Every Company Needs a Good Map

I recently read on the WebMetricsGuru blog, that Squidoo is changing because of complaints not because of a desire to do better.  Complaints have been coming, from a limited number of people, that Squidoo is just a spammer, SEO gamer, and porn trading haven. This has not been my experience but then I have the Safe Browsing setting on "G" and I don't browse Squidoo much. The same complaints lobbied at Squidoo can be said for the Internet as well. I don't hear any of these people asking to have it closed down.

Squidoo is going to take away the ability to use iFrames on lenses as a reaction not an action. This adversely affects me because I use it to display ScribD hosted PDF files and to point people to Joe Martin's cartoon of the day. ScribD allows you to put files online as Word, HTML and PDF files that can be read online and where you can limit the format and download capabilities of readers. It also means that people can see what they will get before downloading a PDF file. I personally like that. Joe Martin's cartoon allow me to provide an alternative to the Gaping Void, which while funny, is over exposed in my view.

So what is to be done... 

So the baby goes out with the bathwater because a group of people who want to game the SEO system, or trick people into visiting porn sites cannot be dealt with directly. This is like the situation in a classroom where the teacher punishes everyone because they cannot find the party responsible for a specific act. That rarely works since trying to get someone to snitch is not a good plan. Building methods to prevent trouble or learning to confront difficulty is a much better option.

When you react, instead of acting with thought and deliberation, you allow others to control you. Often this is because you allowed yourself to be put in a situation where you abdicated control in the first place. When I had my first website back in 1994 we found that people were copying the whole site - ever night. After a brief review of normal site visits we put a limit of 25 pages, 2.5 times the average heavy user daily activity, and then locked out the IP address for 24 hours. If someone ran up against that barrier and legitimately needed greater access it was done on an individual basis.

Reacting, instead of acting, also undermines your personal leadership ability.  I don't think that Seth Godin, or anyone else at Squidoo, has to answer the critics directly. They do need to determine if there is a problem (there is) and how they will act on their findings. They should also be very public about their actions rather than putting it is a blog post that very few lens authors will see. 

Trying to stop pornography is like trying to hold back the tide. You need a massive action to take on a massive force. I wish there was a magic marker that would automatically label all such material that would make it easy to identify and cordon it off. Those who feel it is their right to visit such places can do so and the rest would not be easily transported to such destinations.

Actually, a better analogy would be that trying to stop pornography is like trying to stop spammers. There are ways but they require greater identification of the origins of traffic, emails, and source materials. This is something that causes issues with the freedom to expression, which is a very valuable thing. If oppressed and abused individuals could not speak with anonymity they might never be heard.

What do I think should be done at Squidoo? Penalties - lose your earnings, be banned for improper behavior, and block IP addresses. It's a free site and they can boot anyone they choose any time they choose. They make the rules and they need to enforce them. They should show some spine and get rid of everything that is offensive, that abuses the system, and that is potentially fraudulent. Provide tools to easily report abuse. Require all links to open a new tab or window so that people can see where they were redirected and can report it. Beware of anonymous reporting and give lensmasters a rating reflective of their experience with the system and demonstration of good behavior that gives their reporting more credence.

A mass action met by a mass action can have startling results. MySpace is headed for the junk heap because it allowed the wrong material and patrons to spoil the well. Squidoo has abdicated a leadership role in its own development in order to grow big fast. The barndoor needs to be closed and a new sheriff appointed or Squidoo is headed for an early retirement as a failed attempt to empower non-programmers to build websites and to express themselves. The closing of Squidoo would be a sad thing in my opinion.

If EBay would crackdown on the fencers, it might help their business too, but that is another post.

So what is your opinion on Squidoo's predicament?