1. Regarding the breaking news stuff give us a little time. We’re just building out our staff and our pace–and the publics pace at contributing to the pages–will increase by the end of the year. Right now you’re looking at 5% of Mahalo.

2.Regarding the bias we didn’t just do “friends of Jason” we did folks like Nick Denton as well. We basically did a bunch of bloggers and podcasters of note (think the Technorati 300). So, just because I’m a blogger and know Dave Winer, Doc, Jeff Jarvis, and Om Malik don’t assume it is bias–those guys are GIANTS in the blogging world. We could be remiss if didn’t do them!

That being said, if you think there are bloggers of note (i.e. folks who have been blogging for a long time with large audiences) that we’ve missed please request their pages and we will do them ASAP.

Mahalo for helping Mahalo.com get a little better every day!

Jason

Personally I don’t see Mahalo being ground breaking in the least. How is this better than Wikipedia which has a full description of the topic and relevant external links? More pleasing on the eye for sure, but that is about it.

What I wonder is if Mahalo would have any coverage at all if the "name" of Jason wasn't behind it. Same thing with Truemors, would anyone care if Guy wasn't behind it? Interesting question to ponder.

1. Regarding the breaking news stuff give us a little time. We're just building out our staff and our pace–and the publics pace at contributing to the pages–will increase by the end of the year. Right now you're looking at 5% of Mahalo.

• I know you are Alpha, I saw your 100x Alpha post. It really wouldn't matter though if you have 10, 100, or every outsourcer in the world, the news moves too quickly. And so what is your employee doing? Going to Google/T'rati/etc to find the news and bring it back? There is still a lag there. How often are pages updated?

2.Regarding the bias we didn't just do "friends of Jason" we did folks like Nick Denton as well. We basically did a bunch of bloggers and podcasters of note (think the Technorati 300). So, just because I'm a blogger and know Dave Winer, Doc, Jeff Jarvis, and Om Malik don't assume it is bias–those guys are GIANTS in the blogging world. We could be remiss if didn't do them!

• I should have placed a vegas bet that you would say that Denton is not a friend. He is a frienemy and it's important to keep them satisfied as well. Unfortunately, I don't fully buy your reasoning and I believe these pages were created for three main reasons and your reason which might be a 4th reason:
  1. You want them to write about your service and knowing a page is there for them, can help that.
  2. You attend many conferences and it's critical that you can walk up to these "GIANTS" and say that you want to show them their page.
  3. I will go along with your Top 300 bloggers. Though is it all of the 300? Just curious. If so, that would help me get into your camp.
  I can't blame you for doing it, though I disagree with it because of the bias. So you are admitting I guess that it's not the Top 10K searches, it's just what I suggested, Top 10k Plus anyone else you "deem worthy" – which is the bias. And again, I can't blame you for doing so. You would have earned tons of credits with me had you not created a page about yourself before it was the appropriate time to do so.
• In addition, when I speak about bias, will we always see "friend" links in the top 7? Do sites you are/were affiliated with get bonus treatment? Again, I don't see this in Google. (I am not saying that you do this now, just would like to understand the company policy.)

That being said, if you think there are bloggers of note (i.e. folks who have been blogging for a long time with large audiences) that we've missed please request their pages and we will do them ASAP.

• Sure, CenterNetworks could use a page. But there is no form for submissions, only for links on a page.

I am trying to provide you with some constructive feedback from someone who has been in the biz as long as you have and has seen bias/favoritism hurt other sites over the years.

Truemors on the otherhand? That would have been completely DOA without Guy’s backing.

It is no different that Tom Cruise being associated with a movie or Madonna with a new album. Even if the work does not have the legs to stand on its own, because it is associated with a known entity people will flock to it.

The question is whether celebrity can help the app for the long-run. Jason is getting interviewed by people that you or I would never be asked by, the question is whether anyone will care in the long run.

To me, I haven't really heard Jason say anything that made me believe he is an expert frankly. In fact, for him to make the statements he did at SES Chicago (all that I have recorded) and then create a search engine himself, makes me really start to question more.