input and feedback from my community, and know what you think.
Thanx a bunch :)
*update: I deleted all the messages I have received from my MBL account (messages that display on the right sidebar there), so it’s like a new and fresh start. I deleted all of them, even good ones, sorry ’bout that, but I felt it was the thing to do so that all new messages posted on there are new ones, and it’ll be easier for me to screen the messages that I receive and delete unwanted ones.
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Great post, Mr. Jonathan! :-)
It’s nice to see you wrote against this feature. I’ve linked your post from my blog post. Hopefully, people like you will come to know about this mass-spam feature and write against it on their blog. It’s good for everybody who wants to let MyBlogLog team know that they are completely against this feature unless there is an option to opt out of these messages.
And.. Holy cow! 110 messages?! I’m already reaching the “point faint” receiving all these spam messages. So far, I’ve received 60+ messages.
- Avi
Hi Avinash,
thanx for the linkage! I hope the folks at MBL will do something about this. Well I guess with so many people talking about it they will do something. Worst case I’ll just disable e-mail notifications, and visit the site from time to time see if I got messages.
[…] Reviews has written a post explaining why she dislikes this new MBL mass messaging feature. 7). Think Twice Before You Launch A New Service - MyBlogLog | Smart Wealthy Rich - [added - 07:26 PM (IST) GMT +05:30] - Mr. Jonathan has written a cool post […]
I couldn’t agree more. Terrible idea. The last thing all of us need is more SPAM.
Eric,
yep, I wonder how can people come up with such ideas. I mean, no one at MBL thought about mass-spam? Well, with all the people blogging about this, they’ll surely come up with something to please everyone (I hope so)
It kind of reminds me of the old Group Bulletin Messages that anyone could publish and send to every single member of a particular group on Myspace back in the day. That was annoying.
Angela, haha yeah I remember that, kinda of annoying. Hope MBL won’t turn myspace-ish too much
I would have to agree with having an option to turn these messages off….they are very distracting. If people want to talk to me, I’m available via IM or email…or better yet, just comment on my blog…wouldn’t that be much easier?
Roberta,
hey excellent point, I have a blog, people can contact me on there. Well some probably see this new feature as a way to get more traffic to their blog(s). All it does is making me want to leave a community.
I sent 1 message using that new thing, and said it was spammy, and definitely won’t use it. It kinda ruins what bloggers are trying to do, getting rid of spam and build a community.
I think this was certainly a bad move by MyBlogLog. The various social networking sites can already be a hot spot for shameless spamming. I think this change is like throwing gasoline on to an existing Inferno. I just turned off my messages from MBL. I will just check things manually.
Hey Andrew,
totally! I like the way you put it “gasoline on to an existing Inferno“, pretty much sums up what it is. I don’t mind self-promotion, but that just is too much. Already had enough spam from people leaving messages manually (copy-pasting) on everyone’s board, didn’t really need that new feature.
There might just be too many networks out there, this is one that didn’t impress me enough to keep coming back.
Bryan, I have to say I liked MBL before, but I prefer sites like stumbleupon and blogcatalog. They add features that are actually useful and beneficial to the users.
I do not think MBL will last long with the spamming, I also know that the tags “schmoe” can help control if all users tag the spammers
but MBL needs to take a look at this or this will be another social community that is just getting spammed
Ian,
I’ve heard about this “schmoe” tag thing. It’s a goood idea, but on the other hand, why do “we” need to do this? Of course with the number of members MBL has, it can be hard to control all that, but they surely have a team that decides what features to add (or not), wondder why this one got through. Gotta think twice before adding something like that, especially when you’re at the level MBL is.
I’ll pass on the feature even though I use gmail to collect and filter emails from numerous subscriptions and networks. I’m a little surprised they didn’t give it more thought before implementing the feature.
I do like the ability to see stats from my MyBlogLog account. That IS a benefit even if the fr*e version is limited.
