There seems to be a lot of discussion lately about the quality of Sphinn submits and how some content gets to the top artificially because of who submitted the content or who got asked to sphinn it.
I’m curious to hear what the community at large thinks about submitting one’s own content.
When is it acceptable? When is it not? Do you actively request that people in your network sphinn your content or do you let "nature take its course"?
Is there a Sphinn etiquette that most people follow aside from common sense social values? Ex. Being community oriented, giving and receiving, adding value, etc.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and participation!
14 Comments
I’m curious to hear what the community at large thinks about submitting one’s own content.
When is it acceptable? When is it not? Do you actively request that people in your network sphinn your content or do you let "nature take its course"?
Is there a Sphinn etiquette that most people follow aside from common sense social values? Ex. Being community oriented, giving and receiving, adding value, etc.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and participation!
14 Comments
Comments
lol Sphinns about Sphinn... all the rage lately huh?Well, I haven’t submitted my stuff in ages and to be honest had a few things submitted by readers that kinda left me shaking my head. But all in all, I can’t say it’s a bad thing. To get yourself into the sphere it is often needed as if no Sphinners are reading yer blog, how else does one end up here?I know Jeffery Smith and CJ (Science for SEO) did a TON of self submitting when they started here and I am glad they did as I enjoy their work and may not have otherwise ran into it (as soon as I did).Once in a while back before the summer I would self submit things I felt were important as a poorly timed Sphinn from an non-avatar Sphinner can kill it in a heartbeat.Now? I don’t self submit (can get hair on the palms and all that :0) and don’t even pimp things I do submit... just let nature take it’s course.... But I have nothing against others that do as long as eventually they participate with submissions of value other than their own. It would be nice if there was no nepotism and pimping going on, but that’s being unreasonable now isn’t it... he he... :0)
I’d rather see someone self submit really good content that they have than me perhaps not getting a chance to see it at all or worse, someone else submits it with a bad title and description.
Self submitting is perfectly fine with me, all that counts is the content of the article. Especially if the submitter participates on Sphinn, I don´t see any problem at all. Science for SEO is a good example of a blog that I wouldn´t have found if CJ hadn´t self-submitted every single post she wrote for weeks..thanks CJ ;))Besides self-submitters there are the selfish-submitters (only submitting their own posts, never leaving a comment, only sphinning their own and friends content, begging for sphinns on twitter)... well,that´s another story.
I’m not shy to sphinn my own stuff when I think it’s one of my better posts or one I really feel like discussing. As you can see, I don’t do it often. I agree with theGypsy... "as long as eventually they participate with submissions of value other than their own. " I think that is the key.
Its no secret its all about the Power Users in Social Book Marking sites. Sphinn is becoming more and more like the power users of Digg. Can this be prevented? Maybe Does it suck? Yes
I too have no reservations about submitting my own content or content that I deem to be worth being here. Many people bank on sphinn to get the latest news from our industry.The question is what gets to the top and what does not. If it is all about "who you know rather than what you know" then it ain’t right. Less deserving content make it to the top and the good ones get buried. Good content will find its way but does not always. Moderation on what and what should hit the front page could be a plausible solution. There was a similar discussion here before in which many people suggested that raising the bar (number of sphinn) could do the trick, but I think not. If I had that kind of influence getting a couple of extra sphinns wouldn’t be difficult. User ratings, maybe. I cannot think of a way to make it a 100% fullproof but atleast we can try.
I’d rather see self-submissions. I’ve even suggested auto-self-submissions in the past because I feel like a submission by someone else is almost, in a way, taking credit for the work. Giving credit for a "hot" article to the author would be better than giving it to the person who submitted it the fastest. I’d love to see a way to do this without discouraging people from submitting random articles that otherwise find their way here.I also agree with the comment(s) about submitting your own stuff as a way to make sure the headline isn’t hacked or the content misconstrued. I’ve seen people totally misunderstand the point of an article and in doing so they kill the change for that article to gain serious conversation or hot-ness. :)
Self submitting is fine in my opinion. You can nominate yourself in most organizations for positions, you can vote for yourself in almost all competitions and elections, and etc. Submitting your own content is just putting it into the system. It still has to be voted on by the masses to become popular. I think what people get concerned about when it comes to self promotion is when that is all you do. If you never vote on anything else and all you do is submit everything you have ever had to say online to a community, then you are starting to cross the line on what your community involvement is.
Self-submissions are good in my opinion for a couple of reasons:a) It forces the person submitting their own articles to make sure they submit content that is worthy of being on sphinn. Further, the person also acknowledges the cost of poor submissions to their reputation overall. b) Self submission is a lot like self-referencing on one’s own blog, guest posts, or elsewhere.c) Self-submission gives you the control to craft your own titles and descriptions that entice users to click through.
One cool attribute of Sphinn compared to other social news sites, is that posting rules rom the begining, encouraged us to tastefully submit our own stuff. I’ll do it every now and then if I think aimClear Blog has released somthing special. When first building community here, it’s true I was more willing to do so but now it’s rare. Danny Sullivan and the third-door team created Sphinn and it’s rules. I like the dimension of allowing users discretion to submit our own stuff. The real question here is if you support the posting rules of this community or if you think they should be changed.
Self submissions are fine. If it’s quality then the community will most likely vote it up. Although, sometimes it might need a little help to get noticed. If it’s spam, it will get buried.
I read this a few days ago and felt that many people already said what I wanted to say, but somebody asked me to give my $0.02, so here I am again. (And I’m sorry that I just addressed this now but I never see incoming Sphinn PMs until days after the fact.)I think self-submitting is acceptable in moderation. Submitting your own stuff every time you publish would be a problem. Submitting your own stuff less frequently (not every time you publish) but ONLY your own stuff is also a problem.I’ve submitted my own content to sites before, but I won’t submit everything. I’ll also diversify my submissions with other quality submissions from other people.The bottom line is if you’re always submitting your own stuff in one of the two types of scenarios explained above, you will likely be perceived as somewhat selfish. It’s good to be part of the community and contribut to the community. And that means adding content that the community would like -- not only your own.That’s all. Happy 2009. ;)
And since Tamar has had 100% of her submits go hot, everyone here should certainly heed her advice. The woman knows what she’s talking about!
It seems like a unanimous vote - submitting your own content is acceptable and even encouraged if done correctly with tact and some common sense.I hope this discussion will help bring better quality content to the forefront of Sphinn to the benefit of everyone - would be nice to see more of that in 2009!I’d also like to personally thank everyone for taking the time to participate in this discussion. I’m sure others on Sphinn will find the tips and opinions just as informative and reassuring as I did.