« Putting The San Diego in Williamsburg Brownstoner's Bonehead Move »

February 12, 2007

A Couple of Things

A couple of housekeeping items:

1) If you haven't taken the reader survey yet and want to participate, please do so as soon as possible. We'll be closing the polls at 5 o'clock today. Update: Polls are closed. We'll have the results for you on Wednesday.

2) One interesting result of the survey so far is that about half the respondents are in favor of requiring registration. We're not ready to require it yet, but we would like to take an intermediate step of strongly encouraging readers to register for a TypeKey identity. In addition to providing greater continuity in the discussion threads, it also helps us weed out the trolls from the real posters. Over time, if you stick to the same identity, you also start to develop the respect (or at least the recognition) of fellow readers which makes the sense of community stronger on the site.

Thanks

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/528

Comments

I know you're gonna hate me for this, Mr. B., and I agree that everybody deserves a day off, but what about the idea of publishing on Saturday and Sunday, too? Maybe some limited content from a few outside contributors or something that's not too heavy-lifting?

Posted by: bob999 at February 12, 2007 10:49 AM

We tried doing the open house picks: apartments on saturday mornings for a few weeks but frankly the reader response was pretty weak...not against the idea at all though. Anything in particular you think would be good for weeked content?

Posted by: brownstoner at February 12, 2007 10:53 AM

TypeKey: 2 thumbs up!

Weekend posts? Only if they are relevant to events or shenanigans of importance that cannot wait till Monday.

My 2 cents.

Posted by: lostinbrooklyn at February 12, 2007 10:59 AM

*Require* registration? IMHO, if you are going to do this, then do NOT quit your day job. Requiring registration will kill this blog (a lesson I thought we learned several months ago).

Besides, it never pays to negotiate with terrorists and it certainly never pays to surrender to them. If you let the troll win this time, you will only have to make even bigger concessions next time around. So, save yourself and your readers a lot of anguish and stand your ground. This blog is too wonderful to mess up now!

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 11:01 AM

I can't imagine why anyone (except, of course Troll-boy, when he's stealing someone else's name) wouldn't want to use TypeKey and have a verifiable identity. [But then I also can't imagine why most posters don't use their real name, so I must be very naive].

Posted by: Bob Marvin at February 12, 2007 11:02 AM

Maybe most of the readership happens during the work week; me, my addiction encompasses the weekend, too. I scare myself. Really enjoy the site. Also, I understand the troll problem, but if people could bring themselves to ignore the stupid posts, preserving a certain level of openness/ease of access has been shown to be overall better for more dialogue--right?

Posted by: bob999 at February 12, 2007 11:05 AM

mr b:

don't hate me, but just a suggestion, and trust me, i understand you have a family...but it would be nice if you went to the 4 open houses you post and report back your opinion since it's your site...just a thought.

Posted by: anon at February 12, 2007 11:08 AM

Agreed. We did learn our lesson, that's why we aren't requiring it. If most people would voluntarily sign up for TypeKey, it would largely solve the problem without having to miss out on comments from the less frequent visitors or the occasional comment on which regulars want to remain anonymous for some reason.

Posted by: brownstoner at February 12, 2007 11:08 AM

As far as weekends go, it would be nice if people were encouraged to report back from the Open House picks as well as other O.H.'s. Can't ask Mr. B to go to them. They're all at roughly the same time and all over the place. The problem I see -- and I think this is why people didn't take to the Open House recap -- is that if people see something they like, they aren't exactly going to want to tell the world about it. Or they'll say it's horrible, thereby dissuading others from going.

Posted by: west at February 12, 2007 11:13 AM

Sure, if you got 'em...

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 11:18 AM

mr b:

i posted under "anon" before and got the typekey just now...

when i suggested you go to the open houses and report back i figured they are usually 4 hour time periods and most are driveable w/in that period.

in any case, as west says, many readers might not want to report back if they are actually interested in a property.

i think it's time to hire a volunteer intern....

