Discussions
Has Blogcatalog Gone Down Hill Lately?
Posted by acousticguitarist • 8/24/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogacatalog
I have always liked Blogcatalog, but I'm questioning whether the discussion board has really gone down hill lately or whether it's just me changing.
User Comments
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Red panda I fear that because a total flock of us became side-tracked that we do not have the same mix of those we became accustomed to. It is an arena of ever changing times and new personalities. We need to do a round up and all participate and intermingle again. Perhaps after school commences we will all come back to this world of ours.
I will add that with the distractions and intensity of the downturned economy that many of us have become more serious and not as playful as before. It will be OKAY
You could create a Red Panda Dance that we could all learn. Like the Makrarena Dance.-
I think your analysis is a good one.
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A lot of it has to do with the time of year. Upsides down pandas may be in winter but those in the N hemisphere are in summer. Summer is not the time to be spending as much time on the PC (or MAC if you are weird). -
Up until recently I had prefered Blogcatalog as a social network above all others, no comparison.
But due to what I call careless monitoring of the discussion boards and allowing people to link directly to porn blogs, I no longer have any respect for Blogcatalog. Which is quite sad, up until recently I would have recommended BC to anyone, but now I consider the place totally unprofessional because of the dropping of standards.
I'm wondering if there is new administration here.-
careless monitoring of the discussion boards
I must have missed the porn links, but I fully share your sentiment on the careless monitoring. Senseless (pun intended) discussions aside (they can be some fun at least), admin really needs to be more vigilant in weeding out the spam and the spammers...for good.
What's the point in having Community Guidelines if they are not enforced? -
Do you mean Lolita's blog and subsequent thread about it? -
I missed the porn links too but have been busy this summer so I haven't been here as much. I hope your nephews didn't see it I have noticed when I do stop in that the discussions are not the same. Probably will pick up after summer is over.
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@AG: ...due to what I call careless monitoring of the discussion boards and allowing people to link directly to porn blogs, I no longer have any respect for Blogcatalog. Which is quite sad, up until recently I would have recommended BC to anyone, but now I consider the place totally unprofessional because of the dropping of standards.
YOW! direct link to porn blogs?? I musta missed that one!
But as to the rest, yes, I agree. I find myself checking in a couple of times a day and most times, I find little worthy of my time and attention.
I attribute this to a shift in the focus of the owners. Suddenly there is this rush to maximize the site's "potential" and quality is suffering as a result. Quantity has overtaken quality and favouritism seems have taken root. Now, people who idly drift in are permitted to dump spam not only on the discussion pages, but to trash a person's reviews and dump spam there aa well. Insulting threads are allowed to continue without sanction while salient commentary...blunt but related truths...are removed and the authors warned, suspended or worse. BC seems to have put its head in the sand regarding civility and fairness, its appetite whetted now for the rude and the savage.
I find myself spending less and less time here, and participating even less when I am here. I suppose it is just a matter of time before I stop coming here at all.-
Best comment so far today...making it worthwhile to hang around a bit more this morning.
The only way for BC to uphold the quality it once held is
a rigorous 24/7 watch of the discussion boards and prompt removal of anything not complying with TOS or Community Guidelines. I would even go as far as suggesting stricter admission policies. Garbage in = Garbage out. -
Well, oddly enough, since this site is named Blog Catalog, I suspect people who come here are expecting to find a catalog of blogs.
That being the case, it seems rather odd to find members of the site who do not have blogs. The site already engages in elitism: people who can pay for being members get goodies the rest of us don't, so the precedence for compartmentalized memberships has been set. But to me, it makes no sense to permit people who do not blog to have equal membership with those who do, especially when it comes to the kind of participation that can directly affect a person's blogging success. Melinda's recent experience with a spammer tanking her rating is a perfect example of why certain things should be restricted to members, and membership should be restricted to people who have registered bona fide blogs with the site.
