I live in Charlottesville, VA, the home of Thomas Jefferson. We’re all pretty damn proud of T.J. around here. Yes, we really call him T.J. Everything around here is named after him, including The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. You may know them from their annual Muzzle Awards. Two years ago, they erected The Community Chalkboard and Podium: A Monument to The First Amendment. I walked down there from my office during lunch today and took a fresh picture for you:
You can click on it for a large version and read individual messages. Most of them are inane, some of them are thoughtful, and others are downright poignant. There was a lot of controversy when it went up, but I have always found it to be a beautiful thing. The monument was one of my inspirations for building Graffitio. Here’s what the T.J Center has to say about it:
As with all chalkboards, what is written on the monument’s chalkboard is constantly changing. The monument’s slate is cleaned in its entirety twice a week on a regularly scheduled basis. Private citizens may also clean all or part of the slate at anytime.
It can be written on, and it can be erased. If somebody wants to write something, they write it. If the next person doesn’t like it, they erase it. When you are limited by physical space, this solution makes sense. I think we can do better with Graffitio.
First, you want profiles. I hear you! Since day one, profiles have been part of the plan with Graffitio. Profiles will be fairly standard. You can choose a username, avatar, and any personal info you may want to share. Instead of a number in the post list, you’ll get a name that is a link. I know many of you are really excited about this.
Before the rest of you freak out, registration will never be required. It is important to me that Graffitio users can “pick up and play”. You will be welcome to use Graffitio just as you do now. Your posts will still be numbered, and that will be that.
Now on to content filtering. I don’t want to delete posts, and I don’t want to ban people. Like I said above, I love me some T.J. I’d like Graffitio to be a place where everyone is welcome, but different people have different comfort levels. My proposal is right in line with what many commenters suggested and how other sites work: Each post has a score, and by clicking an icon on the post, you’ll be able add or subtract one from a score. This score will represent the quality of the post.
This next requirement is something that has been given a lot of thought and will probably generate the most discussion. Only registered users will be allowed to score posts. If you’re not willing to stand behind what you say, you don’t get to express an opinion on what others say. My hope is that this requirement will result in higher quality ratings.
Finally, when these features go live, there will be two application preferences associated with them. The first is simply a switch to filter out all posts by unregistered users. That will probably take care of 90% of the noise. The second is a tolerance setting for the minimum score you want to see. I’ll pick some sensible default for this, but you can change it to whatever you want, including to not filter anything.
For those of you that like the free for all, turn off all the filters, and Graffitio won’t be any different. Those of you who want a higher signal to noise ratio can tweak things to your preference.
If you read this whole post, thank you! It’s entirely possible this proposal has holes big enough in that you could drive a truck through, so I’d like to know what you think. I also really appreciate all your comments in the last post. Many of them were exceptionally thoughtful. It’s only been a week, and I’m already so proud of this community.
I was an opponent of profiles, but the way you explain it and the benefits of doing so, it sounds like a great plan. Everything else you said also makes sense and I can’t wait to start using the new features. Do you have an ETA on when these features will be implemented?
I’m all for the profile idea aslong as, as a registered user you can log out and post as an anon. This has many benifits, as only anon speech can be truly free. Perhaps allowing registared users some way to post anon but not get filtered with the noise?
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Hi I just found your application earlier this afternoon and Im excited about what it could become! I was just had a few thoughts and questions:
- Is it going to be possible to delete a wall or post you’ve created, once the profiles are working? Say if someone posted a location or comment by mistake and wanted to get rid of it…
- What about duplicate named walls… in my city, there are already 3 walls called “Ottawa”. Obviously that could start to get confusing and out of hand if people keep adding the same thing. But, it might be useful if you could add additional information. Say there were two Apple stores near by, if you could have a second smaller line of text below the title indicating which location it was that would work.
Looking forward to future releases and updates! Good stuff :)
Hi Andrew!
1) Wall/Post deletion is coming soon. Probably before the profile stuff. You can only delete walls you created if they have no posts on them and you can delete any posts you created. You probably will also be able to rename a wall.
2) Wall quality control is a big concern of mine. I’m thinking of adding a detail view to walls with a little Google Maps image showing where the wall is and a few buttons to flag the wall as mislocated, redundant, etc. Now how we go about putting those walls where they belong and merging walls is not something I have given a lot of thought to.
I was a proponent of anonymity in my previous comments. However, as a previous commenter said, the way you put it, it doesn’t sound so bad.
I think having a profile as a way to stand behind what you post makes sense. Also the rating system would be a good way to filter content.
However, I could also see a problem with filtering based on the rating system.
Take for example, a somewhat new, somewhat obscure wall, the traffic on there probably would not be that great, someone could post something incredibly rude on there and be marked down like 2 or 3 or something. Ok now look at the infinite wall which gets a great deal of traffic. Many good posts may be marked down by 2 or 3 just because people have a difference of opinion.
