Do Online Communities Have a Decay Rate?

Does the “decay rate” at community sites like Epinions.com spell eventual doom for Wikipedia? Technology and Marketing Law blogger Eric Goldman thinks so, and, not to put any more pressure on him, is working on an academic paper to show why. The site’s decay rate—the rate at which community members become less devoted to a site over time—is just one part of Goldman’s larger argument. At his blog he pulls up some data regarding Epinions, which relies on paid community member reviews.

Everybody’s a Critic

For years now, the blog has been viewed as a necessary evil from a PR perspective and a direct channel for bad news traveling at light speed. That’s a fair assessment, but the Internet should be viewed as a boon to another aspect of business: quality control. It used to be there were official critics and official criticisms were published in print, read by subset of subscribers to a specific publication. Now, critics are pretty much everywhere and can publish anywhere, any time.

Hate Mail Drives Controversial Website Offline

It’s either a brilliant publicity stunt or one of the gutsiest t-shirt sellers on the Web really lost his nerve. The proprietor (undertaker?) of TshirtHell.com is closing up shop because he’s tired of dealing with hate mail. As a Web writer whose been on the receiving end of more than a few nasty comments, I can say, if you give in to hate mail the terrorists win. Regardless, “Sunshine Megatron” is just tired of it all.

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