We've had a few troll attacks on the discussions lately, and those trolls didn't have blogs registered with BC, either. Why is this important? because people who have nothing to lose (like their membership and blog rep) often also have no internal restraints. If you are a blogger with a registered blog, you stand to damage your reputation and even lose membership in the community if you are too zealous in your offensiveness. One would hope that, given the amount of effort it takes to create and keep up a blog, people who have them would be a bit more circumspect in their commentary...but people who don't have them have nothing to lose.
Considering, however, some of the recent egregious offenses by certain of our blogging members and how Admin has simply ignored...or worse, sanctioned members who spoke out against the abuses...their nasty attacks on fellow members, maybe it simply makes no difference anymore.
I think BC is becoming a victim of its own success. -
As a paying member and supporter of BC I'm not sure I like the word 'elite', but the point is taken. The only reason for me to pay is a) to see no ads, and more importantly b) to gain access to a great stats feature (which BTW costs more on BC than on the stats provider home page itself). There are no goodies or perks in terms of less strict posting privileges.
While being a member of BC implies that you should have a blog, and while no members without a blog are allowed, there's nothing to prevent a member from deleting any or all of the listed blogs in his or her profile and still continue the membership. I don't think we should bar people from being a member if they have no blog.
What annoys me most is the spam and link dropping factor in the discussions. In a previous thread www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/should-bc-discussion-rules-be-enforced-mo... I asked for stricter Community Guidelines or at least a stricter enforcement of the current guidelines. Not only would this bring down the spam, but also the trolls.
BC - a victim of its own success? Yes. -
I don't think that paid memberships getting more toys than the rest of us is elitist - it's a way for the site to support itself outside of dumping more and more obnoxious ads on us. I don't have a problem with that--it's a very, very common practice at sites all over the web.
I do agree that it doesn't make sense to let people have the same access as bloggers when they don't have a site that acceptable to the BC admin as a blog. If they get denied for having a site that's too commercial or spammy then they shouldn't have the ability to drop links to that same site all over the discussion boards and people's individual profiles. -
@sweetviolet
Insulting threads are allowed to continue without sanction while salient commentary ... blunt but related truths ... are removed and the authors warned, suspended or worse. BC seems to have put its head in the sand regarding civility and fairness, its appetite whetted now for the rude and the savage.
IMO you called it.
@acousticguitarist
IMO the way moderation/monitoring of the BC forums is being conducted now could be improved.
IMO Admin entering open discussion with members with regard to which changes ought to be considered to the way moderation/monitoring of the BC forums is being conducted would be of benefit to the community.
IMO the BC members who post to this forum could benefit from the services of an on the board Admin member, who can and will deal with breaches of the community guidelines and/or TOS on the spot, in real time whenever possible.
IMO the BC members who post to this forum could benefit from Admin members, who politely make corrections in threads as they arise, so the entire community can benefit from the knowledge gained in that "teachable moment" by reading what the corrections were.
IMO Admin's inability or reluctance to deal swiftly and effectively with malicious rumor mongering, and with defamatory comments being posted into forum threads indicates a need for policy change.
And as nothing I have said in this comment box has violated either the community guidelines for forum posting or the BC TOS I do not expect to see it deleted.
IMO the questions are:
(1) Does Admin acknowledge that there has been a disintegration of civility on the forum?
(2) If so, then does Admin wish to invite members to bring forward their ideas for improvement and discuss them openly on the forum?
(3) If not then I expect we can expect to see more rumor mongering, more defamatory personal attacks, more foul language in forum threads. In turn that means that the BC forums may become less attractive to some members who have been here for a long time, and more attractive to some new members.
I could be wrong, but my sense of things is that Admin think what they are doing the very best they can do and that improvement is not required.
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Well, I'm not keen on the BC forums being used as basically a fish-in-a-barrel pool for get-rich-quick artists.
I'm not entirely sure why an organization would wish its users to be selectively plucked in this way. It sets an example that indicates it's permitted on a wider scale.
