8/3/06

Duplicate Weblists

So one of the issues that we've been sort of putting off for a while is how to handle duplicate Weblists. Technically, they are against the Weblist guidelines, but we have been extremely lenient recently about enforcing this particular rule.

The primary argument for NOT allowing duplicate Weblists is to avoid diluting the ratings / reviews on lists. Reviews are more helpful when you don't have to go searching around the site for all the different variations of a particular listing.

The primary argument for allowing duplicate Weblists is to allow folks the opportunity to build a better list than what exists. For example, here is a list of Dinosaurs. It's not a terrible list, but there are only seven types listed, and there are no descriptions or pictures.

Should this really be the definitive RateItAll list of dinosaurs? If an expert came along and really wanted to do this list right, shouldn't that be allowed?

Especially as $ are introduced into the equation, I'd hate to encourage cyber squatting where folks "claimed" the interest topics, but didn't take the time to create a superior list.

Ideally, I would permit duplicates (in cases where the newer list was clearly adding additional value), and let the community rating feature determine which of the duplicate lists should get the most airplay.

I'd love to hear feedback on this.

3 comments:

  1. how would that affect weblists already created? and some weblists may contain interesting or obscure items that aren't on other weblists alread in place...

    ReplyDelete
  2. by 'already' created i mean are one's existing weblists in any danger of being removed? suppose you have a good weblist but someone else has an even more in depth one on the identical, or a very similar, or a fairly similar topic?

    ReplyDelete
  3. We tread VERY lightly in regards to deleting existing Weblists.

    Currently, we are only deleting new Weblists that almost exactly mirror existing Weblists.

    ReplyDelete

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