My source is Castor Quinn, an SU “miscatter.” For the record, he’s not a developer or an employee of SU. A miscatter is the person who changes the category of a page, once a wrong category report has been received. There are only a handful of carefully selected miscatters and they have the authority to make category changes within SU guidelines. The small size of the group and the increasingly large numbers of wrong category reports is the reason that SU seems to move at a snail’s pace when there’s a problem.

Ok, Stumblers, take note:

1. Not everyone in the SU community is your friend. Some have a perception that anyone who favorably reviews search engine optimization or Internet marketing sites is out to game the community.

Never mind that you review this type of site because it interests YOU. To the anti-spam crusaders, these topics are spam.

2. If you submit your own site or your own posts, even under the intent of sharing worthwhile information, this is also perceived as spam.

According to Quinn, “If you simply thumb the content (speaking of your site) and send it into the database, then in fact I would argue that SU does not have any responsibility to protect the reputation of your business. SU users are expressly not to use their accounts for promotion of a service or site. SU’s responsibility is to the users who use the service to stumble new content, not to those who use the service to promote content.”

This seems extremely short-sighted to me. I have submitted my own content in the past. In fact, I inadvertently submitted part one of this post. I tagged it, didn’t review it, didn’t give it a thumbs up, and didn’t realize it would show up as discovered by me.

3. Why all the talk about spam? Because the experience I spoke of in my last post fit “the MO of some of the more aggressive anti-spam crusaders.” What’s the saying, “forewarned is forearmed?”

SU does act against this sort of behavior. In fact, according to Quinn, the anti-spam crusaders feel that they’re persecuted by SU while spammers are allowed to run free. Just so you know, one of their calling cards is the addition of an “aids” tag to your review. Make sure you flag malicious stumblers using the flag option that accompanies every review.

4. The Stumbler who initially discovers a site is the one who controls the category for that site unless or until it’s recatted.

Don’t ask me why someone who’s fighting spam would go to the effort to discover a site not submitted and post it in the P_O_R_N category with a thumbs-down, but apparently it happens. I’m sure someone had a good laugh, but I’m missing the point. So if you submit your own site, it’s spam, but if you don’t, they will? Thank goodness for friends!

5. Take note of your SU content filter. You’ll find it toward the bottom of your preferences page. Setting it to anything other than “Don’t show adult content when stumbling” may provide an opening for the accidental or intentional miscatting of your web site as adult.
   

   Quinn wasn’t sure about this as the specifics about how categories are automatically assigned are part of SU’s proprietary information, but said that your profile rating probably plays some role in the process.

6. Watch your thumbs-up and tags. Everything you thumb-up shows up in your tags. Can that artwork you’re reviewing be perceived as adult content? There’s that miscatting opening, once again.
7. You’ll notice that I’m not using certain words in this post. There’s a reason for that. I’m speaking about specific labels and not wanting to cross SU’s content filter. Consider this also when you’re reviewing a site. What words are in the post title? What words are in your review?
8. Accidental miscats happen and SU errs on the side of caution. People have been known to tic the adult content box unintentionally. The “autocatter” can also place it in the wrong category. When the mistake is reported, it’s fixed by a miscatter.
9. If a page is in the wrong category, report it as a miscat.

“If they negatively review you,” says Quinn, “you can block them and hide their review, or report them to Feedback if they have violated the Terms of Service. If they negatively review your site … well, that’s their right, so long as they don’t breach the Terms of Service, publish your personal details, or post real threats against you (the famous “die in a fire” is not a threat, it’s a meme; “I’m going to track you down and kill your cat” is a threat). If someone wants to leave a scathing, hurtful, aggressive review of your website, so long as they are not in violation of the ToS, they can – SU is all about giving your opinions, so when people put their sites on the internet or thumb them into SU, they have to accept that some people may disagree, dislike or vent in their general direction. If however they breach the ToS, SU can intervene – report the problem to Feedback. This applies to tags also – all content submitted to SU has to abide by the ToS. You can also make use of the Violent, Aggressive and Unhelpful user flags if you feel a stumbler is one of those things.”

“Exposing hateful stumblers, revenge flagging, telling all your friends, posting to forums, giving them a negative review – generally this just causes you grief, enhances the enjoyment of the person who was clearly trying to get a response out of you, and doesn’t really advance the situation very much, so in most cases the best course of action is just to use the tools provided to fix it.”

