Um, guys?
When did you all stop trusting me? Was because of the thing with the dog and the vodka? 'Cos honestly I can explain... you'll laugh when you hear it...
And why are you following me? That seems kinda creepy. Though not as creepy as following 300 people seems to make me? What happened to the old Moggie jargon?
I trusted you, and now this... Now you are physically and internetically unable to regain my trust. And we used to be so close, Mog-peeps - do the good times mean nothing to you?
40
MOG it up!
Locating MOG account...
Comments (61)
It's hard to trust a guy who uses words like "internetically"!
So now we stalk each other. Times have changed.
It wasn't us who changed them,though..it was the Warriors..
Isn't there some (bad) Genesis song that goes "follow you, follow me"? The good times are mostly gone, but a few die-hards remain in ever-decreasing numbers.
"internetically"? that's rich!!
it's not a matter of trust, Jox, the official language was changed by governmental decree. I think we live in a totalitarian state now, the mere suggestion of a voting process will move ya to the top of the blacklist.
btw, I'm missing some widgets and a few lists of followers/followees...anybody here seen my old friend MOGgy?
I have asked support about that Mr. free..no word yet. It seems like all non-automatic widgets are gone. And posts are evaporating into the ether after being published..just like old times. Although I don't think I ever lost a post that was already published before..so that's a new innovation.
We should brainstorm...develop a strategy to ....keep something alive....Tha community will probably never be a money-maker....but it (was) something more or less unique. With the right....(marketing?).....idk.....but there are myriad music sites & blogs that range from faceless slick newsrags....to primitive chic. But thus far MOG is the last (it seems) that offers a true connectedness for music geeks of every stripe. THat should be nurtured & exploited...rather than neglected & abused.
The platform is part of it, DMDM..I guess some of the community has always met in other places with various degrees of success/participation..See the MOG/tiply era...when MOGGERS kept on conversating and sharing music at Multiply..and the MOG community board Rex created...But, for the most part folks always came back here. There has been some mighty attrition though.
Community means something to MOG...they hired Anna to do what she does..but right now..something is up. Don't know what it is though.
The site that Rex created...if it still exists....would be a good place for a town-hall meeting of survivors.
"osts are evaporating into the ether after being published..just like old times."was for a period of 2 hours, and we recovered all the posts that were published in that period.
We pushed a massive change to the backend of MOG yesterday, and did it without downtime. One of the changes was profile pages. We've pared down the widget space to a small set of common widgets.
As always, support@mog.com is the best place to report issues.
MOG on.
Cody B, we're looking into the mismatch on your post.
My Bonafied Funk post about the Brand New Heavies album is a.w.o.l. as well. Is that retrievable? The comments I click on lead to Mog's homepage.
Thanks.
Adding to the list.
Thank you kind sir...
I did post it on support,too. Just conversating about it with the peeps...Bummed about the widgets though. thanks Tjay.
Cody B, saw your support request after I wrote -- we had dealt with some of this realtime yesterday. Apologies for jumping the gun on the support comment.
No worries. I'm sure you have your hands full.
Well just to bring this back to the original subject....It made me look at my profile for the first time in months....Wow, what happened?? All those things that made it interesting...vanished. My mnay firneds....gone. My so-called Favourites is populated with artists I've never heard of, so how they have been elevated beyond 'that's not bad' to 'I can't live without this' must be one of the miracles of technology. Is this the new Mog? Bloody well hope not. Even though I haven't posted in a while and haven't even lurked, this watering hole is a treasured place and should be nurtured for all it's worth.
