2/15/06
2/12/06
PBeavr
Long time RateItAll reviewer PBeavr has requested complete removal of his account. We honored this request last night, and all of his comments, helpful votes, ratings, etc, have been deleted from our database. You should see the top 100 list of most helpful reviewers reflect this change in the next couple of days.
I'm sorry to see PB go, but my sense is that he needed to move on. Per his request, his Weblists are now housed under a "PBeavrsGhost" account.
I wish PB well!
I'm sorry to see PB go, but my sense is that he needed to move on. Per his request, his Weblists are now housed under a "PBeavrsGhost" account.
I wish PB well!
2/10/06
2/9/06
Going to Chicago Next Week
Another Screenshot...
This is what a Weblist Index is going to look like... as you can see, the Weblist Rating is going to be MUCH more visible.
Tetris Break
I found this cool service called bunchball that lets you embed old video games in your blog or personal Web site.
Here's Tetris.
Here's Tetris.
2/8/06
Another Sneak Peek
Help Zuchinibut Name his Son
Long time RateItAll reviewer zuchinibut is soon to be a dad. He's looking for some guidance on names.
Can you help him out?
Can you help him out?
Some More Vision Stuff
Here is my vision for RateItAll:
A place where you can find, share, or solicit opinions on any topic.
A place where you can meet and interact with people that share your passions.
A place where you can share in the advertising revenue associated with your content contributions.
A place where you own and control your own content completely - you can edit, add, delete, and otherwise manage all of your content
A place from where you can distribute your opinions to destinations all over the Web. In other words, a place from which you can take your content with you as you leave your imprint on the Web.
A place where reputation is transparent - where you can click through to any site member's profile page and view a complete record of their site activities.
A place where you can leave any time you want - including the complete removal of your account.
We're not there yet on all of these points, but we're making progress. RateItAll's lawyer is working on a revised Terms of Service as we speak. We are adding in tools for account removal, and deletion of Weblists. And we will be reinstituting the delete comments tool for Weblist owners.
Until we get these tools up on the site, if anyone needs help with account removal, deletion of Weblists, etc - please let me know.
A place where you can find, share, or solicit opinions on any topic.
A place where you can meet and interact with people that share your passions.
A place where you can share in the advertising revenue associated with your content contributions.
A place where you own and control your own content completely - you can edit, add, delete, and otherwise manage all of your content
A place from where you can distribute your opinions to destinations all over the Web. In other words, a place from which you can take your content with you as you leave your imprint on the Web.
A place where reputation is transparent - where you can click through to any site member's profile page and view a complete record of their site activities.
A place where you can leave any time you want - including the complete removal of your account.
We're not there yet on all of these points, but we're making progress. RateItAll's lawyer is working on a revised Terms of Service as we speak. We are adding in tools for account removal, and deletion of Weblists. And we will be reinstituting the delete comments tool for Weblist owners.
Until we get these tools up on the site, if anyone needs help with account removal, deletion of Weblists, etc - please let me know.
Some background on who is who
RateItAll was founded in 1999 by four friends from grad school - Lawrence (me) (aka Magellan), Rob (aka Wiggum), Craig (aka Shafty), and Brad (aka Ruby). We had all been roomates at business school at Emory University in Atlanta. I am the only one of the original founder who is currently on board full time.
My guess is that most of those who read this blog already knew, or at least suspected, that I was Magellan. So now it's official.
So let me give you a little background on how and why things are set up the way they are.
I currently have four RIA handles - Magellan, RIA Administrator, Lawrence, and Weblister. The RIA Administrator account was set up to speak for the site and to enforce site rules, the Lawrence account was set up as a link for new members into the RateItAll trusted network system, and the Weblister account houses orphaned Weblists.
I've been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with this arrangement, primarily because it is a violation of site rules to operate more than one account (as pointed out in this pleasant comment.)
But because I have two distinct roles on the site - as a site member (Magellan), and as an enforcer of the site rules (RIA Administrator), I do think it's necessary to maintain two distinct identities. In other words, Magellan's views do not reflect the views of RateItAll the business, and vice versa.
I think the other two accounts should go away. RIA Administrator and Lawrence will be merged, and the Weblister account will be shut down. More on this to follow.
My guess is that most of those who read this blog already knew, or at least suspected, that I was Magellan. So now it's official.
So let me give you a little background on how and why things are set up the way they are.
I currently have four RIA handles - Magellan, RIA Administrator, Lawrence, and Weblister. The RIA Administrator account was set up to speak for the site and to enforce site rules, the Lawrence account was set up as a link for new members into the RateItAll trusted network system, and the Weblister account houses orphaned Weblists.
I've been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with this arrangement, primarily because it is a violation of site rules to operate more than one account (as pointed out in this pleasant comment.)
But because I have two distinct roles on the site - as a site member (Magellan), and as an enforcer of the site rules (RIA Administrator), I do think it's necessary to maintain two distinct identities. In other words, Magellan's views do not reflect the views of RateItAll the business, and vice versa.
I think the other two accounts should go away. RIA Administrator and Lawrence will be merged, and the Weblister account will be shut down. More on this to follow.
2/7/06
Do you want to make your RIA posts into a book?
A new company called Blurb can help you - worth a look for those of us who have been on the site a long time.
2/6/06
Don't forget to plug your Adsense account ID into your Profile Page!
It seems like a recurring problem with the RateItAll Economy / Google Adsense program is people forgetting to plug in their Adsense ID number to their RateItAll user page.
Once you get accepted to Adsense, there's one more step before you'll start earning. Here are the instructions:
"Once you have been approved for an Adsense account (usually within 24-48 hours), log into your Adsense account HERE, and then click the tab at the top that says "Adsense for Content."
Scroll down to the section that says "Your Adsense Code." The second line of this code will say "Google-Ad_Client = 'pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
This number is your Google Adsense ID number - carefully write it down.
Now go to your User Profile page and click on the link that says "View and Change Your Registration Information."
You will see a field that says "Google Adsense ID." Fill in your Google Adsense ID number that you wrote down earlier (just the number, not the "pub" or the quotation marks)."
Once you get accepted to Adsense, there's one more step before you'll start earning. Here are the instructions:
"Once you have been approved for an Adsense account (usually within 24-48 hours), log into your Adsense account HERE, and then click the tab at the top that says "Adsense for Content."
Scroll down to the section that says "Your Adsense Code." The second line of this code will say "Google-Ad_Client = 'pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
This number is your Google Adsense ID number - carefully write it down.
Now go to your User Profile page and click on the link that says "View and Change Your Registration Information."
You will see a field that says "Google Adsense ID." Fill in your Google Adsense ID number that you wrote down earlier (just the number, not the "pub" or the quotation marks)."
2/5/06
2/4/06
Technical Difficulties
We're experiencing some technical issues - some pages are currently not accessible.
We're working on it...
We're working on it...
2/2/06
Local Newscasters
We just added a new section for local newscasters.
The RateItAll section on national TV newscasters is one of the highest traffic sections on the site.
For those of you who would like to submit your favorite local news personalities, now would be a good time. If you do submit suggestions, make sure to include the city in parentheses following the name of the newscaster, like this - John Doe (Chicago).
The RateItAll section on national TV newscasters is one of the highest traffic sections on the site.
For those of you who would like to submit your favorite local news personalities, now would be a good time. If you do submit suggestions, make sure to include the city in parentheses following the name of the newscaster, like this - John Doe (Chicago).
1/31/06
Looking for Some Testers - Make Money on RateItAll
There is some big RateItAll news today - I think we're ready to launch a trial of the rewards program I referenced in a previous post.
We're tentatively calling this thing the "RateItAll Economy," and the idea is pretty simple - if you contribute to the RateItAll community - whether it be by creating Weblists, creating new listings for existing lists, creating a user profile with a picture, or referring friends, we want you to share in the advertising revenue associated with those contributions.
(We're working on incorporating the posting of reviews into this program, but that part isn't quite ready yet.)
Google Adsense
The RateItAll Economy leverages an advertising network called Google Adsense. Google Adsense allows Web sites to make money by displaying targeted advertisments from Google's base of advertisers. Google then shares the advertising revenue with the Web site who is displaying the ads.
So what we're doing is taking this Adsense program one step farther. We're going to allow every RateItAll member to submit their own Adsense account number to their RateItAll registration information. Once an Adsense account number is associated with a RateItAll reviewer account, that RateItAll reviewer will immediately begin sharing advertising revenue on qualifying pages.
Making Money on RateItAll
So what can you do to earn money under the RateItAll Economy program? Here's the initial list:
1) Publish a Weblist
Publishing a Weblist entitles you to a 50% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on pages that you create within your Weblist, and on your main Weblist page.
Those RateItAll members who already have published Weblists will be eligible to immediately begin earning money on those lists.
(Note: You are not eligible to earn Google Adsense advertising when someone else submits a new listing to your Weblist)
2) Add a New Listing
Adding a new listing to any existing RateItAll ratings list (RateItAll, Weblist, Local) entitles you to a 50% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on that page.
New listings must be approved by RateItAll staff or Weblist publishers to qualify, and must include a complete item description.
3) Create a Profile with a Picture
Creating a user profile that includes a picture entitles you to a 50% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on your user profile page. The picture doesn't have to be of you.
4) Refer Friends
When you refer friends to join RateItAll using the Refer A Friend tool on your user profile page, you are entitled to a 10% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on all of the qualifying pages that your friend contributes.
For example, when a friend that you referred publishes a Weblist, your friend would earn 50% of the Google Adsense revenue associated with those pages, you would earn 10% of the Google Adsense revenue associated with those pages, and RateItAll would earn the remaining 40%.
