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- Sphinn It!
Are You a Sphinn User or a Contributor?
Went Hot: September 13, 2007 - 3:48 pm
Posted By: flyingrose 297 days ago
Topic Type: Discussion
Category: Sphinn Zone
A user focuses their time on the Hot Topics page so they can stay on top of what is important. By doing this, they rely on the contributions of others without making any contribution themselves.
The more contributors there are, the more any community benefits. Many Sphinners allows us all to do less here and more elsewhere and ensures that top content makes it onto the Hot Topics page.
If everyone contributes a little when they can the community will do great. If few contribute, those who do will be working too hard here to have a healthy life balance.
28 Comments
Comments
I now realize that you've got to start getting off your butt and start contributing to social networks or you're not going to be seen as someone who contributes--if you scratch someone's back they'll usually help you out, too.
If something makes the front page chances are good most of us have already read it. A quick skim there and I hit the What's New. I don't sphinn often, but if its good enough to bookmark or take the time to comment on its home site or here, then I figure its sphinnworthy.
Ahhh, "healthy life balance" for SEOs, that would be sweet!
Interesting thoughts, but I think there are at least a few other factors involved. I don't know that this has started happening on Sphinn, but it's one of the problems sites like this tend to share: there are likely to be people sphinning articles not because of their content, but because of who wrote them, submitted them, or sphunn them, in an effort to build a reputation. I would view such a person as more user than contributor.
I am surprised at the lack of comments that most posts attract here.
I am guessing that perhaps 50% of all topic submissions are buried by the moderators as spam or off-topic. So 5491 topics posted so far is probably really only 3000 valid topics (Any mods care to give a better estimate? How many were posted pre-public opening too?). As of now, there are just 7844 comments, an average of less than three comments per "valid" topic.
I certainly see several examples where there apppears to be a little bit of voting for the poster rather than the topic, when multiple people post the same story, but that isn't clear cut. With only 10 votes needed, it doesn't take many people to skew things. I am sure that the mods scrutinise the stats to continually improve things here.
It is definitely not the case that 50% of submissions are removed as spam or of-topic. I'd say it's more like 5%.
Today I had my first submit and I'm going to give it a shot at being a contributor. Since Sphinn started I've been a occasional lurker to see how it was growing, not even really a user in my opinion. Now I'm starting to write with my new blog so its time to throw in my hat and try to contribute.
Good topic flyer and one that has to revisited from time to time by Sphinn itself and the contributors and users.
@qwerty: I absolutely agree with you. Intention is everything. When our intention is to help others it shows in our actions. When it is purely for marketing that, too, becomes obvious.
@vanessafox: Thanks for the correction. I was going by the number of posts that had only an external link URL, but no title and no additional introductory comments - and simply assumed they had been buried, like http://sphinn.com/story/4005 for example. D'oh! So, it is more like 8000 comments for 5000 topics.
As I sphunn this it hit the homepage. I sphunn it because I think it's a good discussion topic and I think others will find value from it, but that's not always my thinking.
I tend to submit quite a lot of stories here, but I'm also active in commenting and Sphinning other stories because I come here to read the content I probably missed elsewhere but to also share my own findings as I'm quite active in the Social Media niche where-as others are not.
Basically, sometimes I'm just in the mood for checking whats on the homepage, but if i see something interesting elsewhere I'll probably submit it if it hasn't been submitted already.
Cheers,
Glen
@g1smd: we actually have a phenomenal amount of commenting, in my opinion. My routine is to go Hot Topics, What's New and Comments tabs, and there's plenty to read on the comments.
To go back to your figures and add a few more, we've had 3,700 submissions since we opened, 700 of those going hot and 7,800 comments.
That's two comments for every submission (which is actually a lot compared to a regular forum, for instance, where you might get a thread and no one commenting). It's even more than that in relation to the most important stories. Not every story needs a comment. Some stories have lots and lots.
Statwatchers: we're also at 3,100 members, and there have been 29,700 sphinns cast in all. Figures are all rounded to closest hundred.
I don't have spam figures handy. It's probably even less than 5 percent.
I think this is an important point to note in any community; I think Digg would be much less frustrating for many website owners if there were more people willing to look in the "upcoming" section of the website.
