by hwijaya on 1/31/10, 6:17 PM with 22 comments
by jeff18 on 1/31/10, 9:02 PM
However, when you read this article, it makes them sound like great friends, and it reads as if Mahalo is this awesome little indie site that wants the community to help. I especially love the comment by Dorfman reinforcing how he was ecstatic about Aaron's advice and had a great time noodling it over.
It's like if your dog takes a dump on the sidewalk and, like usual, you don't pick it up. When someone [and an angry mob of your peers] makes a big enough stink about it, you argue and argue, until it degenerates into a fiasco. Finally, you write on your blog, "Thanks for helping us be even better, buddies! You guys are awesome! Gonna think about picking up the shit real soon. We are all so excited about what you guys said! Let's grab sushi, ya?"
There's a lot of ways to lie, and I've just learned a new one. It would be cool to see an apology with an accurate representation of the scandal.
by elsewhen on 1/31/10, 8:32 PM
but mahalo is nofollowing attribution links to content that THEY have decided to scrape.
jason is conflating two things when he says "Do you think we should remove nofollow from our links? we added this to avoid the problem of SEOs coming in and turning Mahalo into a link farm"
you can nofollow links created by users but you should not nofollow links to content that YOU decided was worthy of inclusion on your site.
it seems very clear to me, that this guy is playing dumb.
by bonsaitree on 1/31/10, 10:36 PM
Given all the posts on this forum, and even his direct participation in the discussion, I honestly thought that he would've recognized both the technical problems in Mahalo's content & linking stratagems as well as the hollow tenor of his words.
Sadly, no. More duplicitous ignorance and classic "PR framing" piece straight out Political Communications 101.
1. Couch direct criticism as "feedback". Do not directly apologize for any perceived or actual misdeeds as that is seen as an admission of purposeful dis-service and guilt.
2. Enumerate an ill-defined set of seemingly concrete, but very porous, actions to be enacted within an indefinite time frame. This overtly defines a 'scorecard', albeit one without any measurable boundaries for future compliance. In other words, the Overton Window is wide open.
3. Within the context of the response, inject positive spin on (any) tangentially related side-issue to serve as a defensive soundbite reservoir against any possible pointed questions within the limited time-windows of future radio and t.v. media interviews.
4. Make offers to "work more closely" with the opposite party, but exclusively on your turf/terms while (un)subtly highlighting your strengths and their weaknesses to continue business as usual. In this case, Aaron's individual "free" time & attention versus their "paid" team of developers.
5. Release "off-cycle" (e.g. late Friday, holidays, weekend) and in a forum where you can have as much control as possible in 'shaping the break' of the story as it makes its way through the media ecosystem.
This is just sad from every angle and, quite honestly, bumming me out. I wish I hadn't clicked on Hacker News this afternoon.
by dangrossman on 1/31/10, 8:23 PM
by aditya on 1/31/10, 7:39 PM
First he made fun of Aaron and even this post almost comes off as sarcasm (although who knows if Jason's going to stick to his word, so it may very well be sarcasm). But the comment on the blog makes it seem like people at Mahalo actually care about not being branded as a content-less SEO cesspool.
Kudos to Aaron for making Mahalo right its wrongs!
by whye on 1/31/10, 10:29 PM
How many other web companies serve ads on their "about" page? It seems like a really odd thing to do.
by ErrantX on 1/31/10, 8:23 PM
Lots of ifs though.