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Orkut is apparently taking user suggestions to heart and is retooling some of the system and adding in some user suggestions. I for one certainly hope he does something about the broadcast notification issue. I've only been on it one day and I had 11 messages from people not connected to me. Interstingly enough they weren't really spam rather they were messages that said stuff like "Hey - we probably shouldn't be able to send messages to everyone like this" or some such stuff.
I am sure it will come back a lot better, would hate to think how quick the memberbase has grown on that site.
actually to tell the truth, I think I spent most of today logged on to orkut :)
Shak
Perhaps moreso than the other, more polished sites, orkut already grew on me quickly and felt like hanging out with a quirky-but-well-meaning friend.
And, while I know it's early and don't want to speak too soon, I was already quite appreciating the friendliness and un-snertiness of the various communities that had quickly sprung up.
I'm kinda glad it's down for a bit, though. This means that the start of my week actually has a chance at being productive now :D
;) Y
[edited by: Marcia at 9:04 am (utc) on Jan. 26, 2004]
its just too good :)
basically my interpretation is that Orkut is very much based on the 'six degrees of separation' model.
It works a treat, and I cant wait for it to come back online.
quite a few WebmasterWorld members there...
Shak
But Shak, probably way, way more aren't there than are; it would be nice to have some kind of idea and no doubt people would like to know. Including me!
I don't have the foggiest idea, I'm imagining all kinds of chatroom nasties going on. ;)
[edited by: Marcia at 9:10 am (utc) on Jan. 26, 2004]
I think it was an issue with the internal mail system.
I was logged on when the system logged everyone out.
from what i hear, a softare bug was found, and they decided to take it offline.
after all it is in BETA mode...
Shak
[webmasterworld.com...]
msg#47
One glitch that became apparent about 12 hours ago was the ability for anyone to post messages to EVERYBODY in the community.... i.e. 8,200+ members!
Apparently they didn't have enough backroom chat experience. Those are called "broadcast" messages and in real life only the chat mods can do those - or should be able to do them. It's a standard feature in commercial chat software and has been for a long time, along with a lot of other necessary security features. The safeguards are built right in to the system.
When I worked chat sometimes we'd have to clear everyone out by midnight for maintenance to be done, so we just sent a broadcast message out. Not that they left, but at least they were warned it was coming.
I don't know what the format is, but from the sound of it, it seems it can run into the same kind of problems chat rooms do.
Shak
There was (I'm certain this'll have been fixed by re-release time) a way to do a search, have a list of *ALL* members returned, then save this search with a nickname.
Okay, so far, not much of a problem, right?
Well, for some unknown reason, in the orkut messaging area, you could choose to message not only other individuals on orkut, but also a list of members from a saved search!
I knew the moment I saw this that it was asking for trouble, and indeed, some oh-so-brilliant folks took it upon themselves to create a saved search for 'all', then send a mass message declaring how annoying this loophole was.
And then there was the "me too!" messages on top of that. Sheesh.
But with that said, Orkut (the programmer guy) should have really put a bit more thought into such user-scalability issues. It's fine to have mass-messaging of this sort when the group is not only "trusted" [sic] but also small (say, a list of professors at a modest college)... but when you're creating something with thousands of members, it's just plain naive to have 'features' like that.
With that said, I'm sure Orkut is learning quickly, and -- as I noted in another thread -- I'm confident that things will be rapidly improving with the service.
Here's one indication of the possible re-branding of Orkut from the whimsical to the more formal: Orkut's modified 'down for maintenance' message:
What Orkut wrote originally:
Dear orkut.com users:Wow.
The response to orkut.com has been phenomenal and I've been learning a lot about what people like and expect from a service like this. Thanks for all your feedback so far!
Based on your suggestions, I'm taking orkut.com back to the lab for some fine-tuning and improvements. It will likely take a few days to finish them. None of your data will be lost and I should have some nice surprises for you when I bring it back online. I'll email you when it's ready and running again.
Thanks again for your ideas and for bearing with me as I work my way up the learning curve.
stay beautiful,
Orkut Buyukkokten
What it was changed to:
We've taken orkut.com offline as we implement some improvements and upgrades suggested by users. Since orkut is in the very early stages of development, it's likely to be up and down quite a bit during the coming months. None of the information you've entered will be deleted, and none of the connections you've made will be lost. And, if all goes well, you should see some significant improvements when we come back online.We'll send an email once everything is ready and running again. Thanks for your feedback and for bearing with us as we work our way up the learning curve.
The orkut team
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Notice the change in language from "I" to "We" and the overall change in tone from the friendly to the more formal.
Any significance? An indication of an overall change in tone for the service from enthusiastic personal project to a more-polished 'corporate' feel?
I don't know, but you read it here first! :D
