JavaBlog noise
I really like the concept behind JavaBlogs... and for a while it really worked well for me. I've read many excellent entries on Java I may have (actually very likely would have) missed otherwise. Unfortunately, as is true with any growing website, the signal to noise ratio is becoming worse and worse.. and not in a good way.
When I first discovered JavaBlogs I read nearly every entry posted and most were great.. agreed with some, disagreed with others.. typical blog-reading experience. These days I find myself skipping more and more entries.. why? They're not about Java.. and many of the ones that are simply reiterate or link to previously posted entries.
I realize it's nearly impossible to run a site like this without some noise, but perhaps the idea of human-driven moderation system isn't a bad one for this particular application?
Of course, this brings up many, many issues.. main one:
- who determines what is acceptable and why are they qualified to do so..
I don't really have answer to that. My two experiences with human-driven moderation systems are dslreports.com and slashdot. The karma-like system on slashdot is obviously failing -- who reads the comments there anymore? The dslreports system is working quite well, I think -- but not sure this is a valid comparison, different type of website.
Is it necessarily a bad thing that a website about Java is listing entries that are not on-topic? Probably not for everyone. It may give some a better feeling of community.. but I already have that elsewhere.. I'd like Java please.
The obvious thing to point out here, of course, I'm posting this in my java-category and it will get posted on JavaBlogs. Guilty myself.
Comments
I read the comments on Slashdot more than the articles themselves. I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not there.
AC
Posted by: Anonymous Coward | January 30, 2003 05:03 PM
I'd think more "Amazon" than "Slashdot". I'd love to see something attempted like this:
When you're logged in to Javablogs, each article has + and - buttons. For people who don't take part in the moderation system, they just see the highly ranked entries. But the incentive to take part in moderation is that you also get access to "People who +'d the same articles as you also tended to like these...", or "Here are some new articles from people you've repeatedly +'d in the past"
As an aside, it was actually with great reluctance that I unsubscribed my full RSS feed from Javablogs and subscribed the feed for my "nerd" category instead. I'm a bit sad that the site seems to have grown into "a collection of posts about Java", instead of "a community of people who hack Java".
Or maybe I'm being picky. While the community doesn't exist _through_ Javablogs, it exists _around_ it, with the network of users who make full-feed subscriptions to people they discovered through the portal.
Posted by: Charles Miller | February 1, 2003 07:56 AM