In my personal opinion, the referral feature has the potential to be the real money earner here, as it has the most potential to scale - in other words, folks who are successful in referring new RIA members can build their own mini-empires of revenue earners.
How to Get Started
Apply for a Google Adsense account by clicking the Adsense Icon at the bottom of this post:
- For "Account Type," select "Individual."
- For "Website URL" type in the web address of YOUR profile page (for example http://www.rateitall.com/castlebee, http://www.rateitall.com/irishgit, etc.). The easiest way to get this address is to go to your profile page on RateItAll, and just copy/paste the URL from the address bar.
- For "Products" select only "Adsense for Content"
Once you have been approved for an Adsense account (usually within 24-48 hours), log into your Adsense account HERE, and then click the tab at the top that says "Adsense for Content."
Scroll down to the section that says "Your Adsense Code." The second line of this code will say "Google-Ad_Client = 'pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
This number is your Google Adsense ID number - carefully write it down.
Now go to your User Profile page and click on the link that says "View and Change Your Registration Information."
You will see a field that says "Google Adsense ID." Fill in your Google Adsense ID number that you wrote down earlier (just the number, not the "pub" or the quotation marks).
Hit submit. You are now earning money. You can check your stats by logging into your Google Adsense account - they update every couple of hours.
It sounds complicated, but this whole sign-up process should only take you about ten minutes.
Questions?
I am REALLY excited about this program, and it feels great to be able to allow every RateItAll contributor the opportunity to share in the site's success.
As always, feel free to message me here with any questions. You can also IM me on MSN IM at lawrence AT rateitall.com
Much more to follow on this subject.
We're tentatively calling this thing the "RateItAll Economy," and the idea is pretty simple - if you contribute to the RateItAll community - whether it be by creating Weblists, creating new listings for existing lists, creating a user profile with a picture, or referring friends, we want you to share in the advertising revenue associated with those contributions.
(We're working on incorporating the posting of reviews into this program, but that part isn't quite ready yet.)
Google Adsense
The RateItAll Economy leverages an advertising network called Google Adsense. Google Adsense allows Web sites to make money by displaying targeted advertisments from Google's base of advertisers. Google then shares the advertising revenue with the Web site who is displaying the ads.
So what we're doing is taking this Adsense program one step farther. We're going to allow every RateItAll member to submit their own Adsense account number to their RateItAll registration information. Once an Adsense account number is associated with a RateItAll reviewer account, that RateItAll reviewer will immediately begin sharing advertising revenue on qualifying pages.
Making Money on RateItAll
So what can you do to earn money under the RateItAll Economy program? Here's the initial list:
1) Publish a Weblist
Publishing a Weblist entitles you to a 50% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on pages that you create within your Weblist, and on your main Weblist page.
Those RateItAll members who already have published Weblists will be eligible to immediately begin earning money on those lists.
(Note: You are not eligible to earn Google Adsense advertising when someone else submits a new listing to your Weblist)
2) Add a New Listing
Adding a new listing to any existing RateItAll ratings list (RateItAll, Weblist, Local) entitles you to a 50% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on that page.
New listings must be approved by RateItAll staff or Weblist publishers to qualify, and must include a complete item description.
3) Create a Profile with a Picture
Creating a user profile that includes a picture entitles you to a 50% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on your user profile page. The picture doesn't have to be of you.
4) Refer Friends
When you refer friends to join RateItAll using the Refer A Friend tool on your user profile page, you are entitled to a 10% share of the Google Adsense advertising that occurs on all of the qualifying pages that your friend contributes.
For example, when a friend that you referred publishes a Weblist, your friend would earn 50% of the Google Adsense revenue associated with those pages, you would earn 10% of the Google Adsense revenue associated with those pages, and RateItAll would earn the remaining 40%.
In my personal opinion, the referral feature has the potential to be the real money earner here, as it has the most potential to scale - in other words, folks who are successful in referring new RIA members can build their own mini-empires of revenue earners.
How to Get Started
Apply for a Google Adsense account by clicking the Adsense Icon at the bottom of this post:
- For "Account Type," select "Individual."
- For "Website URL" type in the web address of YOUR profile page (for example http://www.rateitall.com/castlebee, http://www.rateitall.com/irishgit, etc.). The easiest way to get this address is to go to your profile page on RateItAll, and just copy/paste the URL from the address bar.
- For "Products" select only "Adsense for Content"
Once you have been approved for an Adsense account (usually within 24-48 hours), log into your Adsense account HERE, and then click the tab at the top that says "Adsense for Content."
Scroll down to the section that says "Your Adsense Code." The second line of this code will say "Google-Ad_Client = 'pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
This number is your Google Adsense ID number - carefully write it down.
Now go to your User Profile page and click on the link that says "View and Change Your Registration Information."
You will see a field that says "Google Adsense ID." Fill in your Google Adsense ID number that you wrote down earlier (just the number, not the "pub" or the quotation marks).
Hit submit. You are now earning money. You can check your stats by logging into your Google Adsense account - they update every couple of hours.
It sounds complicated, but this whole sign-up process should only take you about ten minutes.
Questions?
I am REALLY excited about this program, and it feels great to be able to allow every RateItAll contributor the opportunity to share in the site's success.
As always, feel free to message me here with any questions. You can also IM me on MSN IM at lawrence AT rateitall.com
Much more to follow on this subject.
1/26/06
I have been getting some grief about...
.... removing movie "reviews" from the Brokeback Mountain listing that were political in nature and from people who had not seen the movie.
Just to clarify where I stand on this stuff, I feel pretty strongly that a review should be of the item at hand (see the site rules.) I also feel pretty strongly that political statements, if left unchecked, can infect virtually every topic of discussion.
And that would be bad for the site, IMHO.
So you if you want to create a Weblist about moral decline or moral progress that includes the movie Brokeback Mountain, knock yourself out.
Just don't pollute a page for movie reviews with your politics.
Just to clarify where I stand on this stuff, I feel pretty strongly that a review should be of the item at hand (see the site rules.) I also feel pretty strongly that political statements, if left unchecked, can infect virtually every topic of discussion.
And that would be bad for the site, IMHO.
So you if you want to create a Weblist about moral decline or moral progress that includes the movie Brokeback Mountain, knock yourself out.
Just don't pollute a page for movie reviews with your politics.
1/25/06
It sounds pretty simple but...
If you haven't seen a movie, don't review it. I just had to remove about 15 bogus, off topic reviews (both positive and negative) on a movie that people hadn't seen.
The good news is, there's plenty of places to sound off on your politics.
The good news is, there's plenty of places to sound off on your politics.
1/18/06
Rethinking UP-ONLY Weblist Status
OK, in light of the recent feedback about the user page only status for personal Weblists from some respected RIA members, I've softened my position a bit.
While I still reserve the right to UP-ONLY Weblists that do not comply with the Weblist guidelines - specifically ones that don't work with a ratings format or have no theme - I will no longer be applying the UP-ONLY tag to Weblists just because they're personal.
I'm going through and releasing a few Weblists now - if you come upon a Weblist that you think should be released, shoot me a note at RIA Administrator.
While I still reserve the right to UP-ONLY Weblists that do not comply with the Weblist guidelines - specifically ones that don't work with a ratings format or have no theme - I will no longer be applying the UP-ONLY tag to Weblists just because they're personal.
I'm going through and releasing a few Weblists now - if you come upon a Weblist that you think should be released, shoot me a note at RIA Administrator.
1/17/06
Two Big Things on the Horizon
RateItAll has two very big things pending. The first is a redesign - we haven't touched the design of the site since 2000, and things have gotten very, very cluttered. We are making progress on a completely new look & feel that will hopefully make it significantly easier to find and share opinions and interact with other reviewers. Here's a sneak peek - you may start seeing changes to the site in the next couple of weeks:
I can't really talk too much yet about the second major development yet - but I think it's going to be HUGE. Without going into too much detail, it's a rewards program that will enable each RIA reviewer to earn cash for their contributions. And I'm not talking points or discounts or anything like that - I'm talking cash. A check delivered to your house every month.
Watch this space for more details.
I can't really talk too much yet about the second major development yet - but I think it's going to be HUGE. Without going into too much detail, it's a rewards program that will enable each RIA reviewer to earn cash for their contributions. And I'm not talking points or discounts or anything like that - I'm talking cash. A check delivered to your house every month.
Watch this space for more details.
1/9/06
User Page Only Status (continued)
I've been getting some (unhappy) feedback about the recent decision to assign some entirely personal Weblists and some Weblists that don't meet the guidelines to "User Page Only" status.
I'm definitely interested in hearing all viewpoints on this - as such, you can sound off HERE.
I'm definitely interested in hearing all viewpoints on this - as such, you can sound off HERE.
1/6/06
Slight Weblist Tweak
Occasionally people create Weblists that are completely personal in nature. Usually these sorts of lists are explicitly about a specific reviewer, and as such, most likely do not mean much to the vast majority of people that visit RateItAll.
Examples of these sorts of lists include Songs I Play on the Guitar, Reasons SZinhonshu is Everyone's Least Favorite Hypothetical Dinner Companion, numbah's job search, etc.
However, just because these Weblists are personal, doesn't mean they don't have value - it's just that they don't have value in the context of ratings and reviews. Where they do have value, I think, is in telling people a little something about the Weblist creator.
So what we've done is to create a "Profile Page Only" status for certain Weblists. What this means is that these sorts of lists will be accessible via the Profile Page of the creator, but comments on these lists will not be visible in the recent comments page or in the main Weblist index.
We may also use this feature on Weblists that don't exactly work in a ratings format (Choose One, Help Me Out Here, etc.)
