The Banktastic’s Roundtable Discussion about Private Messaging
The Banktastics also got together to discuss openly our new private messaging feature on Banktastic.com. We really appreciate the feedback we’ve gotten so far about whether or not to make messaging completely open. We wanted to take a few minutes and share with you our own personal thoughts on the messaging system we’ve implemented.
Watch the video and let us know your thoughts on the private messaging system on Banktastic!
Tags: banktastic, BanktasticTV, Brad Garland, lisa randolph, Mark McSpadden, messages, private messaging, roundtable discussion, The Banktastics
May 12th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I say open to anyone without having to be a friend. However, the messaging system should have the ability to block future messages from a person. This gives the openness to the sender, but also gives the power to the receiver. This will also give the sender a reason not to be spammy knowing that they can be blocked in the future.
Make sense?
May 12th, 2008 at 11:30 am
By the way, your use of video is awesome! You have given a collective personality to your company and to your community like nothing I have seen to date. Super props to the three of you!
May 12th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Tim,
That’s a good suggestion about giving members options to block people. I really like that idea. And the power really should be in the receiver’s hands - you’re right. I agree (as the video showed) that messaging should be open.
And thanks for that last comment, too! It’s very much so appreciated, Tim.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I like having messaging open to anyone and follow Lisa’s train of thought. People are coming to Banktastic to find/consume information related to the FI-industry. Closing off the message loop restricts the information that someone can obtain.
If a user was new to Banktastic and had a specific question for another member, wouldn’t it be easier just to message them and ask the question rather than go through the friend request? Maybe they don’t want to be your friend, but just want your opinion on the matter.
If we were talking about making email addresses public on Banktastic, I think the situation would be different (though I would still openly post mine) because your email is so personal and connected to you. At least the PM feature is filtered through Banktastic and you have to go through the site to view it.
I also like the profile flagging feature, though I imagine it would rarely be used because people are inherently good. If someone wants to be a spammer they’ll go do it on MySpace, not on Banktastic.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Thanks Tim & Mike for the assistance and the kind words! We aren’t experts at this transparency thing but it has definitely helped us make decisions that we would’ve probably executed differently and had to change it back later.
So thanks for saving us the time and stress of ensuring we are making you all happy!