Family Tree Circles Updates :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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Family Tree Circles Updates

Article by Scott_J
Published to Family Tree Circles Blog

Hello All.

I've just posted some updates to Family Tree Circles, that I hope will start us on the road to making this a better place for everybody. Here's what I've done...

  1. The Family Tree Circles points system has been removed. I believe it has been broken for a long time, but in any case, the feedback that I've been getting is that it is encouraging a quantity over quality approach for some. I originally put that in place to recognize the top contributors, and I think it did serve a purpose for many years. It seems it is time to move on from that model. Instead, I do plan on doing some sort of user scoring/reputation system going forward. More on that in a bit.

  2. Block/Unblock Users: A a sort of pressure relief valve, I've implemented a "block user" feature. This will hide journals for any blocked user in the places where journals are listed. You can still view individual journals or the profile of a blocked user. And you can always unblock a user from your own profile.

To block a user, click the "block this user" link in the bio section of a journal or that user's profile.

To unblock a user, you can click that link again (it'll change to "unblock"). Or you can view all the blocked users in your profile and unblock them from there:

Yes, you can block yourself. :-)

I don't love having to add this last feature, but it'll be interesting to see if it gets used.

What's next?

I know that neither of these solutions solve the difficult problem of someone flooding the active journal page with many posts, or lots of comments on their own posts. You can clean up the view for yourself with blocking, but most people won't do that and the flooding can continue. This is a difficult one to solve because some people who post great stuff may also post a several journals in a row. So, simply putting basic flood control in (ilke to limit posts to a certain number per hour) would hurt users who don't deserve it.

As I indicated above, I plan to implement an algorithmic scoring/reputation system that will take peer feedback into consideration when deciding which journals will be displayed in the journals lists.

Many of you have surely noticed back in the spring that I introduced "Thank" and "flag" links on journals. To those of you who have been using those, thanks. I'll be using that information in a future update.

In the meantime, I hope these two short-term changes help some.

Viewed: 47383 times
by Scott_J Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2011-08-10 20:25:35

Scott Jangro is the owner of FamilyTreeCircles.com and has documented roots back to Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins and William Brewster. If you're wondering what he's doing when he's mysteriously absent, here's some links to other stuff he's responsible for: about.me/jangro.

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Comments

by tonkin on 2011-08-10 22:14:34

I'm with you on this one Boss.

by janilye on 2011-08-11 00:40:39

Yes! Thank you.
Do I get to see the names of who's blocked me? ;)

by 1bobbylee on 2011-08-11 02:20:40

Diplomatically and wisely done. Thank you.

by janilye on 2011-08-11 04:38:50

Well the blocking works- and it makes one hell of a difference- Thank you Scott

by ngairedith on 2011-08-11 05:06:50

wow, works well, THANK YOU

by Scott_J on 2011-08-11 06:31:55

Thanks all.

While I doubt anybody would block you Jan, that information is for the eyes of the blocker only.

Anyone who gets blocked has no way of knowing if they're blocked or by whom.

by mwg1 on 2011-08-11 20:58:08

This is exactly the feature I've been looking for

by Scott_J on 2011-08-12 22:45:08

Another simple update, not worth its own post...

I've added checkboxes and a delete button to your private message list. So you can now do some cleanup of old messages more easily than ever.

by janilye on 2011-08-12 23:49:32

WOW! a BONUS - it's worth a lot to me, my message bank was chockers.

by 1bobbylee on 2011-08-12 23:54:14

Thanks. I needed that...

by allycat on 2011-08-13 00:39:43

Holy cow, five years of messages was in my in-box. Shall attend to that shortly, thanks Scott.

user alderasstua deactivated
user cariellohose deactivated
user helseranto deactivated
user ganiewins deactivated
user byesher deactivated
user ewgenamatth deactivated
user rombergbook deactivated
user rombergbook deactivated
user kohlesmario deactivated
user landherrharl deactivated
user aythbroo deactivated
user mbletonerni deactivated
user wiefelhoaudr deactivated
user arrellanlinw deactivated
user hrecengorayn deactivated
user reekmorejimm deactivated
user agredoviol deactivated
user kibonolas deactivated
user uranotel deactivated
user pszack deactivated
user aisscot deactivated
user ngreenbackmarti deactivated
user hnrodfo deactivated
user opezrodn deactivated
user sauserwiley deactivated
user odbergmingr deactivated
user omishzina deactivated
user npaynetruma deactivated
user ovicodeon deactivated
user setzlerterr deactivated
user krusemarrale deactivated
user krusemarrale deactivated
user luscheconn deactivated
user cavallotanja deactivated
user sdummettwilli deactivated
user lagejuli deactivated
by janilye on 2011-10-20 09:31:27

Sorry Scott but I'm going to have to block you. These spambots are driving me crazy hogging the active page.

by allycat on 2011-10-20 09:44:37

Very funny Jan. Do we get bonus points for deactivating the spamming numbskulls? (joke).

user nemckonemade deactivated
user ntezsari deactivated
by janilye on 2012-02-04 13:39:32

block annoying spam

by janilye on 2012-02-05 04:58:49

by ngairedith on 2012-02-05 05:06:07

by Scott_J on 2012-02-05 07:16:50

I'm working on it guys, sorry.

user beilbertmarl deactivated
user nsinskaci deactivated
user dmerdmanmyrt deactivated
user ckdpickrelsher deactivated
user tiattilida deactivated
user rdsturdivajohn deactivated
user inllinexmerc deactivated
user udstudiobydr deactivated
user actraccoraul deactivated
user rtfortiffany deactivated
user ugbaughlinh deactivated
user dtrndtsidn deactivated
user mpcampswill deactivated
by poorone on 2012-06-08 18:58:20

Wow, Scott you really are amazing with all the work that you do for this site. Did
you ever think that familytreecircles would grow to this extent? Thank you for everything that you do to help improve or update or keep on top of those spams! Take care.
from poorone

ps user deactivated???? what does this mean???

user erlkertkell deactivated
user rsndersonlind deactivated
user quasqueskell deactivated
user lerolexrolex deactivated
user daardachlowe deactivated
user ilrvilejaso deactivated
user gaargalesl deactivated
user ocirockshay deactivated
user erryerrufu deactivated
user amkramlore deactivated
user liatcliffemaud deactivated
user keickerykarl deactivated
user rcforclubs deactivated
user eacheapdraft deactivated
user meramerregg deactivated
user ckocktare deactivated
user epeepkimi deactivated
user noashnockmiyo deactivated
user hoawhornvern deactivated
user ckstockingnata deactivated
user katokarigo deactivated
user dyurdysusa deactivated
user nechunemanshav deactivated
user itlitera deactivated

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