Here goes a big THANKS! to him, link, link and link for interacting so much with us users and making 팬팝 a great site!
As a member of the F4 - how many messages per 일 do 당신 get from 팬팝 users?
papa:It varies. Some days there's a lot of messages, some days not so much. But a dozen 또는 더 많이 a 일 isn't unusual. The most common request I get is to change a club icon/banner/motto. I'm always happy to do this (and we definitely need a better way to manage how this happens!). The 초 most common 질문 I get is usually about medals (why don't I have one? when will I get my red medal? etc.).
I try to respond to what I can in a timely fashion. Fortunately, since there's 4 of us, I'm guessing the other guys also get their share.
Fanpop has gone through many changes, we got a new rating system, we got caps, a wall,...
Which change was your personal favorite?
papa:From the past year? I think my 가장 좋아하는 change is the caps. Even though we know how and when a lot of the caps are granted, I still feel some element of surprise when the 캡, 모자 magically appears at the bottom of my screen. Like on Earth Day, I totally forgot we had programmed the Earth 일 캡, 모자 to appear, so that was kinda fun. I also get a kick out of making fun of Dave Lu that I have the "Jetsetter" 캡, 모자 and he doesn't. I was mocking him about his lack of a "Rainbow" cap, but now he has one. So I'm hoping I can get another one of the good luck caps and have 더 많이 bragging rights.
There's a lot 더 많이 we can do with caps. It's really just a matter of time. Our hope is to add some 더 많이 into the mix to help recognize some other great things that users do on the site and also to commemorate special dates/events.
It has first been mentioned in 2007 and is still a topic of discussion nowadays- the possibility of a username-change. Do 당신 think this is something that could be established?
papa:I don't like to say we'll never do something on the site, but this one is pretty unlikely. I will say there have been very rare instances when we changed a user's name early on. We had this one fanpopper who started off with something like "johnsgirl" 또는 some such thing (I've intentionally changed her names to protect the innocent!). Well, she broke up with John and so she contacted us begging to change her name. So we changed it, per her request, to "jakesgirl" and figured that's that. But no, a week later she broke up with Jake and begged for another change. So we told her, ok, one last change but please pick a name without a boyfriend in it!
Anyway, I dont' want any fanpoppers to get the wrong idea. Please don't contact us about 아이디 changes!
Many users are interested in the reporting system. Does all reported content get viewed by
moderators before it's deleted 또는 is a part of it automated?
papa:We have a bunch of measures in place. There are some automated components and some manual. For most instances where a user reports something, we do have some human intervention involved.
I will say that there's long long list of reasons why something might be removed which includes, but is not limited to: offensive comments, nonsensical/incomprehensible content, miscategorized content, spam content, duplicate/repeat content, etc.
If the user who created a piece of content, for instance, requests their contribution be removed, we'll remove it (for whatever reason). So if 당신 게시됨 a pick and 당신 later regreted it - but it's a perfectly legitimate pick - we'll remove it if 당신 신고 it.
This situation happens a lot where a user might post a pick and the 코멘트 gets out of hand.
In the case of miscategorized content, that covers a lot of situtations. For instance a pick that's really just a declaration such as "Hey vote for Hermione in the Potter vs. Twilight Club!" isn't really a legitimate pick. If a user wants to announce something of this sort they should really use the 포럼 또는 the wall. Also personal 질문 are generally regarded as "miscategorized". For instance "What's my 가장 좋아하는 별, 스타 Wars movie?" as a 퀴즈 질문 is best left for a personal 팬팝 user club and not for the 별, 스타 Wars club.
I could go on and on, but 당신 get the point. There's usually some rhyme 또는 reason behind what we do. But it's true we'll also make mistakes from time to time as well. Hopefully not many, but we are dealing with incredibly large nubmers of reported items.
Are 당신 content with the reporting system as it currently is 또는 do 당신 think it needs
improvement?
papa:I don't think we're ever content with something on the site. Our hope is to improve things as time goes on.