Examples of these sorts of lists include Songs I Play on the Guitar, Reasons SZinhonshu is Everyone's Least Favorite Hypothetical Dinner Companion, numbah's job search, etc.
However, just because these Weblists are personal, doesn't mean they don't have value - it's just that they don't have value in the context of ratings and reviews. Where they do have value, I think, is in telling people a little something about the Weblist creator.
So what we've done is to create a "Profile Page Only" status for certain Weblists. What this means is that these sorts of lists will be accessible via the Profile Page of the creator, but comments on these lists will not be visible in the recent comments page or in the main Weblist index.
We may also use this feature on Weblists that don't exactly work in a ratings format (Choose One, Help Me Out Here, etc.)
1/5/06
Slight Issue with New Profile Page URL Format
I'm hearing reports that people with user names that contain the character "_" (e.g. "bobble_head") are having problems getting to their profile page.
We are working on the problem...
We are working on the problem...
1/4/06
This is cool
ok, check it out
http://www.rateitall.com/irishgit
http://www.rateitall.com/castlebee
http://www.rateitall.com/tboneya
get it?
As you can see, there's now a much easier format to remember your user page url... this works MUCH better for one word user names.
For example:
http://www.rateitall.com/Andrew%20Scott
We're working on ways to convert this to:
http://www.rateitall.com/Andrew-Scott
But it adds complications...
In the meantime, you may want to consider getting rid of the spaces in your user name.
http://www.rateitall.com/irishgit
http://www.rateitall.com/castlebee
http://www.rateitall.com/tboneya
get it?
As you can see, there's now a much easier format to remember your user page url... this works MUCH better for one word user names.
For example:
http://www.rateitall.com/Andrew%20Scott
We're working on ways to convert this to:
http://www.rateitall.com/Andrew-Scott
But it adds complications...
In the meantime, you may want to consider getting rid of the spaces in your user name.
New Years Resolutions
Read what others have said about their New Years Resolutions on this Weblist courtesy of zuchinibut.
12/29/05
Wrapping Up 2005
As 2005 draws to a close, I thought it might be worthwhile to pull together some of the Weblists that summarize the year's events. Feel free to point me towards ones that I've missed.
Events of 2005 (spartacus007)
2005's Dead Celebrities (zuchinibut)
Biggest Sports Stories of 2005 (magellan)
ABC CBS NBC Rate the Pilots 2005 (dawnsdinos)
RIA Events of 2005 (specialboothvicjr.)
Any other best of 2005 lists pending?
Events of 2005 (spartacus007)
2005's Dead Celebrities (zuchinibut)
Biggest Sports Stories of 2005 (magellan)
ABC CBS NBC Rate the Pilots 2005 (dawnsdinos)
RIA Events of 2005 (specialboothvicjr.)
Any other best of 2005 lists pending?
12/14/05
Hottest Weblists / Hottest Topics
Here's another interesting tidbit that might be useful to some of you Weblist publishers. The Hottest Topics and Hottest Weblists listings that appear throughout the site are generated by computer algorithm - they are set to display the topics and Weblists that have received the most ratings within a certain period of time.
Here's a current snapshot of the "Hottest" sections:
So one good way to give your Weblist a little added exposure, is to start rating your own Weblist! This is an absolutely legitimate way to promote your Weblist, and will have the added benefit of possibly inserting your Weblist in the Hottest Weblist section.
Here's a current snapshot of the "Hottest" sections:
So one good way to give your Weblist a little added exposure, is to start rating your own Weblist! This is an absolutely legitimate way to promote your Weblist, and will have the added benefit of possibly inserting your Weblist in the Hottest Weblist section.
Did You Know....
.... that only Weblists with a cumulative community rating of 3.0 or higher appear in the main RateItAll index?
I'm not talking about the average rating of listings within the Weblist, I'm talking about the actual Weblist rating. For example, this very personal Weblist created by RIA Moderator Magellan has a rating of 1.0, and therefore is only accessible via Magellan's user page.
Here is a screenshot of where you can find the Weblist rating:
So this is one way that the RateItAll Community determines what ratings lists gets the most airplay.
** Note, Weblists that have not yet been rated by default show up in the Index.
We're in the process of redesigning some of RateItAll's pages, and this is a feature that is going to get more emphasis, so make sure to give your feedback on Weblists as they get published. A great way to do this is by checking the New Additions pages.
I'm not talking about the average rating of listings within the Weblist, I'm talking about the actual Weblist rating. For example, this very personal Weblist created by RIA Moderator Magellan has a rating of 1.0, and therefore is only accessible via Magellan's user page.
Here is a screenshot of where you can find the Weblist rating:
So this is one way that the RateItAll Community determines what ratings lists gets the most airplay.
** Note, Weblists that have not yet been rated by default show up in the Index.
We're in the process of redesigning some of RateItAll's pages, and this is a feature that is going to get more emphasis, so make sure to give your feedback on Weblists as they get published. A great way to do this is by checking the New Additions pages.
12/7/05
Doing some maintenance.
Unscheduled maintenance that is.
We should be back up by 1:30PM PST or so.
In the meantime, here's a good article about why it's OK for a site to go down every once in a while :)
(doesn't stop me from ripping my hair out during downtime, though)
We should be back up by 1:30PM PST or so.
In the meantime, here's a good article about why it's OK for a site to go down every once in a while :)
(doesn't stop me from ripping my hair out during downtime, though)
12/6/05
More Maps
So I showed you what RateItAll's traffic patterns look like across the Atlantic Ocean. Over here in North America, RateItAll's top sources of visitors are represented by the orange bubbles:
Each bubble represents hundreds - and in some cases thousands - of visitors.
12/2/05
New Wiki Feature
I'm thrilled that so many people are making use of the new wiki editing tool that allows anyone to add images and descriptions to any page. For those who haven't checked this feature out yet, I'm referring to the link that says "Edit This Listing" located in the upper left hand side of every page.
Descriptions and images go live immediately, no approval required (though we do check them after the fact).
As is usually the case with these new features, there have been unforeseen benefits. For example, I think folks are finding that the wiki editing tool makes it much easier to quickly add descriptions and images to your own Weblists than the existing tool that requires you to go through your user profile page.
One request - please try and keep these descriptions and images as neutral and unbiased as possible. You're more than welcome to be as biased as you want in your review - in fact, we expect it. But the purpose of the description is to provide a quick, unbiased blurb that helps the reader identify exactly what they are rating.
Descriptions and images go live immediately, no approval required (though we do check them after the fact).
As is usually the case with these new features, there have been unforeseen benefits. For example, I think folks are finding that the wiki editing tool makes it much easier to quickly add descriptions and images to your own Weblists than the existing tool that requires you to go through your user profile page.
One request - please try and keep these descriptions and images as neutral and unbiased as possible. You're more than welcome to be as biased as you want in your review - in fact, we expect it. But the purpose of the description is to provide a quick, unbiased blurb that helps the reader identify exactly what they are rating.
Site Search
After months of tweaking, I'm finally at a point where I'm happy with the RateItAll search engine. It is now consistently returning exactly what I'm looking for, and I find it pretty easy to locate specific listings, or specific topics.
One thing we're considering is to make the default search site wide (RIA, Weblists, RateLocal), as opposed to forcing people to indicate which section they want to search.
Any thoughts on this? Feel free to email me or respond here in the comments...
One thing we're considering is to make the default search site wide (RIA, Weblists, RateLocal), as opposed to forcing people to indicate which section they want to search.
Any thoughts on this? Feel free to email me or respond here in the comments...
Holiday Spirit
As we approach the Holiday season, here are a few lists to get you in the mood:
Christmas Carols
Christmas Songs (some overlap with Carols, but a little broader)
Christmas Day
Hanukkah
Holiday TV Specials
Holiday Gifts for Men
Holiday Gifts for Women
New Year's Eve Necessities
New Year's Eve
Christmas Movies
Christmas Traditions
Christmas Guffaws
Favorite Things to Do Christmas Day
Favorite Things to do New Years Day
If there are any that I've missed, please let me know!
Christmas Carols
Christmas Songs (some overlap with Carols, but a little broader)
Christmas Day
Hanukkah
Holiday TV Specials
Holiday Gifts for Men
Holiday Gifts for Women
New Year's Eve Necessities
New Year's Eve
Christmas Movies
Christmas Traditions
Christmas Guffaws
Favorite Things to Do Christmas Day
Favorite Things to do New Years Day
If there are any that I've missed, please let me know!
11/29/05
New Section on RateItAll
We just added a section on Newspaper Columnists - make sure to add your favorites by clicking on the light bulb icon on the respective topic.
So far we have sports columnists, political columnists, humor columnists, advice columnists, and technology columnists.
So far we have sports columnists, political columnists, humor columnists, advice columnists, and technology columnists.
11/28/05
Another New Feature
You can now add descriptions and images to any item page on RateItAll - these are the descriptions that show up in the "About" section in the upper left hand side of every listing on RateItAll.
For those of you familiar with the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, this is a similar, group-editing type feature. Currently, however, you can't edit existing descriptions on RateItAll - just add new ones.
For those of you familiar with the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, this is a similar, group-editing type feature. Currently, however, you can't edit existing descriptions on RateItAll - just add new ones.
11/27/05
A global audience
This is a snapshot of where RIA's overnight traffic came from last night. The larger the bubble on the map, the more visitors are coming from that particular geography. Our top performer last night in terms of visits was Lancaster in the UK. The two blips in the Middle East are Riyadh and Dubai.As you can see, we are getting visitors from around the world. In fact, only about 75% of RateItAll's traffic comes from the US.
RateItAll's top 10 countries in terms of visitors are: 1) United States; 2) Canada; 3) United Kingdom; 4) Australia; 5) Germany; 6) France; 7) Netherlands; 8) Italy; 9) Mexico; and 10) India.
