One of the tough things about my job as “Conductor” is actually trying to manage the content & volume of the messages that people send. Maybe you have been a part of the conversation about:
- does “train is 5 minutes late” really matter?
- I get too much mail
- …and of course: I do (or do not) think “this” is a good message
As you can imagine, sometimes, the answer is it depends. So, in the spirit of crowdsourcing, we are pleased to announce a great new feature: Rate this message. How it works:
At the bottom of every commuter-generated message you get, there will be a new section, as follows:
Was this message helpful?
Yes
No
Report abuse
The blue text above are links. When commuter clicks on their choice, they are taken to a web page which thanks them for casting their vote. That’s it!
A few things to note:
- Our database records the rankings…and our program safeguards against multiple votes on a given message by the same person.
- Regarding that last category: sometimes, Clever Commuters break the rules…and we then need to remind them of our Rules of the Road. Even more rare is the situation where true spam (from a non-Clever person) slips through. It’s a huge help if the commuters can help us identify that, too.
As you can imagine, this lays the groundwork for several new features:
1. We can give feedback and coaching to post-ers who are consistently rated “low”
2. We can reward post-ers who are rated “high”
3. We can explore new features like “ALWAYS send me updates from this person” and “NEVER send me updates from that person”
4. Automate the process for handling spam and abusive mails
5. …what else? I’m sure there is more
“Step 1” was just to get the framework in place. This is “version 1.0″…so I’m sure there are ways to improve it…so send me your feedback.