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Askville's problems
Askville seems to be pretty much going to hell. The management neglected the users for a long time, and then suddenly instituted a draconian punishment by suspending 16 or 17 users; these included some of their best. Factions have developed, partly along religious lines, and discussion boards quickly turn into nothing more than flame wars.
In one of them, the Askville Mayor made a rare appearance to announce that the discussion board would soon be closed in response to complaints (which are almost certainly endemic at this point because of their own boneheaded policies). I had to respond:
The post went up, but I suspect that it might disappear soon - and in any case, odds are that the discussion board will be closed before long.
Askville management may have done a decent job with the code and features. They've done a horrendously poor job in dealing with their users. Yes, I might be banned soon for making this post there. But frankly, I have very little interest in the site any more - and it's just not worth answering questions "officially" there any more, because the odds are that you'll either be attacked by some for not agreeing with their opinions, or you'll be down-rated by other respondents in order to improve their own ratings. Some people have been gaming the Askville system like crazy to give themselves insanely high numbers of "quest coins" - even though the coins are useless!
In one of them, the Askville Mayor made a rare appearance to announce that the discussion board would soon be closed in response to complaints (which are almost certainly endemic at this point because of their own boneheaded policies). I had to respond:
Personally, I have to say that the thought of the Askville Team barging in here and shutting down the discussion is pretty offensive - not to mention high-handed. Yes, the DB has pretty much gone bad. That seems to be how most DBs here end up, sooner rather than later, when an even slightly controversial topic comes up. It's more a matter of personalities than anything else.
But who is to blame for the increasingly toxic environment here at Askville? In my book, it's largely the Askville team itself. They've played absentee landlords for years now, and the poisoned state of the Askville community is the natural result. They may have been working like dogs on background coding issues, but they've badly neglected the people who make up the Askville membership - the people who create the value that the site has for Amazon.com.
They rarely speak to us. When they do, the communications are minimal. Mostly they issue decrees on their blog, which doesn't allow feedback. When they've been finally forced to take action because the community is falling apart, they've made stupid, draconian decisions.
There are really only two ways to run a social site (which is the core of what Askville is). One way is to run it impersonally, with clear but minimal rules that are enforced regularly and impartially.
Alternatively, you get yourself down on the level of your users and get to know them. You develop a relationship with them, or if it's a large site, with the most active and influential members. In other words, you make friends with your user base.
Distant but fair landlords, or friends to your users. The Askville team seems to have straddled the categories, and picked the worst of both types. They've been distant but unfair, with rules that are unclear and aren't enforced with any regularity. They've punished with little or no warning, and even when they try to interact with members, it's always very clear that they neither trust us nor are comfortable dealing with us.
It seems likely that Askville's days are numbered. That's a pity, because it was a good idea and could have been a smashing success. But when it fails, I hope that Amazon.com management will lay the blame where it belongs: on the Askville management, and on themselves. Because Amazon.com should have noticed long ago just how poorly Askville is being run.
The post went up, but I suspect that it might disappear soon - and in any case, odds are that the discussion board will be closed before long.
Askville management may have done a decent job with the code and features. They've done a horrendously poor job in dealing with their users. Yes, I might be banned soon for making this post there. But frankly, I have very little interest in the site any more - and it's just not worth answering questions "officially" there any more, because the odds are that you'll either be attacked by some for not agreeing with their opinions, or you'll be down-rated by other respondents in order to improve their own ratings. Some people have been gaming the Askville system like crazy to give themselves insanely high numbers of "quest coins" - even though the coins are useless!