The top 100 are rounded out by: 99) Ghana; and 100) Guam - which both sent us nine visits in the last week.
I think it's kind of neat that so many folks from around the world are reading what the RIA community has to say.
Adding links to your reviews
Apologies for the slow blog posting recently - it's been pretty busy around here.
We've just added some new functionality to the site. It's the ability to link out to other Web pages from your reviews. I think this is a pretty important feature - many times, it's helpful to reference other resources when writing a review.
So now, if you write a link in this format:
http://www.google.com
It will automatically hyperlink out to that site like this:
http://www.google.com
You can also make words links to other pages. For example, if wanted to do this:
There's this great search engine called Google that I use all the time.
Here's how you would do it:
There's this great search engine called (!Link Url="http://www.google.com" Name="Google"!) that I use all the time.
It looks kind of messy, but I think it's easier than you think. All you do is copy / paste this format for the word you want to link, and fill in the url and word:
(!Link Url="xxxxxx" Name="xxxxxx"!)
We're working on ways to integrate this functionality into the RateIt pop-up window.... stay tuned.
We've just added some new functionality to the site. It's the ability to link out to other Web pages from your reviews. I think this is a pretty important feature - many times, it's helpful to reference other resources when writing a review.
So now, if you write a link in this format:
http://www.google.com
It will automatically hyperlink out to that site like this:
http://www.google.com
You can also make words links to other pages. For example, if wanted to do this:
There's this great search engine called Google that I use all the time.
Here's how you would do it:
There's this great search engine called (!Link Url="http://www.google.com" Name="Google"!) that I use all the time.
It looks kind of messy, but I think it's easier than you think. All you do is copy / paste this format for the word you want to link, and fill in the url and word:
(!Link Url="xxxxxx" Name="xxxxxx"!)
We're working on ways to integrate this functionality into the RateIt pop-up window.... stay tuned.
11/9/05
Intelligent Design
Yesterday the Kansas Board of Education ruled that arguments against the theory of evolution, raised primarily by the Intelligent Design movement, will have to be taught in the state's public schools.
RIA member Szinhonshu wonders what issues the Kansas School Board will decide to tackle next.
Here's more on Intelligent Design, evolution, Darwin, and creationism:
Theory of Evolution as a political issue
Is Intelligent Design based on the bible?
Creationism as a Christian sect
Should evolution be taught in public schools?
Charles Darwin the Scientist
Charles Darwin as one of history's most influential figures
Scopes Monkey Trial
Origin of Species as a Banned Book
RIA member Szinhonshu wonders what issues the Kansas School Board will decide to tackle next.
Here's more on Intelligent Design, evolution, Darwin, and creationism:
Theory of Evolution as a political issue
Is Intelligent Design based on the bible?
Creationism as a Christian sect
Should evolution be taught in public schools?
Charles Darwin the Scientist
Charles Darwin as one of history's most influential figures
Scopes Monkey Trial
Origin of Species as a Banned Book
10/28/05
New Tool
As promised, there is now a tool to let you view and manage your trusted network. If you go to your profile page, click the link that says "Edit your trusted network of XX users."
Clicking "delete" next to any user name listed, will remove that person from your trusted network.
*Note* clicking delete will NOT affect whether or not that user trusts you.
Clicking "delete" next to any user name listed, will remove that person from your trusted network.
*Note* clicking delete will NOT affect whether or not that user trusts you.
Parentheses
On the site you will notice that every user name now has a ( ) after it, with a number inside. This is the number of RIA members who have indicated trust for that particular reviewer.
The purpose of this is to 1) give the thousands of readers of RateItAll an idea of which reviews come from a reviewer who has earned a reputation in the community; and 2) help new members figure out who might be a good person to add to their trusted network, in order to generate quality recommendations using the RateItAll Recommendation Engine.
In the next couple of days, we will hopefully be launching a tool that lets you display and manage your trusted network, without having to surf around to the various profile pages.
Stay tuned.... lots more tweaking of this recommendation stuff to follow.
The purpose of this is to 1) give the thousands of readers of RateItAll an idea of which reviews come from a reviewer who has earned a reputation in the community; and 2) help new members figure out who might be a good person to add to their trusted network, in order to generate quality recommendations using the RateItAll Recommendation Engine.
In the next couple of days, we will hopefully be launching a tool that lets you display and manage your trusted network, without having to surf around to the various profile pages.
Stay tuned.... lots more tweaking of this recommendation stuff to follow.
10/26/05
10/25/05
10/23/05
Two New Features
On your user page, you now have access to two new feature:
- The RateItAll Recommendation Engine. This engine generates customized recommendations and comment lists based on your trusted network (people you trust). For the most trusted recommendations, select "one degree away" and for the most data, select "three degrees away."
- Invite Friends Tool. This tool allows you to invite friends who are not yet members of RateItAll to become members of your trusted network. If they accept your invitation, they will be automatically added to your trusted network, and you will automatically be added to theirs.
We have a tool that will hopefully go live tomorrow that will let you easily view and edit your trusted network.
Have fun with these features - I think they go along way towards making RateItAll a more helpful tool to exchange recommendations with those you trust, and to help filter out the noise.
- The RateItAll Recommendation Engine. This engine generates customized recommendations and comment lists based on your trusted network (people you trust). For the most trusted recommendations, select "one degree away" and for the most data, select "three degrees away."
- Invite Friends Tool. This tool allows you to invite friends who are not yet members of RateItAll to become members of your trusted network. If they accept your invitation, they will be automatically added to your trusted network, and you will automatically be added to theirs.
We have a tool that will hopefully go live tomorrow that will let you easily view and edit your trusted network.
Have fun with these features - I think they go along way towards making RateItAll a more helpful tool to exchange recommendations with those you trust, and to help filter out the noise.
10/20/05
A Sneak Peek
Logged in users can now take a sneak peak of the RateItAll Recommendation Engine.
The recommendation engine / trusted network FAQ is now live as well (though some of the features referenced are not live yet).
The recommendation engine / trusted network FAQ is now live as well (though some of the features referenced are not live yet).
10/18/05
Recommendation Engine Trial
RIA moderators now have access to the beta version of our new recommendation engine.
I think we're going to keep it like this for a week or so, see what works and what doesn't, and then roll it out to the entire community.
If you're curious for a preview, send a message to one of our Mod Extraordinaires and maybe they'll share some info.
I think we're going to keep it like this for a week or so, see what works and what doesn't, and then roll it out to the entire community.
If you're curious for a preview, send a message to one of our Mod Extraordinaires and maybe they'll share some info.
Rolling in some code changes....
.... site performance could be sporadic for the next 30 minutes or so....
save your work!
save your work!
10/17/05
More Recommendation Engine Stuff
So we now have an early beta version of the new RateItAll recommendation engine. It's not live on the site yet (only admins have access currently), but it should be in the next week or so.
Just to recap, this is a feature that is going to allow every member of the RateItAll community to quickly find the reviews written by their "trusted network" of reviewers on any subject, as well as the reviews of the folks who are linked by trust to those in that network.
I've spent the last couple of hours playing around with it, and I have to say that I think it's pretty powerful. A couple of things jump out at me:
- The quality of reviews that have been left by folks in my Trusted Network (working with a test account), are infinitely better than the more random sampling of reviews that can be found in the recent comments page, for example. So when I use the engine to find movie reviews from folks within 2 or 3 degrees of trust from me, I'm seeing good stuff - recommendations that look intriguing.
- I think the deciding factor of who you put in your trusted network is going to be pretty simple - do you like reading their reviews? If so, add'em.... you don't have to agree with them, you don't even have to like them. Conversely, just because you like someone personally doesn't mean that you'll want to have them in your Trusted Network.
- This engine is going to be helpful for a lot more than just products and services. It's a quick way to see a compilation of what all your favorite reviewers are talking about on the site, whether it be MP3 Players or Things That Smell Bad.
Stay tuned.... hopefully we'll get this thing launched for public consumption in the next couple of days.
Just to recap, this is a feature that is going to allow every member of the RateItAll community to quickly find the reviews written by their "trusted network" of reviewers on any subject, as well as the reviews of the folks who are linked by trust to those in that network.
I've spent the last couple of hours playing around with it, and I have to say that I think it's pretty powerful. A couple of things jump out at me:
- The quality of reviews that have been left by folks in my Trusted Network (working with a test account), are infinitely better than the more random sampling of reviews that can be found in the recent comments page, for example. So when I use the engine to find movie reviews from folks within 2 or 3 degrees of trust from me, I'm seeing good stuff - recommendations that look intriguing.
- I think the deciding factor of who you put in your trusted network is going to be pretty simple - do you like reading their reviews? If so, add'em.... you don't have to agree with them, you don't even have to like them. Conversely, just because you like someone personally doesn't mean that you'll want to have them in your Trusted Network.
- This engine is going to be helpful for a lot more than just products and services. It's a quick way to see a compilation of what all your favorite reviewers are talking about on the site, whether it be MP3 Players or Things That Smell Bad.
Stay tuned.... hopefully we'll get this thing launched for public consumption in the next couple of days.
10/12/05
A random smattering of amusing posts
Traderboy laments the fall of the Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Big Mac.
Sperryc insists that the Rolling Stones still rock, despite their age.
Alpepper advises you not to wear live strong bracelets near electrical equipment.
And Dodneh reviews the classic movie, "The Bad Seed."
Sperryc insists that the Rolling Stones still rock, despite their age.
Alpepper advises you not to wear live strong bracelets near electrical equipment.
And Dodneh reviews the classic movie, "The Bad Seed."
10/11/05
WebList approval bug is now fixed
You should now be able to approve new WebList suggestions that have reviews associated with them.