I just started using Sphinn today after I noticed one of my articles had made it up here, and I have yet to spend more time looking at it, but I'll make sure to create a positive contribution by exploring the "upcoming" section more often!
I'm actually a contributing author coder.
@dannysullivan:
As sphinn is most related to web technologies and so on, a programming section would be appropriate here and code should not go to Others.
I'm not sure how many coders are around but Code could / deserves to have a place of its own and a lot of code is involved in SEO and the Web.
You (and me) might be all SEOs but still, code stands behind everything and everyone here and should be acknowledged accordingly especially here.
My 2cents.
Regards,
Hard-Core Coder.Gone.SEO
@DannySullivan: Thanks for the clarification, though I am still a bit puzzled by the "3700 submissions" when this story is number 5491.
Is that 3700 just for "news", and then a load more "discussions"? Ah. I see the first 300 or so were tests before going live.
One thing that is very clear is that this week is busier than last week, and that last week was busier than the week before.
@g1smd "I am surprised at the lack of comments that most posts attract here." I'm glad you brought that up as I was beginning to feel like a comment spammer while attempting to participate.
I'm a bit of an oddball here as I don't host any SEO blogs so I may be more likely to comment here than post to replies to my blogs.
I've found some great stuff that's received lesser sphinns. Lot's of topics worthy of discussion. There are some great "hidden" features on sphinn as well. Checking out the "Sphinn Live" page and you'll notice we are creatures of habit, heading down to the local waterhole at similar hours.
JimBeetle said "If something makes the front page chances are good most of us have already read it."
Most of those of you already connected in the SEM world will have seen what goes hot here somewhere else; however, you are a tiny minority of those interested in the topics discussed here.
There are many other "worlds" who will greatly benefit from Sphinn: Newbies in any online marketing field, CEOs, entrepreneurs, online business owners of every size and those who support them to name a few.
They don't have your backgrounds, your knowledge, your connections. They don't know what you've already seen - I don't know what you've already seen and if there is anyone who spends more hours on the Internet than I do I want to hear from them.
Comments both here and at StumbleUpon complaining that things are "old news" crack me up. Old news to you is new to most of the rest of the human population. You think that everyone has esp and knows exactly what you want to see and what you don't? Wanna buy a bridge?
I think all of the comments on this one story alone has skewed the stats :)
Seriously, it's a good topic and I am both a contributer and a user. To make my contribution even easier I've put the What's New feed ito my Google Reader among a thousand other feeds. During my morning cup a joe I read the what's new, sphinn those worthy and then submit my own :)
SEO for me is a hobby.. I design sparklie things that make girls cry in real life.. And I tweak a few websites still left over from my old life.. I spend almost all of my time in upcoming so I never need to see the what's hot, already saw it..
But since my day job keeps me busy I rarely, if ever, have time to submit anything, and just enjoy reading and making that random smarta$$..
Guess that puts me in the 'user' end of the spectrum.. I'm cool with that.. Someone has to use all this contribution..
I think this is a discussion that a lot of social media outlets should be having; Sphinn just has the right tools for boosting up an "open thread" so to speak in order to get a dialog going. This is a nice feature that I wish a lot of other communities had.
As far as smaller, more targeted social media sites go, I use DZone, DotNetKicks, and sometimes DailyHub; I try to make positive contributions on all of them. DotNetKicks especially since its articles need to most help getting noticed.
I'll make an effort to check out the what's new section more frequently.
"There are many other "worlds" who will greatly benefit from Sphinn: Newbies in any online marketing field, CEOs, entrepreneurs, online business owners of every size and those who support them to name a few. "
I wonder about this, FlyingRose. Will Sphinn really have appeal to these people if they don't have anything to contribute themselves...or if they do contribute and no one Sphinns their stuff because it's off topic, basic, or because they are unknown? I can imagine such folks giving Sphinn a spin, just to try it out, and then becoming disenchanted because their ability to participate, beyond sphinning others' content, is limited. Where's the appeal in that?
As a learning resource for newbies, Sphinn may be excellent. But as a place to socialize with peers...maybe not.
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that, and think this is a good discussion.
Hello Rose, I would like to think that I'm a Contributor though I have not won a lot of fans here.