Posted by: what bubble? at February 12, 2007 11:22 AM

mr b:

one other suggestion for the site...it would be nice if on the top of the home page somewhere it automatically showed the last 3-5 comments posted, irrespective of the topic...that way we'd know if there were new comments in the topic we were interested in...just an idea.

Posted by: what bubble? at February 12, 2007 11:31 AM

Yup, we're working on that already, what bubble.

Posted by: brownstoner at February 12, 2007 11:38 AM

West, you've got a good point. Also, a house deemed wonderful by Mr. B might be deemed mediocre or awful by another house-hunter, or vice versa.

Homes are like music and art - very subjective, and everyone sees them differently. Yes, it would be great if someone could report on all of the mecahnicals and condition of the various aspects of the house, but that would require gobs of time involving inspections by a professional.

Always best to get out there for yourself, IMO.

Posted by: brokelyn at February 12, 2007 11:43 AM

one more "anonymous" on typekey...it's easy folks, help Mr. B out.

Posted by: Brownstone Dreamin at February 12, 2007 11:51 AM

Hate the registration - it's prohibitive and reeks of 'Big Brother' and only allows artifically 'nice' responses. Anyone in favor of registration should (re)-rent the Truman Show

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 11:57 AM

Listen to yourselves. You sound like the bloody thought police. Kudos to the 'troll' for forcing us to face our true selves!

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 11:59 AM

now mr b is "big brother"...lol.

mr b, you doing background checks now?

Posted by: what bubble? at February 12, 2007 12:00 PM

I hope you will have time to take care of the multiple postings on the forum!

I don't have a 9-5 office job, so I hit brownstoner when I can. It's usually first thing in the morning, last thing at night and yes...weekends. I find myself reading it alittle too often the days I have to catch up on my office work (like right now, for instance).

Posted by: yente at February 12, 2007 12:36 PM

volunteer interns are probited by the DOL

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 12:43 PM

i too finally just registered... it didn't hurt a bit.

Posted by: Crown Nights at February 12, 2007 12:54 PM

I'll do the survey, but re required registration:

1. I personally would refuse to register, for privacy reasons. I'm protective of my real identity, and I don't trust Typekey, ever since the first registration-required period, when several regulars gave away their real names, apparently inadvertently, by registering. (I won't elaborate on how... those of you who care will probably remember.)

2. I'm willing to ignore troll posts in order to gain the posts from people who otherwise would not post at all.

3. When the site was registration only, it became almost like a club for like-minded regulars to agree with one another. Obviously requiring registration doesn't force this to happen, but it often has that effect -- registration-required sites tend to become homogenous and cliquish.

4. I suspect, but cannot prove, that it would be a bad business move.

Posted by: linusvanpelt at February 12, 2007 1:00 PM

sorry if this is an annoying question to those who already know, but how do you get the icon to appear after your typekey identity?

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 1:12 PM

In principle I have no problem with typekey registration, but I don't see the benefit. In particular, (1) I don't see how typekey registration "helps us weed out the trolls from the real posters". Some of the trolls plaguing this site routinely use typekey registration, and such registration seems in no way to be a hindrance to them. Also (2) if I'm not mistaken, typekey registration requires nothing more than a valid email address. So, since email addresses can be had freely and in abundance, there's absolutely nothing to stop someone from having a multitude of typekey identities.

I just don't see benefits of typekey.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 1:39 PM

Please fix the posting software…every time I post something, after a long delay an error message comes up….if you try to repost something the message ends up being posted twice. Seems this site has so many multiple postings and my guess its because of faulty software… P.S. I love the site!

Posted by: Anon at February 12, 2007 2:02 PM

I'm not opposed to Typekey (I finally just signed up for it myself now, too). But I agree that it might stifle free discussion. Even though on the B'stoner survey I indicated that I'm open to it (and this discussion finally prompted me to sign up!), I don't believe it should be mandatory.

Posted by: shelz123 at February 12, 2007 4:26 PM

re typekey registration:

I think its a bad idea.
1) it will not prevent trolling. People just need to not respond to the trolls and then they go away.