In this case, you’d have to switch to your content filters and make adjustments when you switch from wall to wall. Unless there was an easy way to do this, it would make it a bit tedious.
One solution would be if you could save those settings for individual walls that you may visit often which could override a global setting which you could tweak for walls that you may not visit so often.
BTW I would love to be able to see wall locations in google maps, that would be a great feature.
Thanks, loving the program thus far.
here’s just an idea. If you included a map. I know you’re against the idea of a map, but it could solve many issues. You wouldn’t even need an inline map. Walls could have a button that takes you to Maps app with a little push-pin showing the exact location of the wall. But if the map was inside your app then wall creators could easely move their wall to the desired location even with a 2g phone. It would also solve the whole radious problem because you could easely visually see which walls are closest to you and you could read wallls that your not even close to(if the walls creator makes it visible like that). Curious to see what you think of that little idea.
I love the idea and think it’s totally fair. I can’t wait for the new features.
out of curiosity when did you submit revision 2? the app store seems very slow to process app updates!!
Graffitio was one of the first apps I downloaded, and it’s really taken off where I’m at (Austin, TX). It seems like all the regular places I go in town already have walls up. As for what I think of your proposals, I think they’re spot on, especially the usernames. I’m looking forward to using the newer versions.
That chalkboard monument is amazing, by the way. Great inspiration for a great app, keep it up.
yes.
yesss.
In the new update, is there a way to choose a post to read the entire message? Most of the posts I see are more than one line but I can’t see the rest. Profiles would be a great idea and I also think being able to see a wall across the country would be great if that’s even possible. Because that is the true meaning of graffiti, to get yor message out there. This app is already awesome and I can only see it getting better. Great job man. Thank you!
There are walls already appearing in Honolulu, Hawaii. I can’t wait to travel to the mainland and see what I’m gonna find. Great app thats so easy to use and a lot of fun. I think the trick will be, as you said to keep quality but most of all, keep it simple to use.
Great suggestions on profiles. Can’t wait to see this in action. Also would love to have a link that maps the actual location of the wall.
I’m against profiles as well but I guess u need to quench popular demand. I think your plan sounds pretty solid and I think your accomidating alot of different people!!! But I hope one day u will put your foot down and regulate WHEN it comes. I also think that having a wall map is a solid idea. It will encourage people to habitually check the in order to see who’s around, which will no doubt encourage free speech! Maps Maps Maps!!!
A truly elegant solution, as long as:
1) You can post anonymously at any time.
2) You can only vote a post up or down once [to prevent repeated voting].
3) You cannot vote on your own posts.
Also, I think a default post value of 0 for anonymous posters, with registered posters having a default value of 1, and the default threshold set at 1, would already quell most of the posts that people may find offensive.
Another thing that works on slashdot is the fact that registered users can only vote a certain amount of times, and their “turn” to vote comes around randomly. This way, they can’t go around voting EVERYTHING down that they don’t like.
Out of curiosity, is there a way to tell how many people have been using the app?
Thank you very much for what promises to be a paradigm changing app. I’ve read the information about radii of Walls, etc… but was wondering if there would be a way to define different levels of Wall with different radii. For example, Tampa General Hospital is on a small island (Davis Island) in Tampa. It would be great for someone at TGH to be able to see a Wall for Tampa that may have useful information (e.g. Great fish tacos at X), be able to see posts on Davis Island, as well as posts at TGH itself (Mom’s surgery went well - anyone know where the cafeteria is etc…) Obviously Davis Island residents wouldn’t need to see the posts from TGH, but would probably want to see the ones from Tampa. I can see this application having tremendous communication potential and I think that your rating system will help ensure that valuable (and valued) posts remain visible while allowing those that use this technology to communicate much as they would on a bathroom wall will get their 5 minutes and be done.
Thank again for all of your efforts (and most importantly keeping it free so more people would participate). Please add an option for donations at some point so your fans can support your efforts better.
Thinking down the road a bit…
You might want to start thinking about Wall obsolescence. There probably should be a group way to remove obsolete walls. The wall about the Buzz Coffee Shoppe will clutter the ‘landscape’ after the coffee shop goes out of business. One of the other posters here talked about using a wall at a concert to exchange messages with friends during a concert. That wall has little/no relevance after the concert. Your current wall removal strategy won’t work in this situation.
One idea is to have the ’25 closest walls’ list be prioritized to include an activity factor. Either based new posts or at least how often/recent walls were opened. So that you see the 25 closest walls that have seen recent activity. This would reduce the clutter, but not eliminate the problem.
I don’t think walls should be removed - it’s the same issue as deleting posts.
It would work if people can vote a wall as obsolete, which would “hide” the wall for those that don’t wish to see obsolete walls, but those who like to reminisce could still view and post there.
perhaps an online archive for obsolete Walls?
