http://www.mahalo.com/answers/mahalo-answers-community/mahalo-fan-question-on-a-scale-any-scale-it-doesnt-really-matter-how-would-you-rate-your-fandom-of-mahalo-and-or-mahalo-answers

I was doing a bit of a testing and I was trying to see if the community would rally up and answer my question.  Well I guess not… since I only got one answer.

Either way, as some of you might know, I have been with Mahalo (as a member, not an employee) for quite sometime and I have seen it go through many versions (BTW, I love the new look), phases and people.  A select few have stuck it out; however, quite a few have left.

Trust me, I love Jason Calacanis, Tyler Crowley, Mark Jeffrey, Lon Harris, Mike Rhoads, Alex Miller and all of other Mahaloians… and I think they have a great idea and I think it will take them very far in this business.  I am just a bit put off but the lack of community they have given back to the world of the Inter(webs).  I know that TWiST, Mahalo Tutorials and the other "Tasks" are great and all; however, I think aren’t giving us (me) the love and attention that I thought Mahalo was designed to do (be).  I know that times change, people change, ideas change and the demand of a specific idea/product change.  I just thought Mahalo was  about community, helping people and giving back to the people at large.  All I see these days is… let’s drive more traffic to the site.  I understand that you have to make money and I understand that you have people watching your every move, but I thought Mahalo was about helping people answer their questions and giving them good quality content.  Don’t get me wrong, most of the content on Mahalo is very well presented and very well written, but I don’t get the feeling that the Mahaloian’s are out to help their fellow man/woman/child.  I get the feeling is that they are out to make the all mighty precious Mahalo dollar.  I hope I am wrong.

I know that I have not posted much on Mahalo and have not contributed much in a while.  The reason is due to the lack openness that I have not been able to do on the site (which I was able to do in the past).  Example, creating a topic page (SERP).  When I first started with Mahalo I was able to create them all of the time, now you have to go through an approval process.  Trust me, I am happy and sad about this “process”; however, I have been with the Mahalo long enough (in my opinion), that I don’t need approval to create a page… and since most of the information is now created automatically I don’t understand why we/they don’t just start creating pages all of the time.  Example, I tried to create a page a while ago Who is Charles L. Stanford.  That page has not been created “officially”; however, it does give back results (i.e. pulled results from Google).  Also, I know that there isn’t a page for Charles L. Stanford.  I also know there is a question for him: Who is Charles L. Stanford?… where people actually answered the question.  In my opinion, those pages should have been created automatically and populated like any new page (i.e. : http://www.mahalo.com/thenext)  I know that page doesn’t any hard core content; however, it does have the same content as Charles L. Stanford page (relatively speaking).  The reason why I am put off by this, is due to linking and contributing the Mahalo site(s).  Since the page is not “officially” created, no one can link to it or contribute to it.  Someone has to “own” it.  I understand that Mahalo is human curated and it is monitored closely by it staff and high ranking belts; however, I think if the community had some flexibility in how it was able to “give back” to the site, I think Mahalo would have it’s traffic and much more.  I have always said that we/they should pre-populate Mahalo with generic terms and popular topics.

Final word(s)… as I have indicated above, I think Mahalo and it’s staff are great and the site has tons of potential; however, I think they need to take a step back and focus on giving great content to every part of the site, not just bringing traffic to it. 

It is about the money/traffic or giving back to the community?  I really don’t know?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.  If I have missed something or my “facts” are wrong, please call me out!

I found out about Jason Calacanis about 6 to 7 months ago from Leo Laporte’s TWiT.  I had never heard of this guy named Jason or even wanted to get know him.  I didn’t even consider myself an Entrepreneur (and I still kinda don’t).  But… there is/was something about Jason Calacanis that struck me ……. I can’t seem to find the word…. funny, odd, familiar, etc…

Anyway, Jason started up this company Mahalo – The Human Powered Search Engine (a wikipedia style website).  At first I thought it was incomplete and why would anyone come here.  I checked it out for a while and contributed a couple links and then moved on…. like most people did at first (until they get to know Jason and understand what Mahalo is all about).

So, time marched on and Jason was on TWiT again.  This time, he mentioned that he may give a new laptop to anyone that could contribute to Mahalo the most (i.e. most friends, most links recommended, most content written, etc…)   Well, I said… I can do that… and I did (RE: most recommended links). 

Well, he changed the rules and I didn’t get the laptop.  I was not happy that I didn’t get it; however, I finally realized what Jason was doing and if know him, you would understand why (watch the videos below).  Even though the laptop (or the lack there of) got me in the door at Mahalo (virtually), it is no longer my goal in dealing with Jason and Mahalo.  It has grown in to a whole new way of thinking and possibly a whole new future for me and my family.

Jason’s interpretation of business (as shown below), isn’t revolutionary, it’s just smart.  Our society/world have been brought up to just go with the flow and you will do well in life.  Well, I don’t want to think that way any more… thanks Jason! 

I want more from life… Obviously, I want a happy and healthy life for me and my family, first and foremost (and I already have it). 
I want satisfaction in my work life and I want to create something that I am proud enough to tell the whole world! 
I will obtain it!

http://www.calacanis.com/2008/05/28/entrepreneurial-insanity/

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Part 1

Entrepreneurial Insanity – Part 1

Part 2

Entrepreneurial Insanity – Part 2

Part 3

Entrepreneurial Insanity – Part 3

Part 4

Entrepreneurial Insanity – Part 4