Angela, I totally agree, the stats is an awesome feature, I have a pro account, and it’s great. They should definitely focus on more features like that, a social network will benefit from adding features that are actually useful, not spammy hehe
I’m with you Jonathan. I too have received a couple dozen spam and junk emails, some packaged nicely with a polite message, but unwanted spam nonetheless.
I think that MyBlogLog has made a mistake in releasing this feature and I hope they soon retract it. I like and have enjoyed their service so far but I think that this feature may soon force many of their professional clients to go elsewhere.
Daniel,
humm, good point there regarding the “professional clients”. For most bloggers it’s just a “myspace” feature, but for others it’s a communication tool, may will probably complain and eventually go elsewhere
uggghhhh…i hate it! it’s a spammers heaven! i like your idea to ‘opt out’…wish they would include that option….
Hey Lisa, yeah looks like a lot of people are not too happy with that new thing.
I sent an e-mail to Robyn (community manager at MBL) regarding the mass-messaging feature.
One thing I like is the fact they ae open to suggestions and comments. Eric wrote a post on the MBL blog about it, and asked people to either leave a comment or send them an e-mail:
http://mybloglogb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/some-thoughts-o.html
A little off topic Jon, but you said you have a pro-account. What is the difference between the free and pro?
I think I wrote somewhere about this topic this weekend. I thought there was a box to click somewhere that would let you determine if you wanted mass emails or not.
Just checked there appears not to be one…maybe just dejavu…
Hi Adam, the main difference between the free and the pro account is the stats. With the pro account you get real-time stats, and the daily top links will display more than just 10 links. There is not a huge difference between the free and the pro version, but still, got the pro one :) (Thank to Robyn at MBL)
Yeah I searched for a box to click, but didn’t find one hehe
A free mailing list handler for everyone, great! Just what I needed! Although I haven’t been getting enough to check into turning the feature off so I’m not sure if it’s even possible to do so.
hehe, yeah I checked, and there’s not such thing as “mass-mailing : on/off” :(
We’ll see, I’m sure they’ll come up with something (hope they do!)
SPAM. Hate it.
p.s. Jon… get on skype so I can send you a few things.
Goldy, same here, hate it!
I’m on skype, a little late but I’m there :)
Well, I used to be a very active MBL user. All the SPAM just made me sick, which is the reason I left. Once it starts, It really can’t be stopped unless the whole site is revamped with a strict messaging system. Fortunately, I got tired of waiting, so I decided to create a networking/bookmarking site for blogs myself. It’s currently in production, but hopefully in a couple of months it will be tested in ready to go! Cheers!
Hey Andrew! Long time no talk buddy, hope you’re doing good! Looking forward to you launching the new site, I’ll be joining that’s for sure, keep me updated :)
If you plan on doing a “private invites” thing first, lemme know, I’d love to beta test it!
It appears that we will have to wait a week to make SURE we don’t like it :(
Hi Meg! Yep, I read that on the MBL blog. I don’t know.. a week seems kinda long when you get spam everyday. I just disabled the e-mail notification feature. I have a feeling I won’t miss receiving mybloglog e-mails.
See.. that’s the joy of blogging. It’s nice to see so many people supporting us who are against this feature.
Meg,
I believe that now, MBL people will face hard time trying to ignore the fact that how important is the addition of an opt out option. I’ve visited too many blogs and have found that most of the people are mad because they hate unwanted messages.
A few people did support this feature but they’re one of ‘em who don’t wanna lose the freedom to spam the hell out of us MBL members.
Anyways, we’ll see what comes next. And I’m not giving up either!
Cheers!
- Avi
Avi, you’re right, I’m not sure how much work would be needed to add an opt-out thing, but I think it would be worth it if they added one.
The MBL TOS states that:
At that point, the Yahoo! Privacy Policy will apply to all information in your MyBlogLog account
So with that said, I read the Yahoo TOS, and found that:
You agree to not use the Service to:
I’m not sure, and I’m not expert here, but the Spam Policy says:
Yahoo! encourages you to use our service as long as you abide by the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Yahoo!’s prohibition on spamming and unethical marketing activities
and it also says:
So, my question is… is Yahoo/MBL to blame for the spam we receive, or should we blame the users?
