vox_monitor
Jun 6th, 2005, 03:22 PM
Podcasts are podcasts - be they radio shows or not radio shows. It doesn't matter. The fact is, content is, and always will be, king. If a podcast is of high quality, and entertains, it will be heard, provided the artist(s) responsible put in the necessary effort to acheive a certain level of visibility.
The internet is inherently a level playing field. It can never be anything but. Sure, some people have more resources to expend on visibility. Good for them. That is evidence of a free society. Remember, free men aren't equal and equal men aren't free.
But having more resources to acheive visibility won't do any good at all if your show sucks.
However, cheating is different. Cheating is manipulating the systems that are in place to determine quality - and subsequently award increased visibility - in such a way as to render meaningless that determination.
And that, by all appearances, is what has happened here. The thing is, we aren't in a court of law. We are participants in a site that caters to podcasters, primarily, and eventually to listeners. And this accusation of cheating does not need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. And in this context, if it quacks like a duck, and flys like a duck, it needs to be filled full of buckshot.
Now PA might be playing coy with us here. PA benefits from all the improved stats that come from Big Seminar Live gaming the system. After all, to game it successfully, you would have to creat a bunch of new users, and change IP's and several other things. You'd have to become believably different traffic.
But if PA doesn't shoot this duck now, and kill it dead, it is being really myopic. Because ultimately, PA's hierarchies are exactly what it has going for it. And if - when - they become meaningless, PA won't be very attractive anymore.
Idiot Vox is continuing to develop it's quality based hierarchies, at least partially in anticipation of this happeneing. The IdiotVox model incorporates a number of factors including text reviews, star ratings, number of clicks, etc. But it also does something very important. It involves a human being. A person crunches the numbers, but then factors in intangibles including channel editor opinions, and whether or not it looks like there is cheating going on.
PA's system will eventually be gamed into meaninglessness. In every such system, it always happens eventually. Unfortunately, there is no honor code on the internet. I'd never cheat, most people wouldn't. I want to know what the actual level of interest in my show is, for one thing. And for another, I consider it immoral to gain that sort of unfair advantage. But some people will cheat. There's money to be made. And where there's money, there are people who can't compete fairly who will try to cheat to gain an advantage.
I hope that eventually is delayed as long as possible. I like PA. I like posting here. I like checking my votes and seeing how I'm doing. (Number 103!) (if you've heard our show, btw, and think we deserve your vote, please vote for us)
http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=3643
thanks,
eric.
We need to all stay vigilant is calling out the obvious cheaters, but we also need to all stay vigilant regarding making sure that we apply the criterium "obvious" very vigorously.
The internet is inherently a level playing field. It can never be anything but. Sure, some people have more resources to expend on visibility. Good for them. That is evidence of a free society. Remember, free men aren't equal and equal men aren't free.
But having more resources to acheive visibility won't do any good at all if your show sucks.
However, cheating is different. Cheating is manipulating the systems that are in place to determine quality - and subsequently award increased visibility - in such a way as to render meaningless that determination.
And that, by all appearances, is what has happened here. The thing is, we aren't in a court of law. We are participants in a site that caters to podcasters, primarily, and eventually to listeners. And this accusation of cheating does not need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. And in this context, if it quacks like a duck, and flys like a duck, it needs to be filled full of buckshot.
Now PA might be playing coy with us here. PA benefits from all the improved stats that come from Big Seminar Live gaming the system. After all, to game it successfully, you would have to creat a bunch of new users, and change IP's and several other things. You'd have to become believably different traffic.
But if PA doesn't shoot this duck now, and kill it dead, it is being really myopic. Because ultimately, PA's hierarchies are exactly what it has going for it. And if - when - they become meaningless, PA won't be very attractive anymore.
Idiot Vox is continuing to develop it's quality based hierarchies, at least partially in anticipation of this happeneing. The IdiotVox model incorporates a number of factors including text reviews, star ratings, number of clicks, etc. But it also does something very important. It involves a human being. A person crunches the numbers, but then factors in intangibles including channel editor opinions, and whether or not it looks like there is cheating going on.
PA's system will eventually be gamed into meaninglessness. In every such system, it always happens eventually. Unfortunately, there is no honor code on the internet. I'd never cheat, most people wouldn't. I want to know what the actual level of interest in my show is, for one thing. And for another, I consider it immoral to gain that sort of unfair advantage. But some people will cheat. There's money to be made. And where there's money, there are people who can't compete fairly who will try to cheat to gain an advantage.
I hope that eventually is delayed as long as possible. I like PA. I like posting here. I like checking my votes and seeing how I'm doing. (Number 103!) (if you've heard our show, btw, and think we deserve your vote, please vote for us)
http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=3643
thanks,
eric.
We need to all stay vigilant is calling out the obvious cheaters, but we also need to all stay vigilant regarding making sure that we apply the criterium "obvious" very vigorously.