Let me know if anything else broke...
Let me know if anything else broke...
Some More Comments on Site Search
So very quietly, we have been tightening and tweaking the new search engine. I think we're getting close, and in my personal opinion, the new search engine is already far more useful and flexible than the old search engine.
The next step is to roll in a spell-catcher for search queries - this should happen in the next couple of days.
As always, feedback is welcome....
The next step is to roll in a spell-catcher for search queries - this should happen in the next couple of days.
As always, feedback is welcome....
Animated Banner Ads...
... are being filtered off the site as we speak.
If you come across a particularly obnoxious, slow loading ad that slows down page performance, please let me know and we can nuke it.
If you come across a particularly obnoxious, slow loading ad that slows down page performance, please let me know and we can nuke it.
10/9/05
Recommendation Engine
So I just thought I would share with you guys how I envision the first iteration of the RateItAll recommendation engine.
The idea is pretty simple - provide a tool that lets us specify what sort of recommendations we are looking for (TV, Movies, Books, Restaurants, Travel, etc.) and how far outside of our Trusted Network we are willing to go to find those recommendations.
Clicking "Submit" will spit out all of the reviews that meet your parameters.
Eventually we'll move to being able to filter any ratings list page in a similar fashion - so that you can see what the "RIA Universe" thinks, as compared to what your trusted network thinks.
And this feature doesn't have to apply only to products. Some of the most interesting discussions on RateItAll apply to areas like politics, religion, and celebrities. These trust filters will be a neat way to allow you to read the reviewers that you find most interesting, and ignore the rest.
Stay tuned....
The idea is pretty simple - provide a tool that lets us specify what sort of recommendations we are looking for (TV, Movies, Books, Restaurants, Travel, etc.) and how far outside of our Trusted Network we are willing to go to find those recommendations.Clicking "Submit" will spit out all of the reviews that meet your parameters.
Eventually we'll move to being able to filter any ratings list page in a similar fashion - so that you can see what the "RIA Universe" thinks, as compared to what your trusted network thinks.
And this feature doesn't have to apply only to products. Some of the most interesting discussions on RateItAll apply to areas like politics, religion, and celebrities. These trust filters will be a neat way to allow you to read the reviewers that you find most interesting, and ignore the rest.
Stay tuned....
Web 2.1 Conference
I went to a really neat "un-conference" on Friday called Web 2.1 put together by a very nice and smart guy named Chris Heuer. The basis of the conference was a discussion of the direction of the Web, with a focus on how the Web is getting more and more "participatory" in that media (news, postings, reviews, video, etc.) is increasingly being generated from the ground up via sites like Blogger, MySpace, and Wikipedia, as opposed to by big media corporations.
Anyway, there was about fifty of us Web nerds there, and the discussions ranged from how we can use the participatory Web to prepare ourselves and respond to Katrina-like disasters through projects like Recovery 2.0, to a very neat service called Zazzle which lets you upload artwork and pictures to be applied to custom t-shirts and gear, to a walk through of RateItAll.
I spoke specifically about my vision of transforming RateItAll to a customized recommendation engine for everybody, using the power of trusted networks.
Here's a somewhat blurry picture of my presentation, courtesy of Miss Rogue at HorsePigCow.
Anyway, there was about fifty of us Web nerds there, and the discussions ranged from how we can use the participatory Web to prepare ourselves and respond to Katrina-like disasters through projects like Recovery 2.0, to a very neat service called Zazzle which lets you upload artwork and pictures to be applied to custom t-shirts and gear, to a walk through of RateItAll.
I spoke specifically about my vision of transforming RateItAll to a customized recommendation engine for everybody, using the power of trusted networks.
Here's a somewhat blurry picture of my presentation, courtesy of Miss Rogue at HorsePigCow.
10/8/05
The Animated Ads...
... seem to be really slowing down the recent comments page, and the user profile pages.
I'm going to work with our agency to try and filter out the animated ones on Monday.
Sorry for the annoyance.
I'm going to work with our agency to try and filter out the animated ones on Monday.
Sorry for the annoyance.
10/7/05
Lance and President Bush
LanceRoxas expresses the betrayal that some conservatives are feeling regarding President Bush's appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
Speaking in Vegas
It looks like I'm going to be speaking at an Internet conference in Las Vegas in November. The conference goes from the 15th to the 17th.
I'll be speaking about things near and dear to my heart like online community, social networking, and consumer generated content.
If anybody is in Vegas around then, drop me a line!
I'll be speaking about things near and dear to my heart like online community, social networking, and consumer generated content.
If anybody is in Vegas around then, drop me a line!
Deleting Accounts, Comments, etc.
As there has been a lot of misinformation spread about this subject recently, I thought I would clarify a few things about how RateItAll deals with things like comment deletion and requests to remove entire accounts.
First and foremost, I suggest that everyone read the Terms of Service. This document has been virtually unchanged since the launch of the site in 1999, and covers quite specifically issues regarding RateItAll's liability on accuracy of reviews, ownership of reviews, indemnification, and all that good stuff.
On an operational level, here is where I stand on this stuff. Once a review has been submitted to the site, I believe that it has become part of the conversation. Posts tend to reference each other, and pulling a specific review from the conversation can tend to make the entire thread difficult to follow.
For this reason, other than in extreme situations, I am not purging accounts anymore. Users that get in trouble with things like Site Rules will more often than not see their accounts disabled, as opposed to removed. In fact, as a security precaution, I have made it very difficult for even Administrators, to remove accounts.
This wasn't always the case - folks who have been around a long time on the site probably remember instances where long time users, due to repeated site rules violations, had their accounts completely erased. Fortunately, we now have a "disable" tool that allows me to shut down an account, without removing comments/helpful votes/ratings from the conversation.
That being said, there is nothing stopping a reviewer in good standing from deleting their own reviews. As much as I don't support removing a review that has been submitted to the conversation, RateItAll has never prevented anyone from removing a post that they authored. While it is conceivable that the site could decide to restore a review after it has been removed by its author, this is an unlikely scenario as far as I'm concerned - and has never happened to date.
Weblists are a different story. Because Weblists are almost always populated by reviews from lots of different members of the community, I don't think it appropriate to allow Weblist authors to simply delete Weblists and all their associated reviews from the site.
I hope that helps to clarify some of these issues. As always, feel free to email me directly (lawrence at rateitall.com) with specific questions.
First and foremost, I suggest that everyone read the Terms of Service. This document has been virtually unchanged since the launch of the site in 1999, and covers quite specifically issues regarding RateItAll's liability on accuracy of reviews, ownership of reviews, indemnification, and all that good stuff.
On an operational level, here is where I stand on this stuff. Once a review has been submitted to the site, I believe that it has become part of the conversation. Posts tend to reference each other, and pulling a specific review from the conversation can tend to make the entire thread difficult to follow.
For this reason, other than in extreme situations, I am not purging accounts anymore. Users that get in trouble with things like Site Rules will more often than not see their accounts disabled, as opposed to removed. In fact, as a security precaution, I have made it very difficult for even Administrators, to remove accounts.
This wasn't always the case - folks who have been around a long time on the site probably remember instances where long time users, due to repeated site rules violations, had their accounts completely erased. Fortunately, we now have a "disable" tool that allows me to shut down an account, without removing comments/helpful votes/ratings from the conversation.
That being said, there is nothing stopping a reviewer in good standing from deleting their own reviews. As much as I don't support removing a review that has been submitted to the conversation, RateItAll has never prevented anyone from removing a post that they authored. While it is conceivable that the site could decide to restore a review after it has been removed by its author, this is an unlikely scenario as far as I'm concerned - and has never happened to date.
Weblists are a different story. Because Weblists are almost always populated by reviews from lots of different members of the community, I don't think it appropriate to allow Weblist authors to simply delete Weblists and all their associated reviews from the site.
I hope that helps to clarify some of these issues. As always, feel free to email me directly (lawrence at rateitall.com) with specific questions.
10/6/05
Check it Out
So I think this is a pretty neat page. It's a summary page, by user, of the Top 10,000 RateItAll members across a variety of categories.
Here are some definitions:
Total Contributions = Reviews + WebList Listings + New Item Additions
WebList Listings = The total number of items within all of that member's Weblists. So if I have 10 WebLists, each with 10 items, my WebList Listings would be 100.
New Item Additions = The number of new item suggestions (triggered by the Light Bulb icon) that have been submitted and accepted on RIA (Main, WebLists, Local).
Trusted By = The number of other RIA members that have indicated trust for that particular member.
RateItAll Member Since = The date they joined RIA.
Last Site Activity = The date of their last activity on RIA.
We're working through a few bugs on this page - The Trusted By column doesn't seem to be synching up with the Trust summary page, and the Last Site Activity is showing some inaccurate results in some places, but this page is close to being finished.
You can also sort this page by category, by clicking on the appropriate heading. For example, this page shows a ranking of top 10,000 reviewers by New Item Additions.
The other new page that we've created is a summary page of all of a particular user's New Item Additions. RIA Member m. a. duron has submitted 371 new, approved items to RIA.
Please feel free to mess around with this page, and let me know if you see anything screwy.
Here are some definitions:
Total Contributions = Reviews + WebList Listings + New Item Additions
WebList Listings = The total number of items within all of that member's Weblists. So if I have 10 WebLists, each with 10 items, my WebList Listings would be 100.
New Item Additions = The number of new item suggestions (triggered by the Light Bulb icon) that have been submitted and accepted on RIA (Main, WebLists, Local).
Trusted By = The number of other RIA members that have indicated trust for that particular member.
RateItAll Member Since = The date they joined RIA.
Last Site Activity = The date of their last activity on RIA.