Agreed 100% - Great post and a great thread. Like we havent got bulging inboxes as it is! A social network version of SPAM and a bad move.
We’ll stick the Blog Catalog thanks - better to cement a few relationships and build them up gradually than mail shot the world.
Hi Go Smell the flowers!
Yep, BlogCatalog so far really makes things easy, and the discussion board makes it even easier for them to get input from members I think.
My inbox is already full, I don’t need any more spam. e-mail notification disabled :)
Jon,
As you can note that the Yahoo! Policy is completely against promotion, spam or any other form of solicitation, I think it’s not the fault of Yahoo! if MBL added a feature that’s promoting CAN-SPAM.
Yahoo! is a big company and I believe that they have professionals in different teams to work for different Yahoo! services. It’s the fault of MBL team in particular. They’ve already faced so much SPAM so there was no way possible to completely miss the other side of the story.
Companies just don’t introduce any new feature in the wild. They think about every possible uses and misuses of their software/community feature updates before launching it in public.
And after reading Yahoo! ToS and Privacy Policy, you may have already realized that the Yahoo! rules are being broken by MBL team by introducing a new feature in the wild and then not accepting their fault.
They said that there was a ‘popular demand’ for this service but I see most of the MBL members going against this feature. Maybe they are counting the suggestions of bots hiding behind such a big number (180,000)? ;)
Whatever it is, it’s not the fault of message senders. The fact is that if you invent something that has 110% chance of getting misused and make it available to your community members, the members will certainly misuse the feature
Now why aren’t message senders faulty for sending messages? Because it’s MBL who made this feature available to them by saying that it was a popular demand. I don’t think there was any need of such a feature at the first place.
If one needs to build a better communication channel, then the mass-messaging is certainly the 200% wrong solution because by sending one message in bulk to 3000 members, a community owner will only killing the whole meaning of “community”.
Although community means people want to interact with each other, it certainly doesn’t mean that people expect to receive the same message that was sent to 2999 other members.
So some folks (supporters) need to stop chanting the same mantra that the people who are against this mass messaging feature are the people who just doesn’t understand the meaning of ‘community’ and ‘interaction’ because, the truth is completely opposite.
I’ll visit back to read your reply. :)
Cheers!
Avi, I totally agree! I wonder if Yahoo! could do anything regarding that, since MBL is going against their terms.
Thing is, even if MBL is going against the terms, right now it doesn’t really matter. I went back on the MBL page, and it says:
will soon become a part of the Yahoo! network of products and services
So that kinda means that MBL can do pretty much anything, since they’re not part of Yahoo.. yet.
The points you bring are really strong, and I definitely agree. I cannot think of any good reason why they launched the new feature, cause they knew it would cause a huge negative reaction from their members. Even though they say they received a lot of positive feedback and that they added this feature cause of “popular demand”.. still I think they should’ve examined it better before releasing this beast to the public.
I understand Eric’s point when he says (on the MBL blog) that most people that complain are members of more than 300 communities. Well yeah! I’m a member of a bunch of communities, that doesn’t mean I read alllll those blogs, but I do keep track of many of them. When someone adds me as a friend, I add them back and check out their blog(s), see if I like the content.
I sure find more value in having a couple of closer friends, but when a blog gets “somewhat” popular (meaning it has 200, 300 or even 1000 rss subscribers) chances are all these people will join the MBL community if they’re bloggers. So the “more than 300 communities” thing Eric is talking about.. I don’t get that. But anyway, that a little beside the point.
What matters the most (at least to me, and surely to others) is that they listen to people and do what they feel is appropriate. There are hundreds of community sites out there, one more, or less, doesn’t really bothers me. I really enjoy MBL, and I plan on staying a member, but I definitely won’t visit often, and I turned off the e-mail notification thing.. so chances are I’ll probably forget about MBL, and move on (but that’s the worst case scenario)
oh, well.. we’ll see :)
Hi, I’m reading you via the No Nofollow | I Follow | DoFollow Community at Bumpzee, on the RSS feed.
