Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: What's the deal with Third Voice?

Author:Brian Carnell
Posted:9/27/1999; 8:50:26 AM
Topic:Windows apps on Linux: the real reason
Msg #:11484 (In response to 11483)
Prev/Next:11483 / 11485

The good thing about the web is that it takes power away from big centralized publishers and puts it (potentially) in the hands of smaller independent publishers. Third Voice and products like it simply yank that power away for commercial purposes.

I think I have the right to control the look and feel of my web site just like others do and let the users sort out which web sites are doing the best job. Third Voice makes that impossible.

For example, a few months ago I banned a user from posting in the discussion forums area of all my web sites after he kept trolling from one to the other posting these long diatribes defending sexual contact between adults and minors. After repeatedly warning him that this was inappropriate (since it was both off-topic and the length and frequency of his posts just destroyed all the other dialogue there), I made it impossible for him to post his comments.

WIth Third Voice I no longer have the ability to moderate what goes on in my web site. I have to rely on writing the bureacrats at Third Voice to do that. Oh that sounds like step up.

And for me this is about my livelihood. I'm close to the point where my sites are producing enough revenue that I can do this full-time and quit my other job. But the single largest segment of vistors to my site is from studnets and secondary and middle schools doing research for school papers -- when I look at my sever logs a lot of hits come from teachers who include my pages as resources for their students.

So what happens when this yahoo can just go on ranting about NAMBLA all over my pages? The teachers decide not to link to it (and I wouldn't blame them), the filter software out there the have in most of these schools starts to take notice and soon my traffic is taking a serious hit.

OTOH, I don't think TV will ever catch on. The main users of it now seem to be the small minority of people with nothing better to do than post comments like the ones you found linked to your web site.

The way for TV to go, BTW, would be to do the right thing and license the content from the creators for inclusion in TV. I would have no problem allowing TV to use my content to promote their semi-chat software provided I'm going to get a cut of any revenues and they're going to ensure their users abide my TOS.

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