We're working through a few bugs on this page - The Trusted By column doesn't seem to be synching up with the Trust summary page, and the Last Site Activity is showing some inaccurate results in some places, but this page is close to being finished.
You can also sort this page by category, by clicking on the appropriate heading. For example, this page shows a ranking of top 10,000 reviewers by New Item Additions.
The other new page that we've created is a summary page of all of a particular user's New Item Additions. RIA Member m. a. duron has submitted 371 new, approved items to RIA.
Please feel free to mess around with this page, and let me know if you see anything screwy.
10/4/05
Couple Interesting New Weblists
I think Spartacus007 did a very good job with his Weblist breaking out the various GOP Factions. Each listing has images, and what would seem to be even-handed and thorough descriptions.
Also, RateItAll newcomer Kairho came up with a list of Power Tool Brands and Weather Web Sites that are worth checking out.
Also, RateItAll newcomer Kairho came up with a list of Power Tool Brands and Weather Web Sites that are worth checking out.
Helpful?
So I mentioned in a blog post a while back that I thought the "Helpful" button might be broken, and may not be the most accurate way to gauge a RateItAll member's on site reputation.
So why do I think this? Let's look for example at the page devoted to Cartoon Network. Scroll down the page a bit a take a look at the post that Magellan left. His comment, "Great!" received two helpful votes.
Is this really a helpful comment? Or did this comment receive two helpful votes based on the fact that he's been on the site a long time, knows a bunch of folks, has been known to leave helpful comments elsewhere, has a "moderator" tag, etc., etc. All kinds of possible reasons that this comment was considered helpful - unfortunately, the comment itself, was probably not one of them.
On a larger scale, this sort of use of the helpful button can be deceptive. For example, there is a Top 25 RIA user (no longer active with the site) who received nearly 40% of his/her helpful votes from a single user.
Is this cheating? No, of course not. There are no rules as to what constitutes a helpful vote. Is this misleading? Perhaps, when you consider that the purpose of Top XX tags is to indicate to readers of the site whose opinions have earned a little more respect among the community. To continue with this thought, if the reader knew that 40% of the helpful votes resulting in that Top 25 tag came from a single user, perhaps this would cause them to think twice about considering that reviewer one of the elite members of the site.
So how can we get around this sort of issue? How can we come up with a measure of site reputation that alerts newcomers to the site of a reviewer's reputation, as gauged by the community?
There's no easy answer to this. One of the things that I've been looking at is a consideration of all the different factors that might go into what might a "trusted" reviewer look like, from a purely statistical point of view. Things like tenure on the site, number of helpful votes, distribution of helpful votes, number of folks trusting that member, reputation of those trust that member, who the member trusts, etc, etc.
My goal is to come up with a formula that converts all of these helpful type behaviors into some sort of a tag to help readers know who has earned a reputation on RateItAll.
That's not to say that a newcomer to the site who has only left a single post cannot be trusted. Of course not. All we would be doing with this tag is to say that statistically speaking, you're better off trusting someone who has demonstrated a bunch of these behaviors than someone who hasn't.
My guess is that everyone who is reading this blog has earned a TREMENDOUS amount of reputation here. The point of this is not to separate folks into tiers - but to provide some quantifiable measure of how to recognize those who have helped make RIA the community what it is.
We're still a ways away from this. It's actually pretty complicated math to come up with something that scales, so it's a fairly big project.
However, in the next couple of days, we should be rolling out a summary table that tracks things like reviews left, new items suggested, weblist items managed, incoming trust votes, etc. The purpose of this table will be to recognize folks who have contributed to the community on a variety of different fronts - not just by receiving helpful votes.
Stay tuned for more info....
So why do I think this? Let's look for example at the page devoted to Cartoon Network. Scroll down the page a bit a take a look at the post that Magellan left. His comment, "Great!" received two helpful votes.
Is this really a helpful comment? Or did this comment receive two helpful votes based on the fact that he's been on the site a long time, knows a bunch of folks, has been known to leave helpful comments elsewhere, has a "moderator" tag, etc., etc. All kinds of possible reasons that this comment was considered helpful - unfortunately, the comment itself, was probably not one of them.
On a larger scale, this sort of use of the helpful button can be deceptive. For example, there is a Top 25 RIA user (no longer active with the site) who received nearly 40% of his/her helpful votes from a single user.
Is this cheating? No, of course not. There are no rules as to what constitutes a helpful vote. Is this misleading? Perhaps, when you consider that the purpose of Top XX tags is to indicate to readers of the site whose opinions have earned a little more respect among the community. To continue with this thought, if the reader knew that 40% of the helpful votes resulting in that Top 25 tag came from a single user, perhaps this would cause them to think twice about considering that reviewer one of the elite members of the site.
So how can we get around this sort of issue? How can we come up with a measure of site reputation that alerts newcomers to the site of a reviewer's reputation, as gauged by the community?
There's no easy answer to this. One of the things that I've been looking at is a consideration of all the different factors that might go into what might a "trusted" reviewer look like, from a purely statistical point of view. Things like tenure on the site, number of helpful votes, distribution of helpful votes, number of folks trusting that member, reputation of those trust that member, who the member trusts, etc, etc.
My goal is to come up with a formula that converts all of these helpful type behaviors into some sort of a tag to help readers know who has earned a reputation on RateItAll.
That's not to say that a newcomer to the site who has only left a single post cannot be trusted. Of course not. All we would be doing with this tag is to say that statistically speaking, you're better off trusting someone who has demonstrated a bunch of these behaviors than someone who hasn't.
My guess is that everyone who is reading this blog has earned a TREMENDOUS amount of reputation here. The point of this is not to separate folks into tiers - but to provide some quantifiable measure of how to recognize those who have helped make RIA the community what it is.
We're still a ways away from this. It's actually pretty complicated math to come up with something that scales, so it's a fairly big project.
However, in the next couple of days, we should be rolling out a summary table that tracks things like reviews left, new items suggested, weblist items managed, incoming trust votes, etc. The purpose of this table will be to recognize folks who have contributed to the community on a variety of different fronts - not just by receiving helpful votes.
Stay tuned for more info....
Known bug alert...
Both Genghis the Hun and Ridgewalker have alerted me to a bug in approving new Weblist submissions that contain a paragraph in the associated review.
If you encounter a Weblist suggestion that has this problem (you'll see an error message when you click "submit"), please just leave it in your inbox until we have fixed this bug.
If you encounter a Weblist suggestion that has this problem (you'll see an error message when you click "submit"), please just leave it in your inbox until we have fixed this bug.
9/29/05
Chief Justice Roberts and and Tom Delay
You can comment on the confirmation of John Roberts and House Majority Leader Tom Delay's indictment on Spartacus007's weblist.
9/28/05
Imagine This
Imagine you could go to your profile page and click on a link that said "Show Me Recommendations from my Trusted Network."
This would take you to a menu where you could choose from things like Books, Movies, Television, Web Sites, Bands, etc. Let's say you chose Televison.
The system would then spit out a list of highest rated Television Programs, according to those within 3 degrees of your Trusted Network, together with reviews of those programs from people that you trust. All other ratings and reviews data would be filtered out.
We're not that far from this.
And the Trusted Network functionality is what's going to allow this to happen.
This would take you to a menu where you could choose from things like Books, Movies, Television, Web Sites, Bands, etc. Let's say you chose Televison.
The system would then spit out a list of highest rated Television Programs, according to those within 3 degrees of your Trusted Network, together with reviews of those programs from people that you trust. All other ratings and reviews data would be filtered out.
We're not that far from this.
And the Trusted Network functionality is what's going to allow this to happen.
9/27/05
edt4 on the Sex Pistols
edt4 makes a compelling case for why the Sex Pistols should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
I'm not sure about the Sex Pistols, but this is a Hall of Fame caliber post.
I'm not sure about the Sex Pistols, but this is a Hall of Fame caliber post.
More on Trust...
So there's more to the story with this whole Trusted Network thing.
While I do think it is oddly comforting to see a visual display of our RIA cronies on our profile pages (Flick's profile pic is my favorite), and I think aesthetically, the profile pages look much nicer now - having visually pleasing profiles is not the end game here.
And while I think it is helpful for folks browsing the site to get a feel for whether other people trust the author of a particular review, the expected benefits of this feature go far beyond that.
Here's the vision:
I think that our hand-picked Trusted Networks (those that you trust) can evolve into the foundation of a personalized recommendation system for every one of us.
Imagine if you could filter out the ratings and reviews of every hit and run poster with an agenda on RIA, and only see the recommendations of those who are connected to you via your personal trusted network, or via the trusted network of those you trust.
If this site had this functionality, you would not just be getting the unsolicited opinions of the entire universe of RateItAll reviewers - you would be getting the aggregated recommendations of only those folks who are connected to you by links of trust. This network could be extended 2 degrees out, three degrees, four degrees out, etc. - to whatever degree that you felt comfortable with and that provided sufficient data.
That's what we're shooting for here. By identifying posters that you trust, you are linking yourselves not just with those individuals, but also with the networks of those individuals. In technical terms, for every additional node on your personal network, the power of that network grows exponentially.
So what does that mean? I think in terms of RateItAll, it means that the more we are able to organize ourselves into trusted networks, the more value our community can provide in generating relevant, helpful, personalized recommendations of things like movies, TV shows, products, restaurants, travel destinations, music - and even more subjective things like politicians, blogs, and Web sites.
As many of the most prolific RIA users trust each other, the networked value of this system is not apparent yet. But I think you can see signs of its power. I've noticed several relatively unknown users showing up as trusting some RateItAll heavyweights. Clicking through to the profile pages of those unknown users shows that in some cases, that trust is returned. What can we deduce from this? One very plausible conclusion is that these little known RIA users have a real life / offline connection to the RIA heavyweight. In my mind, this makes the value of their opinions that much more significant, and makes me trust their reviews a bit more.