I agree, it’s not the best of ideas, and I will make the same commitment as you did. Is there a way we could make a badge up to put under the mybloglog thing to say we are not going to use this messaging system?
Looking forward to reading more from you. :)
Snoskred
Hi Snoskred, thanx a lot for reading! :)
That’s a good idea, here’s a badge I just created:
Anyone, feel free do create another one, I made this one real fast :)
[…] at shares his thoughts about it and even states, to think twice before you launch a new service! He even says: Honestly, the last thing I need is more e-mails, I receive enough already, and I […]
When I saw that new feature I just started to shake my head… Not a good move in the least.
Maybe they had some hidden idea in it which they don’t want us to discover yet?
Kevin, I’m still shaking my head hehe
Sleeping Dude, maybe you’re right, but it would be nice if they could tell us what their hidden idea is, so we could all move on :)
I have made a commitment not to spam people using this community messaging system. You can do the same, and also show the little badge on your site to let people know you won’t spam them. I linked to your article about it in my post, too.
Thanks for making the badge, Jon! ;)
Snoskred
Snoskred, you’re welcome, people can grab the badge here, it’s cool, and thanx for the linkage! :)
I’m really looking forward to hearing back from MBL, see what they’ll do.
[…] and Johnathan thought the same. One would think that the MBL team would take that fact into consideration […]
[…] Snoskred has made a commitment not to spam her community. I echo her sentiments. She also links to Jon, who has also created an image you can post on your blog to show your dissent and commitment not to […]
[…] talks about MBL’s new community messaging system. I must say, I was worried for a while this was going to give site owners a free mailing list […]
Yes, I noticed that a lot of people have been using it for spam like messages. Hate that. I actually had to leave one community because it just got on my nerves! I don’t mind a hello here and there but not 5 posts in one day… we’ll see how this plays out but seems like most people are saying nay
Susie, hehe seems a lot of people don’t like that new feature. I turned off the e-mail notification and just went to check my MBL page, and voila.. around 15 messages. Not bad, only 15, but still I’m happpy I turned the e-mail notification thing off, that’s 15 e-mails I’m happy I didn’t receive hehe
Thanks for this post. I hate that feature, too. I’m already getting way too many spams in my e-mail before . Now this!
Hi KRG, same here! You can disable the e-mail notification thing in your account, and visit the site manually. Works for me :)
Jon, Just found this post today. Turns out you and I were both thinking the same thing on the same day. I of course agree with you completely. Not a good idea. My guess is they will deal w/ it when there are enough posts and a boatload of comments back on it.
I love mybloglog also and was not even aware of community messages. I must have email notifications turned off.
Phil, I guess they received a truck load of e-mails regarding that new feature. One thing though, a good portion of their members hate that new feature, but thing is there’s still a lot of people liking it. I’m really looking forward to see what they’ll do.
tallfreak, my advice is you leave the e-mail notifications off hehe :)
Hi, I’ve also committed myself to not spam via MyBlogLog. I also think that if they do not sort out this issue in the near future, we should stop using their services. If enough people (especially those who drive the most traffic to the site) do it, we could effect some change.
Additionally, I’ve taken a shot at a different logo; an animated gif (I also have a PNG version available for the asking).
Sephyroth
http://www.sephyroth.net
Hi Sephyroth, thanks for the linkage! I received an e-mail from a contact at MBL. I cannot give any information on here, it’s confidential, but let’s just say I won’t stop using the service, turning off the e-mail notification did the trick for me :)
Cool graphic by the way!
A quick note to let you know that the team pushed out a release earlier today that allows you to opt-out of Community Message emails. You can select it as an option at the bottom of your Profile page.
For more details, see my post on the MyBlogLog blog:
http://mybloglogb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/07/at-your-service.html
Hi Ian, thanx a lot! I’m happy MBL implemented that, I think many will be happy also! Thanx for letting us know :)