But then again, it's not my business. Literally and figuratively.
I enjoy the joking and the general discussions a lot here. It tends to ebb and flow in terms of tone, so I'm not terribly worried about that. Things change. And they'll change again, I'm sure.-
a fish-in-a-barrel pool for get-rich-quick artists
Great description...but sadly, that is what BC is about to become. And it's not the BC I joined two years ago.
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I really don't understand what you guys are talking about .. blogcatalog hasn't changed a bit - only the people change.
The whole point of the community guidelines, are just that - they are guidelines. The community has always had a say in what happens here, by being able to report offenders and offer commentary and opinions and suggestions.
It seems hypocritical to stick to this "elitism" theory - claiming it's against some violation of human rights for some bloggers to have a few extra services because they support the community, then 2-face restrict other members who don't have a blog to those same basic services.
There's been complaints that "management" hasn't been monitoring these boards? I see that completely a false statement because if you actually have been participating in these boards (especially this past summer) there is VAST administration participation in the threads by jaybetee and angie ... And, the reason that you see a lot of "removed by the community" is that they are around and able to act on the community requests to review and rid of offensive or spammy comments - instead of a flybynight clean up by TonyB or thegoodknife a couple nights a week.
Not to mention, the social atmosphere is changing .. where we used to be able to sit around and actually "chat" with people - acquaintances, or even friends online - it's now more of a "shout out" attitude .. (thanks to twitter, facebook, etc) and people just want to leave their 2 cents, and well... then leave ..
> case in point with acousticguitarist - only 4 days ago:
www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/honest-blog-criticism#comment_1091252
Let's face it .. we all have lives and just like our lives progress and our blogs progress and our businesses progress .. collectively we are not hanging out here 13 hours a day anymore, (well, some of us may still be hanging out here that much :D) but in general we come here to participate much less .. and when this site used to be our resident home is now just a mere multi-tasking objective, often coming in here in the middle of long and recurring discussion threads that have already been commented on - leaving nothing else to do but initiate or participate in idle chit and chat, not related to blogging.
And, meanwhile - the next generation of bloggers and newbies are coming in, discovering a social atmosphere and place to learn about blogging and get chomped at their feet for linking to their blogs, or risk being whipped and tortured for not reading the sticky rules, or bombarded with conflicting links that seem okay to promote (and other coughonecoolsitescough heh) and well .. communities and neighborhoods change all the time. Change can be good if you embrace it.
PS - I've never seen any porn links in here. All affiliate links should be banned and frowned upon, but I think it's okay to link to individual posts if related to the discussion thread (not just the blogs of the person who started a discussion thread)-
Heck, Tony got a post removed the other day. If that's not board monitoring, I don't know what is!
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The porn blog in question is probably Lolita's and the thread she started about her writing style.
I hate spammers and the mass link attacks that some of them do and think as others have mentioned, that BC should have more man power on that issue.
I can't fathom why people that say they hate BC continually comeback on here? If you don't like it, then don't use it. I don't mean the OP in this case.
If the discussions really aren't a priority for the BC admin, then close them down.-
ah right .. // forgot that, because I probably enjoyed it at the time and don't think of it as porn - just adult content // I now remember a few links that should definitely have included a mention that it was NSFW (not safe for work) or NSFC (not safe for children) or just XXX next to the link to warn people.
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I didn't think it was porn either, but I am assumming that is the post in question.
I think it would be great if you could add such a tag when writing a discussion post, if you think it belongs in a XXX/NSFC/NSFW thing.
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I feel so special. -
I think if you have a blog - you should be on BLOGCATALOG.
Blogging does not necessarily mean only writing about your life...
Some people use it as marketing - some use it as money making - some write stories - share their lives and so on.
Lols blog is definitely outside the children's playground realm - but it is never-the-less a blog.
