No Content = No Vote, Part 2 »
Posted by: Bkumm 7 months, 1 week ago148 Comments Report this Story
Second of a three part series about the Propeller.com community and some suggestions regarding submissions with little or no content.
Read Full Story at propellertalk.com
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Comments So Far: 148
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Bkumm7 months, 1 week ago
This is the second of the three part series about content and voting here on Propeller. This submission is from a more, well, unique perspective.
Have fun!!!
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BoxMonkey7 months, 1 week ago
Dude , you crack me up . If your beer went warm , you ain't drinking fast enough .I like this retort though .
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Klarissa7 months, 1 week ago
bk, My ISP automatically puts "junk" about drugs, bodily part size, and fake software or watches into an email called "Junk Digest". It has two sections, Probable Junk and Definite Junk.
I skim through it, and delete the whole thing.
I get 1-2 a day that make it through into my regular email.
It is a great service.
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baddad59Comment removed: User banned.
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 1 week ago
Bkumm:
ROTFLMAO. You got me laughing from the first paragraph thru the last one. Oh the truth of it all. HAHAHAHAHA.
By the time I get thru the spam and nonsensical dribble I don't have time for the good stuff.
Great submission. Thanks
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Beau78907 months, 1 week ago
Many of us have similar experiences with PMs on Propeller.
I'm not sure how much of a programming nightmare it would be to do this, but it seems to me that having the ability to block PMs from individual members, rather than blocking all who are not mutual friends--because otherwise how would we learn about interesting stories from those we don't already know?--would curtail having to weed through spam PMs and significantly limit the no-content stories from being voted up the home page.
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Bkumm7 months, 1 week ago
What they need to do is have an onscreen alert that tells you a story is being submitted in one of the three or four categories you've chosen. Most of my time is spent in Politics, Religion, Do No Evil and News. Other than that, I don't spend a lot of time in other categories. So, they should have some kind of window that you can bring up to show you what's being posted in your chosen categories.
It's probably impossible.
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natashas7 months, 1 week ago
Bkumm, I receive at least five messages a day telling me they liked MY SUBMISSIONS and voted for them and they would like me to vote for them. I still get a kick out of that. Some people do have very interesting submissions. They may not apply to me but still deserve a vote. I am at a loss. At least we can re-tract are vote if we find them to be spam or inappropriate.
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flyonthewallzz7 months, 1 week ago
Tangent Bkumm:
Just opened a tepid beer:
Stuck 2 in the freezer:
Does the cold thing in 5 seconds involve ice and rock salt?
Could come in handy ifin I had rock salt or Ice!
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Bkumm7 months, 1 week ago
I'm not really sure what exactly was going on with this thing. It was funny though and it didn't work for me. I don't think I did it right.
Here's the story:
http://diy.propeller.com/story/2007/08/24/i-wan...
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Radiofreeeuropa7 months, 1 week ago
natashas, my guess is they send the same message out to each and every member they get an address for. It's your call of course, but if the same person sends you messages announcing stories every day and your not particularly interested in them, use the block feature located between "from" and "to" on the message, or you could let them know that you don't want to receive so many announcements. By the way the "wine" article that Gamahuche mentioned as an example of an ad farm yesterday is currently on the front page. 101 votes. 9 ads.
content= wine is good with food, consult a wine club if your unfamiliar, or maybe use the internet. C'mon now were there really no other stories in food? How can something like this get over 100 votes? Are there that many 2nd graders on propeller? I doubt it.
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Dicax_Maximus7 months, 1 week ago
Well written BK......
Like my old school reports used to say :- "Could do better"....
One can only try !!!
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rdy2rck7 months, 1 week ago
I agree exactly with the point of the story. I'm fairly new and sometimes a little naive. When I started, I just assumed it to be common courtesy to vote on a "friends submission. I learned.I have a wide range of interests but would hate to have to sift through all the submissions. What a nightmare.
It's all about ego to some. Everybody enjoys their 15 minutes of fame, or to sell, or propogandists.I enjoyed getting a lot of pos. on my comments, but now realize negs. are good too. It's spuurred debate.
So it would be great if people submitted informative articles to spur opinions and debate only.
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Radiofreeeuropa7 months, 1 week ago
Hello Shay, I would not want you to get the wrong impression, as Propeller is IMO by far the best site of it's kind. What is great about it is there is no heavy handed administrative manipulation, there is a great deal of freedom, and the operation is very democratic. What people are saying here is not meant to criticize the site at all. Rather that we members
can use our votes a little more effectively if we choose to. I know on many social sites it is indeed about "vote for mine and I'll vote for yours". Which seems a bit adolescent to me.
I would not imagine you could stop this administratively nor would you want to for fear of censorship. But we as members can reject this if the submissions are not to our liking.