I don’t understand why registered users want to post anonymously. It seems cowardly. If you can rate and post anonymously it undermines the entire idea of only registered users can rate in the first place. You should have to stand by what you say. You cannot post anonymously on digg/slashdot/etc…
Using a wall at a concert? Dude, it’s around places. Places. Who makes a wall for a concert? Make the wall for the concert hall. Then friends can exchange messages during their concert and a period of time later, some other fans of some other band can do their thing. The wall persists, the bands and fans change.
You can post anonymously on slashdot; there’s even a checkbox when you post for “post anonymously.” You just lose your higher post value.
I agree with JonO - places that don’t exist anymore is one issue; places that still exist should remain. I wouldn’t mind going to a broadway show and commenting and getting other people’s comments about the current (and previous!) shows.
I think this program is a great idea guys, much respect for putting it together. You have addressed numerous issues with great responses. After this new version goes live, bugs are squashed, I would love to get on a beta test for painting-type addition to this app =] Maybe paint our own avatars? There is a lot more potential for this app, and you guys are doing a super fast job of getting us there. Again keep up the good work!!
Forgot to put in my 2 cents on the issue of current/obsolete Walls…
There should be some type of moderation (use of ranking system, etc.) where certain Walls can be hidden. For example in my neighborhood right now there is a Wall entitled “PP place” with one post..
“N*gga”
…
or in the case of someone makes a Wall “Tom Petty Concert 7/15/08″ I’m OK with that being recorded forever (and I think is a very important aspect of this program), but I don’t want to see it on my daily virtual graffiti outings.
another scenario was the Coffee shop that went out of business. Let’s say it was a mom n pop cafe, where you used to work at. It would be neat to come back in a year or so and see your graffiti(o? v-graffiti? gpost? lol…) posted there.
I guess a Wall ranking system is something I’m looking for. If not that then some type of reporting system for Walls, then you guys decide weather to erase the wall or not. (and hopefully kick/ban the disrespectful). This is probably not needed at the moment, but if this application blows-up (in the good way..), some graffitio hotspots will be pretty crowded with Walls.
*puts in another plug for drawing(!) in this app* ANYTHING, lemme draw something when the app first starts I’ll be happy. =D
One other solution to the spammy/bad walls would be to take the impermanence approach, and erase walls after a few weeks/months of inactivity. This would mean less server load, and has a very nice zen feel to it. Just as graffiti is erased over time, so are walls. Perhaps, if the dev were feeling particularly showy, the walls could actually be made to fade (turn grey, and if nobody posts, disappear entirely).
Also, I’m tempted to vote in favor of anonymity, or at least, anonymity within reason. For instance, I’d love the ability (as those above have said) to rate or hide walls depending on whether or not I want to see them. This would probably require some sort of user/login, and that’s just fine.
That said, I’d very much prefer not to have my posts on walls visibly associated with that user login. I don’t care if the server knows who I am, I’d just rather the rest of the world didn’t. This isn’t so much cowardice as liking one’s privacy. If I have to be logged in to post, then in theory, another user could know not only where I like to go, but where I actually am (if I’ve posted recently). I’d much prefer this service to be nameless, faceless wisps of smoke, which appear and disappear with impunity. That way, I can say “I’m wearing a gray shirt in the corner, come talk to me” on a local restaurant’s wall if I’d like, but I can just as easily post facelessly about the egg salad.
One other nice feature of having logins, though, would be to have a little indicator on walls which shows when there are new posts that you haven’t seen. Just a suggestion.
I like the idea of the “infinite wall” and understand some of the issues about it. One suggestion which is not about the infinite wall itself, but building off of it. How about some “infinite” walls in larger geo areas (i.e. beyond what “regular” walls have.
For instance, have a “metro”, “county”, and “state”, “region” and “country” level “infinite” walls?
So no matter where I am in my city, I have the “city” in-wall, “region” in-wall, and “state” in-wall and only allow the “infinite” posting to those 5 various “infinite” walls that are to me by my location?
This might disperse some of the noise-load for people to some extent, but also allow a more “feel” for the vibe beyond my immediate range. So If I fly from PDX here in Portland (where I would have my immediate location local walls , but also my “Portland” In-wall, “Mulntomah/Washington/Clackamas” In-wall, and “Oregon” In-wall, “Northwest” In-wall and “United States” In-wall … to say Chicago, when I landed in O’Hare, I would would then have the local immediate walls at O’Hare, the “Chicago” In-wall, “Cook/Lake/DuPage” In-Wall, “Midwest” In-Wall and “United States” In-walls.
Just a thought to toss out there.
I tried to create a wall at my school but It couldn’t find my location. When I got home, it created the wall at my house. There are no posts on it. Can I delete it before someone posts something?