This is network theory in action. And I think maybe the coolest aspect of it, is that each of us controls our own Trusted Network. Only we can decide who we trust, and because RateItAll is a free service open to anyone, we have the power to pick and choose from everyone we know - online or offline - to build a powerful, customized network that we can learn from.
Stay tuned, as this is a work in process.... as always, comments are welcome.
While I do think it is oddly comforting to see a visual display of our RIA cronies on our profile pages (Flick's profile pic is my favorite), and I think aesthetically, the profile pages look much nicer now - having visually pleasing profiles is not the end game here.
And while I think it is helpful for folks browsing the site to get a feel for whether other people trust the author of a particular review, the expected benefits of this feature go far beyond that.
Here's the vision:
I think that our hand-picked Trusted Networks (those that you trust) can evolve into the foundation of a personalized recommendation system for every one of us.
Imagine if you could filter out the ratings and reviews of every hit and run poster with an agenda on RIA, and only see the recommendations of those who are connected to you via your personal trusted network, or via the trusted network of those you trust.
If this site had this functionality, you would not just be getting the unsolicited opinions of the entire universe of RateItAll reviewers - you would be getting the aggregated recommendations of only those folks who are connected to you by links of trust. This network could be extended 2 degrees out, three degrees, four degrees out, etc. - to whatever degree that you felt comfortable with and that provided sufficient data.
That's what we're shooting for here. By identifying posters that you trust, you are linking yourselves not just with those individuals, but also with the networks of those individuals. In technical terms, for every additional node on your personal network, the power of that network grows exponentially.
So what does that mean? I think in terms of RateItAll, it means that the more we are able to organize ourselves into trusted networks, the more value our community can provide in generating relevant, helpful, personalized recommendations of things like movies, TV shows, products, restaurants, travel destinations, music - and even more subjective things like politicians, blogs, and Web sites.
As many of the most prolific RIA users trust each other, the networked value of this system is not apparent yet. But I think you can see signs of its power. I've noticed several relatively unknown users showing up as trusting some RateItAll heavyweights. Clicking through to the profile pages of those unknown users shows that in some cases, that trust is returned. What can we deduce from this? One very plausible conclusion is that these little known RIA users have a real life / offline connection to the RIA heavyweight. In my mind, this makes the value of their opinions that much more significant, and makes me trust their reviews a bit more.
This is network theory in action. And I think maybe the coolest aspect of it, is that each of us controls our own Trusted Network. Only we can decide who we trust, and because RateItAll is a free service open to anyone, we have the power to pick and choose from everyone we know - online or offline - to build a powerful, customized network that we can learn from.
Stay tuned, as this is a work in process.... as always, comments are welcome.
9/26/05
Getting Closer on Search...
OK folks, the search engine is getting better and better.
A search for College Football Stadiums now returns what it should.
A search for "Corpse Bride" now returns what it should (thanks Kamylienne).
I think the entire site has been successfully indexed now.
The last tweak we are working on is to put heavier weighting on the name of a particular item or category... For example, the search results for "Jessica Alba" should result in a page called "Jessica Alba" outranking the "Dark Angel" page. Currently, it's not.
We're working on this... hopefully we'll have things sorted out in the next day or to.
One question for you all.... do you think we should continue to partition search - in other words, break it up into RateItAll, Weblists, Local - or do you think we should offer the option to search site wide? Feedback welcome.
A search for College Football Stadiums now returns what it should.
A search for "Corpse Bride" now returns what it should (thanks Kamylienne).
I think the entire site has been successfully indexed now.
The last tweak we are working on is to put heavier weighting on the name of a particular item or category... For example, the search results for "Jessica Alba" should result in a page called "Jessica Alba" outranking the "Dark Angel" page. Currently, it's not.
We're working on this... hopefully we'll have things sorted out in the next day or to.
One question for you all.... do you think we should continue to partition search - in other words, break it up into RateItAll, Weblists, Local - or do you think we should offer the option to search site wide? Feedback welcome.
Trust Network
There is now a visual Trust Network live on each user profile page.
More on this to follow :)
More on this to follow :)
9/23/05
Addition to Site Rules
We added a new entry to the RateItAll site rules today.
It is now off limits to name specific employees when reviewing a company or service, or to disclose personally identifying information (emails, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) in reviews.
This addition is consistent with RateItAll's themes of trying to stay away from personal attacks in reviews, and to focus on more helpful information such as quality of service.
It is now off limits to name specific employees when reviewing a company or service, or to disclose personally identifying information (emails, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) in reviews.
This addition is consistent with RateItAll's themes of trying to stay away from personal attacks in reviews, and to focus on more helpful information such as quality of service.
Need Your Help
I'm looking for specific examples with the new search engine in which you are not able to find what you need.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
A search for "College Football Stadiums" doesn't yield any college football stadiums.
Please send examples like this in, either through the site feedback tools, or directly me to lawrence AT rateitall.com.
Make sure to tell me exactly what you were searching for, and why you weren't happy with the results.
Thanks for you help.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about:
A search for "College Football Stadiums" doesn't yield any college football stadiums.
Please send examples like this in, either through the site feedback tools, or directly me to lawrence AT rateitall.com.
Make sure to tell me exactly what you were searching for, and why you weren't happy with the results.
Thanks for you help.
9/22/05
Search
OK, we're making progress on the new RateItAll site search engine.
We now have the category of each search result showing up, which makes it much easier to find what you need.
For example, see these search results for George W. Bush.
As you can see, the first three results show that you can rate him in the context of 1) US Politicians and Officials ; 2) US Presidents; and 3) Republican Convention Speakers.
We have a couple of more tweaks planned that should make the new search engine even easier to use... stay tuned.
We now have the category of each search result showing up, which makes it much easier to find what you need.
For example, see these search results for George W. Bush.
As you can see, the first three results show that you can rate him in the context of 1) US Politicians and Officials ; 2) US Presidents; and 3) Republican Convention Speakers.
We have a couple of more tweaks planned that should make the new search engine even easier to use... stay tuned.
9/21/05
Couple Weblists of Note
Kamylienne has set up two Weblists worth checking out: 1) a directory of Pet Lost & Found Websites; and 2) a list of sushi restaurants in Gainesville.
New RateItAll User USACollegeTowns.com seems bent on building Weblists of bars and hotels in every college town across the USA.
James W. Bevis has set up a phenomenal Weblist of each of the 156 original Twilight Zone episodes, complete with descriptions.
And yes, the Joan Jett fan club seems to have discovered the Weblister - click here for Joan Jett Songs.
And if that's not obscure enough for you, try out RIA's new list of RSS Readers and Parsers.
New RateItAll User USACollegeTowns.com seems bent on building Weblists of bars and hotels in every college town across the USA.
James W. Bevis has set up a phenomenal Weblist of each of the 156 original Twilight Zone episodes, complete with descriptions.
And yes, the Joan Jett fan club seems to have discovered the Weblister - click here for Joan Jett Songs.
And if that's not obscure enough for you, try out RIA's new list of RSS Readers and Parsers.
9/20/05
Do you want to add a photo to your RateItAll profile page...
....but don't know how?
We can help.
Just send us an email with your photo enclosed to data @ rateitall.com (but with no spaces) from the email account that is associated with your RateItAll account, and we'll add it for you.
We can also help folks who are tired of having a stretched photo on their profile page - just follow the same instructions above, and we'll format the photo for you and update your profile page.
We have a couple of features in the works that will result in a little more visibility for profile pages - so you may want to consider putting your best foot forward :)
We can help.
Just send us an email with your photo enclosed to data @ rateitall.com (but with no spaces) from the email account that is associated with your RateItAll account, and we'll add it for you.
We can also help folks who are tired of having a stretched photo on their profile page - just follow the same instructions above, and we'll format the photo for you and update your profile page.
We have a couple of features in the works that will result in a little more visibility for profile pages - so you may want to consider putting your best foot forward :)
9/19/05
Site Enhancement Update
Thanks to everyone who has reported bugs over the last couple of days including Flick, traderboy, genghis the hun, and tboneya. This sort of feedback is VERY helpful.
Here is the current status of the recent site enhancements:
- Quotation Mark Bug - new reviews that contain quotation marks are now correctly displaying those quotation marks. However, past reviews that used to contain quotation marks are not. We are working to restore all of those lost quotation marks.
- RateIt! Pop-Up Window - we have now completed the transition back to the RateIt! pop-up window. This feature should be bug free, and you should be able to rate from any area of the site: recent comments, item page, ratings list page, search results page, featured comment, user comments page, etc. One thing we're keeping an eye on is reports that the RateIt! pop-up window is too big, and it's difficult to click on the "submit" button. I am looking for more feedback regarding this issue - so if you are experiencing this, please send in feedback either via the blog, or directly to me at lawrenceATrateitall.com.
- Search - The new search engine is live, and we are continuing to work through some tweaks. I am withholding judgment on the effectiveness of this search engine until we can get the entire site indexed - this should be sometime later this week. In the meantime, you can access the old RIA search engine if need be.
- Site Speed - We've now completed recodes of every ratings list page on the site, as well as the recent comments page. We've also successfully doubled our database processing power. The site is absolutely humming for me right now, and it's as fast as I've ever seen it. I hope you are experiencing the same, and would love to hear your feedback.
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more feature enhancements, and keep the great feedback and ideas coming.
Here is the current status of the recent site enhancements:
- Quotation Mark Bug - new reviews that contain quotation marks are now correctly displaying those quotation marks. However, past reviews that used to contain quotation marks are not. We are working to restore all of those lost quotation marks.