Earlier when the audience was smaller I do feel that the reporting system was used 더 많이 appropriately and 더 많이 judiciously 의해 the 팬팝 community. Also, the 팬팝 team had a lot 더 많이 time to go through every individual item and 더 많이 carefully and try to fix things that had problems 또는 were mistcategorized rather than outright 삭제 things.
It seems that these days there is a little 더 많이 malicious reporting (by a small minority of users of course, the majority are still legitimately helping police the site). I see a lot 더 많이 "retaliatory" user reporting for instance.
Here's one tip: We'll take a 신고 a lot 더 많이 seriously when there's a note supplied 의해 the reporting user identifying 또는 specifying some misdeed 또는 problem over a 신고 that doesn't indicate what the problem is.
Also, some users think it necessary to 신고 an item multiple times (this really isn't necessary and if anything makes us wonder if the reporter is spamming the moderation tool).
So yes, the moderation measures do help in general but there's always room for improvement.
Many 팬 were sad when the rating trophy disappeared from their profiles. Is there any
hope left 또는 should they 옮기기 on?
papa:I can never say never (no, I'm not a Justin Bieber fan!), but it's unlikely. HOWEVER, 당신 remember what I said about caps earlier? I don't think it would be too surprising to see something that fills the void of the rating trophy in the future. I'm not guaranteeing anything, of course, just sayin'...
Something else that popped up quite often in the suggestion 포럼 was the thought of giving
very responsible users some "moderator"-powers, so they could help remove spam faster.
What are your thoughts on that?
papa:This is a great idea. And, in fact, we have a small cadre of trusted vets that have helped and continue to help us with this.
I will admit that in the past, when we had much, much closer contact with the other fanpoppers it was easier for us to identify people to help us out with this. As the site got larger and 더 많이 unwieldly to manage we've had to spend 더 많이 and 더 많이 time just maintaining the site and keeping things working (which resulted - unfortunately - in less time to interact with the 팬팝 community :-(
What we need to do is figure out a way to expand this role on the site without causing mass chaos to ensue (my only big fear is that someone goes a little crazy with any "extra powers" they might be given).
However, we're open to suggestions and ideas on how to handle this. So feel free to pm me 또는 Dave on this.
Would 당신 like to tell us something about the "mysterious" 팬팝 moderators? About how many are there and what is their job?
papa:I alluded to it above. We essentially have a small cadre of trusted vets who can help us out 의해 editing content, updating club banners/icons, moving miscategorized content etc.
How long do 당신 usually talk about an idea before it's established?
papa:It depends on the idea. Some ideas have been floating around on our project list for years. Others just kinda pop up and seem easy enough that we do it within a matter of days.
The caps feature is one that we had wanted to do for at least a 년 또는 more.
Removing the 5-star rating system and going to a simple "I'm a 팬 of it" is also something we'd talked about for years. Eventually we ran some stats on the accumulated ratings we had and realized pretty much everyone was just voting everything as 5-stars. So it seemed pretty clear that offering a 5-scale system didnt' make much sense at that point.
How strict are 당신 when it comes to users having 더 많이 than one account? Do 당신 ban them 또는 is this something that's accepted when it's not used to do mischief?
papa:Oh boy. I'm gonna get in trouble for this! Here's the deal. As long as no mischief is being made, we're likely to let people do what they need to do. Multiple accounts for reporting other users 또는 ballot stuffing on picks 또는 for spamming purposes will raise the ire of the moderators.
I've actually seen instances of fanpoppers who 신고 themselves and/or abuse themselves with other accounts. Needless to say this is not a good habit and will get 당신 banned.
It's probably all 상단, 맨 위로 secret, but can 당신 tell us a little about what you're working on right now, what we can look 앞으로 to?
papa:We're knee deep in something we call "Project Green Unicorn" ;-)
I could tell 당신 what it is, but I'd have the investors all over me. And we can't go doing that.
Anything else you'd like to say to us 팬팝 Users?
papa:I'll just take a chance to thank all the great fanpoppers out there for helping make the site what it is. We still enjoy working on 팬팝 b/c the 팬 are so crazy, passionate and inspiring. If there's any feedback 당신 have for us please send your suggestions our way. We're all about improving things!
Thank 당신 so much for taking the time to answer these questions, papa!