I would hope the changes in store are positive and don't affect the personality of the site (which is great) Don't throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. Thanks.
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Shay7 months, 1 week ago
That is completely understood. I prefer to read the full article before voting on it. I'll admit that I have "voted blindly" but luckily read the crappy article and retracted my vote.
I'm with you on this and, IMO, this story and the feedback it's getting is what makes propeller such an awesome site. You only see real members commenting right now because we real members are the ones who care for this site and where. And I hope that everyone here will advice of the article and leave adolescent behavior for myspace and facebook.
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SonOfTheMask7 months, 1 week ago
I can't say this any more plainly than this:
1) Only "real" members should be allowed to submit stories and vote on stories. Spambots and sock puppets should be prvented from gaining access, or it they do gain access, they should be quickly identified and eliminated. Without any evidence to support this statement, it is my opinion that the vast majority of "no content" submissions are from spambot/sock puppet accounts.
2) "Real" members should be able to submit anything that doesn't violate the TOU. "Real" members should be able to vote on any submission they want, intelligently, blindly, to support partisan beliefs, whatever...
To me it is really that simple.
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Radiofreeeuropa7 months, 1 week ago
SOTM I looked into the members you mentioned in the thread yesterday and indeed they appeared as obvious sock puppets but their stories (at least yesterday) had very few votes. Meaning they weren't having much of an effect. Still that is nonsense and should be stopped. I wonder though other than randomly viewing the activity of what? roughly 400,000 members? how sock puppeteers can be stopped. Any ideas? I also would like to say that no one is advocating rules here, merely that if you agree that blind voting causes no content stories to appear on the front page, as a point of etiquette, don't vote for them. If you disagree that's fine. I believe some folks would cease this practice if they thought about it. By all means vote for what you like.
Heck vote for what you don't like if that's your intent.
But be aware of your own intent.
peace
p.s.
I agree 100% that members should submit whatever they like as long as no TOU are violated.
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SonOfTheMask7 months, 1 week ago
Well, I'm not sure exactly if you'd need to look at every account. There are definitely trends that could narrow the search. I don't want to say what they are in case the "puppet masters" are reading and then change their tactics. But, there are definitely trends that I've noticed.
Maybe I could submit my services to be "Sockpuppet Hunter D"? (see if anyone knows what reference...)
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rdy2rck7 months, 1 week ago
I agree radio and don't care if individuals know what I post, but I was referring to Big Brother.I'm not a psycho on the subject, just aware.I would hate to be the one to decide rules vs. free speech.
I don't mind articles that I'm not comfortable with, but knowledge is strength. When I gradually discover articles, individuals that have an agenda of hate,namecalling, racism, etc. I just ignore.
I already got 2 enemies:) and get negs no matter what. You can't stop this.BTW-I noticed on many articles that sockpuppet is used as an example of all these things.
The only time I've seen so much hate from a sock is when I put a clean one near my smelly feet.LOL
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Francisca7 months, 1 week ago
Here is the problem Bkumm!! Sometimes, they will send something that is interesting...I have the same default that yours ( for being interested in so many things ), and I don't dare block them, because I don't want to be "cruel". I only want to be nice with every new member (if they are beginner: it's not obvious either...). Whatever I still feel myself very beginner and naive, and I am a very "polite", "courteous" person! LOL. But I agree: I, myself, however...have concluded Spambots just out right sucks!!!!
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puffin7 months, 1 week ago
That bot's been around a while now. It posts single stories under a new name each time - all with legit titles and summaries, but linking instead to weird blogspot junk.
I thought I was being so smart in suggesting to JamesMarcus that Propeller ban blogspot completely.
Well, imagine my embarrassment when afterwards I noticed that the link in his profile links to blogspot. Lol!
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Shadowolf7 months, 1 week ago
...spambots need to be hunted down and destroyed...and their creators have ALL the spam their bots generated printed up and shoved into every orifice...talk about death of a thousand papercuts...
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tehranchik7 months, 1 week ago
I could feel your frustration Bkumm---you are much nicer than I am. I line all these ducks up in a row and DELETE! It does take some time to sift through and see what's what.
Another line of defense I'm trying is to send a note back saying ' hey--I've checked your bio and just want to let you know I'm a politics MANIAC so doubt if I'll read or vote for your submit---but thanks for the invite. Most of the time there is no reply but every once in a while there is a nice person at the other end and we end up having a nice little chat---who knows maybe a new friend.
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Bkumm7 months, 1 week ago
If you love the Nigerian Scam, which I received once in my Propeller PM box here's a great site:
http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/
If you're easily offended it isn't for you, but it's not directed at the people hurt by the scammers, it's directed at the scammers themselves. I think it's HI-LARIOUS!!!
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