Quinn suggests we relax, stumble, and enjoy ourselves instead of obsessing over the negative on SU. He feels SU is meant to be a toy, not something to be taken seriously. I agree about the “obsessing” part, but I think the service has grown beyond the original intent.

StumbleUpon is a powerful social media site. Yes, it can send you droves of traffic, but it also has the potential to damage your reputation. Does the good outweigh the bad? For now, I think it does. Whether or not that continues to be the case depends on how SU reacts to its changing demographic and growing community. StumbleUpon, are you listening?

Related Links:

An Open Letter to StumbleUpon Regarding Usability, Negativity, and Growing Pains

For the uninitiated, when you search on your name be prepared to feel at least a little exposed. Google shows 95 entries for my name, although it appears that I’m not the only Shari Voigt online.

I don’t remember why I searched on my name last week, but I was not happy with what I found. Those of us with a StumbleUpon (SU) toolbar find a rating, a review, and a category next to Google search result listings for sites that have received a review. As an SU enthusiast, I’ve generally been more likely to click on sites reviewed by another SU community member. But last week, a site featuring my name was listed 3rd and 4th in Google’s search results, and that site had been mis-categorized in StumbleUpon as being an adult content site. Guess what category showed up next to my name?

It’s my name we’re talking about here, folks. I wanted that category changed NOW … make that yesterday! I’ve been working hard to build a good reputation online, but if someone searched on my name, they’d find a P_O_R_N tag next to it. Not good!

It’s all water under the bridge now, and for that I thank my friend, Kimberly Bock of Yicrosoft Directory Girl for removing my name from the title of her high-ranking, but totally innocent blog post, as well as an overworked and unappreciated volunteer force that handles SU “miscat” reports. I didn’t even know they existed until now. An SU miscat volunteer changed the category of the reviewed site to the G-rating it should have had all along. But it took several days to straighten out and I learned a few things in the process.

Stay tuned for more information. In my next post I’ll spell out exactly what you need to know to use SU more effectively while protecting your reputation online.

I’m involved in the marketing team for Paperfest, a four-day community event held every July in Kimberly, Wisconsin. Last year’s promotional efforts for this event included a well-organized and maintained web site, flyer distribution, billboards, lots of smaller signs, and local media coverage.

This year we’re adding social media elements to the mix, such as MySpace and/or Facebook, event photos on Flickr, bookmarks on del.icio.us, and maybe some reviews on StumbleUpon. We’ll let last year’s email list, event sponsors, and volunteers know about the new opportunity and invite them to participate.

This seems the perfect venue to promote through social media. We’re looking forward to four days of concerts, carnival rides, sporting events, and fun activities for the whole family. Better yet, this event raises money for local nonprofit and civic organizations. It’s a volunteer effort, start-to-finish.

Event publicity is not new territory for me. I helped organize and promote community events for a former nonprofit employer before volunteering with Paperfest last year. Social media’s not really new to me either, although I suspect that with as much as I’ve dabbled in it, I’ve just barely got my feet wet. But event promotion through social media is uncharted territory. I’m excited about it. It’s sure to be a learning experience!

Photo credit: Paperfest

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a productive, profitable and enjoyable 2008!

As we close out this year and ring in the next, it’s a natural time for reflection and anticipation. So, I’m curious. How will you remember 2007? And what’s on the horizon for 2008?

For me, this was a year of learning about online community. I’ve dabbled in Facebook, Stumble Upon, Twitter, Digg and Newsvine. I’ve read a lot of blogs, made some comments, and committed to publishing one of my own.

Along the way, I’ve found a network of caring individuals. We hear so much about online predators, but not enough about the people who reach out online to help others.

For instance, just yesterday on Twitter, I learned about Susan Reynolds, who is having breast cancer surgery today. All over the world, people who have never met her are showing their support through peas. Yes, you read that right! Peas. And it’ll make perfect sense to you when you visit Susan’s blog. May her story touch you the way it touched me. Susan, you’re in my prayers!

So what’s on the horizon for 2008? I’ll cover that in my next post.

Meanwhile, please leave me a reply. (You’ll need to be on this single post page to do so. Just scroll down the page until you see my reply box.) Tell me how you’ll remember 2007.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!