Regifting, Plugins and Yahoo!

Regifting, Plugins and Yahoo! Moderating and customising large Yahoo! groups

Introduction • Background on Regifting • Background on Edward • Key Issues • Plugins • Futures • Wishlist

Background on Regifting • Free no-strings-attached gifts • Anything which could go in landfill • Sofas, computers, nappies, Giant African Land-snails… • Freecycle is long-standing Groups user • Since May 2003 • 4,676 groups with 6,385,000 memberships • 70 countries

Background on Regifting • Other smaller Networks • ReUseIt: 495 groups • RealCycle: 49 groups • FullCircles:15 groups • Groups differ • Rules • Geographical coverage • 50 to 30,000 members • 5 posts/week to 150 posts/day • Email vs Web access

Background on Edward • Goal: improve Yahoo! experience for members and moderators of (primarily) Freecycle groups • Freecycle • Moderator for Edinburgh, UK (21,000 members) • No “official” position in Freecycle hierarchy… • …but tools used by > 1000 groups with > 2.3 million members • Other volunteers (e.g. DBs and hosting) • Day job: http://www.metaswitch.com • Has it really been 19 years? • Manager and developer • Class 5 switch and next-generation phone services

Key Issues • Moderators • Socially worthwhile but in practical terms dull • Lots of clicking / cutting and pasting • Enforcing group rules • Spammers • Bulk operations • Members • Have to remember rules • Messages rejected • Busy groups

Plugins • Two completely separate kinds • Both software installed into user browsers • Aimed at Freecycle plus other regifting networks • For moderators (http://modplugin.org) • From late 2006 • Much is generic moderation function • For members (http://memberplugin.org) • From mid 2008 • Regifting-specific

Moderation Plugin • Aims: • reduce moderation tasks to one click • easily enforce rules • spot abuse • Features: • Pull content / actions into main pages • Standard messages to approve/reject • Summarise posting history, record member info • Colour-code bad subjects and “worry words” • Multiple Joiners and Spammer list • Crosspost checking • Bulk operations • …we could be here all day.

Moderation Plugin - Implementation • Runs on moderator’s machine • Changes what Yahoo’s pages look like • HTTP requests under the covers • Does not republish content • Firefox extension • No Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome etc. • Demo… • Issues • No formal API • 999 errors

Member Plugin • Aims: • Get posts right from the start • Work easily with posts • OFFER->TAKEN • WANTED->RECEIVED • Features: • Much simpler than Moderator • Moderators configure per-group settings • No member settings • Modified Post page • New “My Posts” page • Buttons

Member Plugin - Implementation • Runs on member’s machine • Changes what pages look like • HTTP requests under the covers • Firefox and Internet Explorer (so far) • Demo… • Issues: • They have to install it • No formal API

Futures • “My Freecycle” • Dedicated website to host Freecycle groups • Google Ads • Now starting to go live; optional to move • Inertia vs Enthusiasm • “Grassroots” vs “Organisation” • My unofficial take: • Most groups on Yahoo! into the future • But must improve experience for members

Wishlist • Let us in! • Yahoo! as application delivery platform? • Geeks write code for free • Members • Custom post page • Custom join questions • Better non-Yahoo! email address support • Moderators • Would kill for the above three. Really. • Otherwise we can get by, but… • Subject rules to force message to Pending • Prevent “No Email” • Spammers/harvesters

Summary • Don’t forget we love Yahoo! • There’s loads we could do • Bang-for-buck: • tweaks not rewrites • top 5 items would do wonders

Regifting, Plugins and Yahoo!