- RateIt! Pop-Up Window - we have now completed the transition back to the RateIt! pop-up window. This feature should be bug free, and you should be able to rate from any area of the site: recent comments, item page, ratings list page, search results page, featured comment, user comments page, etc. One thing we're keeping an eye on is reports that the RateIt! pop-up window is too big, and it's difficult to click on the "submit" button. I am looking for more feedback regarding this issue - so if you are experiencing this, please send in feedback either via the blog, or directly to me at lawrenceATrateitall.com.
- Search - The new search engine is live, and we are continuing to work through some tweaks. I am withholding judgment on the effectiveness of this search engine until we can get the entire site indexed - this should be sometime later this week. In the meantime, you can access the old RIA search engine if need be.
- Site Speed - We've now completed recodes of every ratings list page on the site, as well as the recent comments page. We've also successfully doubled our database processing power. The site is absolutely humming for me right now, and it's as fast as I've ever seen it. I hope you are experiencing the same, and would love to hear your feedback.
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more feature enhancements, and keep the great feedback and ideas coming.
9/15/05
You asked for it....
.... and I have made it so.
The legendary RateItAll RateIt! pop-up window is back.
I have to say, you guys were right. It is MUCH faster and easier to rate via a pop-up window than via a stand alone page.
Thanks for the feedback, and please keep it coming.
The legendary RateItAll RateIt! pop-up window is back.
I have to say, you guys were right. It is MUCH faster and easier to rate via a pop-up window than via a stand alone page.
Thanks for the feedback, and please keep it coming.
Site Tweaks Going on - Beware!
Save any long posts that you make for the next couple of hours, we are working on the site, so performance may be a little dicey.
One of the changes that we're working on is the return of the RateIt! pop-up window. Despite glowing reviews of the new RateIt! page, we've decided to go back to the pop-up window.
One of the changes that we're working on is the return of the RateIt! pop-up window. Despite glowing reviews of the new RateIt! page, we've decided to go back to the pop-up window.
9/14/05
Couple of Comments on the New Search Engine
Here are a couple of quick things to keep in mind as we test this new search engine:
- The site is not fully indexed. There are some pages that can not be found with the new search engine. We are working on this, and should have it corrected shortly.
- New additions to the site will not be found via the search engine. There will be approximately a 24 hour lag before new additions to the site start showing up in the search engine.
- The new search engine will only return items. So if you do a search for "Horror Movies," it will not return a link to the main Horror Movies section - just individual restaurants within that section. We're working to correct this as well.
- The site continues to be divided into three partitions for the purposes of search: RateItAll, Weblists, and Local. You'll need to specify which part of the site you are searching via the drop down menu.
As we work through the kinks, the old search engine will stay available here:
http://www.rateitall.com/search.aspx
- The site is not fully indexed. There are some pages that can not be found with the new search engine. We are working on this, and should have it corrected shortly.
- New additions to the site will not be found via the search engine. There will be approximately a 24 hour lag before new additions to the site start showing up in the search engine.
- The new search engine will only return items. So if you do a search for "Horror Movies," it will not return a link to the main Horror Movies section - just individual restaurants within that section. We're working to correct this as well.
- The site continues to be divided into three partitions for the purposes of search: RateItAll, Weblists, and Local. You'll need to specify which part of the site you are searching via the drop down menu.
As we work through the kinks, the old search engine will stay available here:
http://www.rateitall.com/search.aspx
New Search Engine Live
Finally we have a real search engine. Try it out, and please give me feedback.
We're going to be making some tweaks to it during the next couple of days to make it easier to use.... but again, feedback is much appreciated.
We're going to be making some tweaks to it during the next couple of days to make it easier to use.... but again, feedback is much appreciated.
9/13/05
RateItAll is Going Down....
.... Right Now.
We're putting the new database online. Just to review, this will double site processing power, and should have a noticeable impact on performance.
If things go well, we'll be back up within the hour.
We're putting the new database online. Just to review, this will double site processing power, and should have a noticeable impact on performance.
If things go well, we'll be back up within the hour.
9/12/05
RateItAll Will Be Down For Maintenance....
.... Tomorrow, September 13 from 11AM - 2PM EST.
We're going to try and install the new database again.
My first preference was to do the upgrade in the middle of the night. However, since we've had some difficulties with this upgrade, to be safe I decided to do it when the Tyan customer service desk is open.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
We're going to try and install the new database again.
My first preference was to do the upgrade in the middle of the night. However, since we've had some difficulties with this upgrade, to be safe I decided to do it when the Tyan customer service desk is open.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
The Return of Real Time Comment Updates
I have enabled real time updates on both the recent comments page, and the user page.
So you'll now be able to immediately see comments that you post on your user page, and all comments that post on the recent comments page as they come in.
We'll see how it goes.... we have more server firepower coming in tomorrow (details to follow), so I'm optimistic that we can handle this now.
So you'll now be able to immediately see comments that you post on your user page, and all comments that post on the recent comments page as they come in.
We'll see how it goes.... we have more server firepower coming in tomorrow (details to follow), so I'm optimistic that we can handle this now.
Success
Well, we've recoded the main ratings list / weblist template for every RateItAll ratings list.
And so far, it seems to be screamingly fast to open a ratings list page. Here's an example.
Be on the look-out for bugs, as this was a significant code change.
We'll now be going through one by one the critical pages of the site and doing the same thing...
And so far, it seems to be screamingly fast to open a ratings list page. Here's an example.
Be on the look-out for bugs, as this was a significant code change.
We'll now be going through one by one the critical pages of the site and doing the same thing...
9/9/05
College Football Players
With College Football season kicking into full gear, we've finally gotten around to updating our current College Football Players list.
If you don't see your favorite player, you can add him yourself.
If you don't see your favorite player, you can add him yourself.
9/8/05
Anyone ever been to Athens?
If so, check out our new list of Athens Tourist Attractions. Each item on the list has pictures and descriptions - here's a good opportunity to get that first review in on some high profile listings.
We're working on blowing out these sections for each of the major tourist cities in the world.
Here are some others to check out - if you don't see your favorite spot in any of these cities, make sure to add it by clicking on the light bulb icon:
Amsterdam Tourist Attractions
Barcelona Tourist Attractions
Buenos Aires Tourist Attractions
London Tourist Attractions
Madrid Tourist Attractions
Melbourne Tourist Attractions
Mexico City Tourist Attractions
Montevideo Tourist Attractions
Paris Tourist Attractions
Rio Tourist Attractions
Rome Tourist Attractions
Santiago, Chile Tourist Attractions
Sydney Tourist Attractions
We're working on blowing out these sections for each of the major tourist cities in the world.
Here are some others to check out - if you don't see your favorite spot in any of these cities, make sure to add it by clicking on the light bulb icon:
Amsterdam Tourist Attractions
Barcelona Tourist Attractions
Buenos Aires Tourist Attractions
London Tourist Attractions
Madrid Tourist Attractions
Melbourne Tourist Attractions
Mexico City Tourist Attractions
Montevideo Tourist Attractions
Paris Tourist Attractions
Rio Tourist Attractions
Rome Tourist Attractions
Santiago, Chile Tourist Attractions
Sydney Tourist Attractions
9/7/05
New iTunes Phone Out
Anyone have the 100 song iTunes phone yet? Apparently it's also known as the Motorola Rokr.
I think I like "iTunes phone" better.
I think I like "iTunes phone" better.
People Who Creep Me Out...
The Weblist, "People who creep me out" has been removed.
As I've hinted for several months now, RIA is making a conscious effort towards moving away from these sorts of lists. Specifically, lists that are entirely personal in nature, have no theme, and are made up entirely of listings that can be found in other sections may not be long for the site.
I'm not planning any widescale purge of these sorts of lists, but you may start to see them dropping off one by one.
As I've hinted for several months now, RIA is making a conscious effort towards moving away from these sorts of lists. Specifically, lists that are entirely personal in nature, have no theme, and are made up entirely of listings that can be found in other sections may not be long for the site.
I'm not planning any widescale purge of these sorts of lists, but you may start to see them dropping off one by one.
9/6/05
Oktoberfest
If you have ever considered making the trip to Germany for Oktoberfest, make sure to check out this must read post from earthbound.
More Katrina Fall-out
Two more Weblists touch on the subject of Katrina:
#1JohnDoeFan looks at some of the consequences of the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, and Magellan starts pointing fingers and assigning blame for Katrina's poor preparation and slow response.
#1JohnDoeFan looks at some of the consequences of the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, and Magellan starts pointing fingers and assigning blame for Katrina's poor preparation and slow response.
9/4/05
9/3/05
Sprocket Data
Here's sort of a neat story about how the guy who runs Sprocket Data, RateItAll's hosting provider, has responded to Katrina.
9/1/05
RateItAll Will Be Down For Maintenance....
... tonight, starting at 1AM EST until roughly 4AM.
As mentioned in earlier posts, we decided to shell out the $$ and invest in a high powered database server. The new database will be powered by four, high-end, super fast processors (compared to two, high-end, super fast processors currently). And yes, that means we are doubling our processing power.
RateItAll's traffic grew by about 25% in August over July, and we're scrambling to keep up. I'm very hopeful that this upgrade will result in a noticeable difference in site speed...
As mentioned in earlier posts, we decided to shell out the $$ and invest in a high powered database server. The new database will be powered by four, high-end, super fast processors (compared to two, high-end, super fast processors currently). And yes, that means we are doubling our processing power.
RateItAll's traffic grew by about 25% in August over July, and we're scrambling to keep up. I'm very hopeful that this upgrade will result in a noticeable difference in site speed...
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