@Aaronontheweb, we hope later this month to show the most sphunn new stories at the top of what's new (say the first 3 or 5), then show newer stories below. That will help get stories that have earned some attention more visibility go hot. We're also looking to get top sphunn What's New stories also on the home page. Both should help people in thinking about What's New more, which is always going to be noisier than Hot.
@Noobliminal, hit the Help page, go to the Wishlist topic and drop this there. Adding a coding section makes sense and is easy to do.
@g1smd, stats I cited came from the stats page in the admin system. Any story that's started, even if not submitted, generates a number. So you start to submit, cancel, resubmit -- the resubmission notches it up to the next number. Having said that, the figure is for "total links" and it could be discussions aren't included. But we have relatively few discussion stories.
.. ..
*** if there were more people willing to look in the "upcoming" section of the website ***
That's the section I look at a lot, as well as the "Recent Comments". I rarely look at "What's Hot" as I probably already read the stuff yesterday, however I will look back at the topic via the "Recent Comments" page if there are new comments posted.
.
*** if there is anyone who spends more hours on the Internet than I do I want to hear from them ***
:raises hand:
I'll give you a good run for your money.
.
*** Any story that's started, even if not submitted, generates a number. ***
I didn't know that. That easily explains where the thousand "missing" numbers went. :-) One thing that differentiates this site from a reguler forum is that there is no count of how many times something has been read. THAT would be an intresting stat to see. One topic was read 20 times and sphunn 18 times; another was read 50 times and attracted 5 votes.
I certainly take note of the "read" vs. "replied" counts in some highly read forum topics elsewhere. There are many ways of doing things, and over time i am sure there will be lots of little tweaks to achieve the "right" balance.
@Feydakin - if you spend your time in what you called upcoming (What's New) and Sphinn and comment on those things that makes you a CONTRIBUTOR. It is the people who only look at the Hot Topics page who are only users.
@MiriamEllis - There is a concept called "pay it forward" that applies here. When those who have the connections, wisdom, knowledge, and experience contribute, those who are new can be users first and contributors later.
Each of us is a user of some resources and a contributor to others. The new world I see will allow us to contribute generously regardless of someone's ability to pay, knowing that your efforts are always rewarded. The mistake we make is in expecting the person we assisted to be the one who rewards us.
I have always found it interesting to note that most people think that whatever they do is what everyone else does and whatever they know is what everyone else knows. Others think they are just different than anyone else. They are all incorrect.
People who look at What's Hot and Sphinn are just automatically contributing. By Sphinning you're helping others know where the substance is so if they have limited time or knowledge they know what to read.
The comments help them know if the author is shooting straight and what the consensus of thought on that subject is. I can immediately tell by reading what you write what your view of the world is so I can quickly determine who I want to tune into when I'm too busy to check out everything.
I do read all points of view. The fastest way to grow is to listen to everyone and keep what you find most valuable. As Marcus Aurelius is quoted to have said, "The Wise Man Learns More From The Fool than the Fool Learns From the Wise Man."
P.S. @Rose (the other Rose) - you have many fans including me. Just as businesses take time to grow, peer networks, audiences, friendships - all start from a seed planted and only bloom when the time is right. Those who just keep planting and never concern themselves with whether what they planted is growing will later find a bumper crop. Keep up the great work and your reward is inevitable.
Hi FlyingRose,
I appreciate you responding to me. I see what you are saying. At the same time, I think business owners are busy people...and am still failing to see the appeal for them in spending their limited time someplace where they can't interact beyond praising other people. I don't think any of my clients would be interested in that. They are just too busy for there to be any real reward for them in spending their time thus.
Thanks again for commenting back to me.
Miriam
I'd like to think that I fall into both categories as a user and contributor, although recently I would have to say it has been more as a user.
Usually that is dictated by the amount of time that I have. If I'm short on time, I'll stop by and go through the Hot/New categories to see what catches my eye.
The other thing that I have noticed is that many of the articles that I have tried to add have already been Sphunn by someone else so I just add my vote. You guys are too quick, or am I just too slow? Lol.
I'm definitely the kind that just watches the hot topics, but I do it more for entertainment than for any kind of "edge".