Like religion and political blogs, it is a matter of perspective and opinion as to whether it is good or bad. But that is opinion only. What one person may see as ok - is what one person may find offensive.
Since BC is a conglomerate of different blogs - it makes sense that the owners would, indeed, be different - and their discussions would be different as well.
I'm cool with the conglomeration of people, ideas and opinions.
I choose which discussions I join in - and when I want to participate with them.
BUT - as to whether the forum has gone downhill?
I don't think so.
Like any other forum I have been on, there are days where there is a flurry of activity. Some days that flurry is in MY OPINION good... and other days not so good. (I'm assuming most people feel that way, however, what they choose as "good" or "bad" is based on their own opinions).
Then there are also days when people are busy with REAL LIFE (gasp - does that still exist?)
And there are days that people don't want to start a discussion or they just want to "cruise" the boards. And that's also normal.
Some people are observers, some are participants.
I say - personally - above all else - IF YOU WANT the place to be something - then YOU MUST PARTICIPATE.
If you are not participating - then what a place becomes without your assistance is not something you can complain about. -
Things are always changing, and that's inevitable in every aspect of life. Favorite restaurants close, good friends move away, your legs get weaker and you can no longer run a 6 minute mile. Does that mean the world is going downhill? Every day new and interesting people join BC and replace the old and interesting ones who have drifted away. Every day there are a mixture of fun-frivolous and serious-stimulating discussions on the board. I think it's a matter of being flexible and open and maintaining goodwill and a sense of humor. Getting used to the way things are or were isn't always a good thing.-
oh nothingprofound. always so profound.
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The discussion boards are like a buffet and I get to pick and choose, and those I find annoying and rude I ignore completely. I don't think BC has gone down, although I do agree there has been some probs with applying tos and trolling, but it seems to ebb and flow. Every time we get a new batch of members the tone changes a bit and then eventually settles down into a new norm.-
well put - it's up to the individual what they put in their mouth -
To take the buffet/restaurant analogy even further - I work in a restaurant that has been around for 25 years - an institution - highly respected - people who met and had first dates 25 years ago coming in with their kids - or their kids coming in for 21st birthdays, meetings, dating etc. This restaurant is constantly changing - we constantly have menu changes and clientele changes - but there are those in the clientele who go with the flow - get to know new servers/chefs/menu items - and those who literally FREAK OUT!!!!!!!! when something changes on the menu or in the environment --- this is exasperated b/c we are closing for a remodel and reconception with a name change - same staff/same company/ same place - but some of the clientele is like "cool - change is good" and other customers feel it is in their right to lecture and FREAK OUT about the upcoming changes - I see the same around here - a good site like blogcatalog has to change - the energy will always be in flux - you learn what works, what needs to change, what is worth keeping - and you learn who of the customers will FREAK OUT about every single fluxuation in the site, and those who are willing to see it through -
wp
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I know one thing for sure, 'sex sells' up in BC!-
It certainly does. All it takes is a few sex catalog discussions on the General Discussion forum to provoke the kind of sex for sale threads I found in BC groups and reported to Admin for removal.
Not surprisingly the porno set in the blogosphere have bots programmed to crawl forums all over the internet and locate the kind of language we have seen posted into sex threads posted into forum threads here.
To those who do the programming of the bots, which are programmed to locate and index such threads along with the links they may contain to sexually explicit blogs sex threads present an invitation. -
Sex for sale?
Where? I've got a dollar - you think that would be enough?
I mean - for a dollar on Ebay we could get a lot...
*giggles incoherently* -
@wagerwitch
I am NOT joking! I reported several threads to Admin and they were deleted. They were posted into BC groups. They contained phone numbers to call and lengthy lists of links to porno sites.
My point is NOT whether or not one bloggers blog contains erotica. My point is that when the spewing of foul language to describe sexual acts can be found in threads on any forum, then the porno people's bots that crawl the net looking for such phrases will be on them like fleas on a dog. If the foul language is allowed to persist over time in threads on any forum then that looks like an invitation to the porno people to come on in. -
Oh freaking wow!