2) there are some topics that come up on this board that i think people would be hesitant to talk about if the board required any sort of registration.

3) Some people really prefer their privacy. Though brooklyn is a big place I fear some people might be afraid that they could be identified and might be hesitant to post b/c of that.

That said the site is great thanks :)

Posted by: Anonymous at February 12, 2007 4:45 PM

I wonder how many of those people that just commented against the use of Typekey are the troll?

Posted by: Meryckawick at February 12, 2007 5:04 PM

I hate Typekey. Typekey is bad. Do not mandate Typekey. If you do your blog will wither away to nothing.

Posted by: Troll at February 12, 2007 5:06 PM

anon 4:45 & 10:58-

Wouldn't you at some point, troll or not, have to give information to get an email address, even if it's a freebie one? Somewhere down the line your information is there and can be found. I don't know-I started to use typekey because I needed to establish that I am the actual bx2bklyn and not the troll who tortured myself and CHP (and still does.) Until you've been the brunt of a really malicious troll attack registration can seem unnecessary. Like Mr. B says,it's important for the sense of community that develops on sites like this to have recognized identities. who would bother to read brownstoner if it was perceived as only trolls? Certainly it would have no credibility, and credibility is brownstoner's stock in trade.

I try to protect my privacy as much as I can.One of those ways is to only post on sites that are trustworthy, that aren't running malacious scripts, or downloading porn to your hard drive. I'm sure Mr. B has had hundreds of headaches over security issues and no one can protect anyone 100% of the time.

If anything, registering is adding protection. I also confess, sometimes posting anonymously is fun. All of us (except maybe bob marvin, who is a saint)have done it. Linus, you consistently post under that name and over time we've gotten an idea of who you are, your opinions, your personality. But what if the troll decides to post using your name and puts a link in a message that sends people to check out what turns out to be some of the most horrific pictures you can imagine? Because your identity is recognized on bronwstoner, the troll misleads people into checking out the link and it reflects back on you. I speak from experience, it's a rotten feeling. happened to me and several others on brownstoner. stupid posts are easy to ignore (sorta), the links to those pictures were not.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 13, 2007 1:46 AM

Don't know why the above post didn't show my typekey id Bx2Bklyn - I was signed in when I posted.

Posted by: Bx2Bklyn at February 13, 2007 1:49 AM

I like having an optional typekey identity. I think it is a good thing particularly for people who have had their identities used by the troll, like Crown Heights Proud and Bx2Bklyn. I think that you should maintain the option to post anonymously but there is a nice quality about getting to know the regular posters -- people over time who have helped so much with my renovation and with various advice as well as the truly entertaining folks as well. As far as usage, I click in periodically throughout the day and
at times have to order myself back to work. By the way, Mr. B. I check in on the weekends too, but I am all for your taking the weekends off. The forum is busy and I think that people can post on Open Houses (though if you are a serious buyer you may not be willing to share info which is "competitive".) Anyway, thank you so much for your work. The site is great and has helped me immeasurably.

Posted by: donatella at February 13, 2007 5:02 AM

I am opposed to registration.

I filled out the survey, but I think many of the people who filled out the survey may be your regulars who clearly favor registration. It's the fringe browsers who would not register and who you cut out of the discussion with registration.

I guess what I'm pointing to is a sampling error in your survey -- the survey by its nature self-selects people predisposed to registration in the first place.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 13, 2007 5:24 AM

Good point about sampling error. Also, until the 400-odd people who said they are in favor of registration actually register voluntarily, the sentiment rings a little hollow...

Posted by: brownstoner at February 13, 2007 9:36 AM

Nice point there Mr. B. In fact, this confirms what I've long suspected, that calls for registration have little to do with trolls and a lot to do with people's unfortunate tendency to be CONTROL FREAKS.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 13, 2007 10:12 AM

« Putting The San Diego in Williamsburg Brownstoner's Bonehead Move »

February 12, 2007

A Couple of Things

Trackback Pings

Comments

Post a comment

Latest Restaurant Additions