Well - I guess my dollar wouldn't have gotten much anyway (grin)... -
This used to be a family friendly forum. Therefore, when a member unknowingly crossed the line and posted a thread with links in the OP that I believed was in conflict with the Google Adsense policies and TOS and could call the contract terms BC has with Google Adsense into question I reported the thread. (I gave two members a heads up on why I was reporting in their shoutboxes.) TonyB and AngieA confimed the fact that I made the correct call weh I clicked the report button. That was my only role -- I clicked the button and Admin make the decision.
IMO any mature adult can discuss human sexuality without using the kind of crass and vulgar vocabulary that attracts the porno set and their forum crawling bots. It's simple. What's posted on this forum cannot be crass and vulgar language in reference to human sexuality and human sex acts, without attracting the attention of the bots I refer to, and without calling the Google Adsense advertising provisions into question. -
For the record my comment that was removed above directed Admin to the thread that contained the crass and vulgar language used by another member. Admin has deleted the comment I pointed to.
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I haven't seen a porn blog listed on BC and I have really looked around at a lot of blogs on here. I think people need to understand the difference between porn and erotica. I feel erotica is a legitimate art form, porn is porn. Then I guess the debate goes to what differentiates porn from erotica ? If people are referring to Lolita's site, I feel it qualifies as very good erotica. She gets the point across without getting overly raunchy. Her images are tasteful for the most part. Before the camera were nude Greek statues considered porn?
As far as discussions going down hill I'm new here myself and can't really comment on that. Most of the posts seem intelligent enough. Every once in a while someone posts something idiotic and it gets ignored. I don't see what the problem is.-
well Bullocks, I appreciate your assessment of my "porn" blog.
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your welcome
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I agree and I think that Lolita carries herself and represents her blog as a sex blog in a professional manner that I don't believe is raunchy whatsoever. Of course this is only my opinion and others may differ.
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well thanks Jeunelle. once again, I am called out but hey i guess i am loved
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YES you are loved by me and you also have a nice size following so you can hold your head high
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Jeunelle, you know I always do
i am me, i am here to talk and not shoving my links down anyone's throat... -
@Lolita....exactly if you don't like her blog move on ....plain and simple.
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Thanks for the thread, Acoustic.
I have noticed that the quality of discussion topics at BC has been less interesting to me lately. So, I haven't participated to the same extent as in the past.
With that said, I must admit that I haven't proposed the types of discussions I *would* enjoy, either. That is always an option, when one is dissatisfied with variety on the main discussion board. So, maybe I bear some responsibility for not taking action. -
Hmmm good observation. I asked myself that but i always end up falling asleep in front of the computer.-
lmao!
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Because I'm new, I don't really get it, what is a spammy comment? Are spammers the people who have 10000 friends? Also I didn't think I had seen a lot of really mean talk (even though I think I got a pretty good verbal mugging a couple days back), I mean nothing I've read seemed like it should have been banned. What am I missing?-
That's very interesting.
HARTmarket.com -
(PS: above is spammy content example)
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Oh hai, ki$$ my ads xxxxxxxxx
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I think people get their fill and move on or better yet have different priorities, BC is the same, but I have to admit there isn't much to interest me in the discussions lately.
I would like to see more people that are not necessarily bloggers to get involved on the boards , reviewing, and finding some great blogs
Moderation of the threads are appropriate considering the resources available -
It doesn't really bother me what people do or don't do on BC (except for the spammers - they're annoying!) But I have noticed that it's been very quiet around here lately. -
I used to ask question but then I'm afraid no one will answer...-
If you ask blogging questions in threads posted into the Blogging Questions and BlogCatalog Questions categories and I know the answers to them, then I will answer them.
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Blogging has peeked, yet the number of true bloggers will stabilize. There will be new twist with technology. I hope the written word remain the golden rule.
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