"We pushed a massive change to the backend of MOG yesterday"
tj, much as I appreciate the information the fact is that to folks who actually use the stuff...well, it's just inconsiderate. these are social networking features! Of course, business decisions need be made and implemented - but the manner in which things are done here speaks volumes about what is thought of (what's left of) those who helped support MOG through its infancy and created so much of its invaluable history. I guess the streaming service is doing well enough that you just don't need us anymore. it's crap I say, but I don't blame anyone. the cosmos goes on spinning...
although i've been a streak hitter in a MOG slump for a week now due to actual music projects, i wanted to make sure i joined the community voice on this one. i just checked my profile as well.
i admit that i don't miss anything in particular about my personal use of the profile, although i'll have to find where to edit it again because i much preferred my (rare) posts front and center and playlists on the right.
where i miss the freedom most is for info on other people's pages which probably applies to mine for other people. although i never updated "trusts" and stuff like that so i deleted it awhile ago, if i read someone new and interesting i DO use their links and it's sad to think that's getting lost. seeing where they're located and where they've come from also added to my interpretation of what they say and like. hopefully i'll be able to add certain info back to what i would consider to define a "profile" page.
as far as the community itself, even though it's not crowded i'd still rather come here than go to an alternative. i also use playlists a lot and the iPhone app on my bike and in my car so i'm still rooting for what i consider to be the big picture. but i hope that the community remains here in spite of adjustments.
back to work.
I guess I still have my posts...but it was easy to find posts I had made on the widgets of my page. I'm an historical person so I like archives. I referred to them often, so, at least for me, those personal widgets will be missed. I didn't use the following/trusted widget much, but I did sometimes. Bah humbug.
Cody,
Got this response from Mog when I inquired about missing widgets and not being able to edit the profile page:
"We've made significant revisions to the profile pages and have settled on a fixed set of widgets. We'll be rolling two more widgets out (people I follow and blogs I follow) in the next week or so."
So I guess we'll have to be patient for a bit. I personally miss the follow portion b/c I like to check out what other people are listening to. Also, It would seem that we will be limited to who we can talk to until they get it back online. You had a lot of stuff on your page so you may be out of luck?
You can still see Trusted Moggers under My Feed. There's a Tools section (under your avie) with a link to them.
and oh yeah...fewer widgets sux...one thing I've always dug about MOG.
Add mine to the voices raised in protest.
"One of the changes was profile pages. We've pared down the widget space to a small set of common widgets."
One thing we should be able to do is customize our own profile pages. What if we don't want those 'common widgets'? Shouldn't we be able to opt out?
Could it be that MOG has outlived its usefulness as a place for commentary? Is there an alternative?
Popsilly, interesting. I don't have "Trusted Moggers" on my feed. I did discover that in the tools I can edit who I follow, again I'm new-ish so maybe that's always been there. It's not a comlete list though. I think some are missing.
Oh well..I just liked the idea of profile you made yourself, where you could put up your own stuff and make it, you know, personal.
It just seems like, over time, features that were community based or mogger added, have gone away.
Number 1 was uploading songs (sure there's a workaround, and yeah, I understand why that doesn't fly business-wise).
Number 2 was the arrival of MMN and its ascendance. I remember when it came..we were saying, hey the info is great, the posts are fun..How come they don't talk back to us.
Now they are essentially all the content on MOG. Of course, that is partly our fault, but other than all posts under News + Reviews, the only mogger content that is featured is playlists. Again, I understand, you need a constant stream of content that MOGGERS aren't currently providing. MOGGER posts used to be the lifeblood of the site..not any more.
I could go on whining or complaining, but it is what it is. I hate being a dinosaur.
Seeing Crash Pryor's page empty really made me sad.
scotfree, Cody B, emscee and others... I hear you. The MOG team hears you. We make product decisions not lightly -- lots of analysis and effort went into determining the baseline profile that we launched. The previous profile customization was used legitimately by a small subset of users, and unfortunately, by a larger group of spammers. Additionally, the support of said customization required a disproportionate amount of engineering and QA time to keep running and remain performant -- and community support to trim and kill the spam.
We're investing in catalog tools, new players and focusing on building the most kick-ass music discovery site available today. We're working on some methods to overhaul the (aging) social network aspects of our service to encourage a larger community of participants and remove the current barrier to entry on what we have (had) to date and we hope to move those into production in the coming quarters.
Thanks for the explaination tjay..it's all good. I can only stay mad at MOG for a minute anyway. All I'm ever looking for is for more people to kick in some posts and make some comments. That's what makes the MOG world (at least my MOG world) go 'round.
all I'm saying, tj, is that if you are making sweeping changes (even if it truly affects only a "small subset" of legitimate users), it would be so much better to let folks know what's coming before it's actually implemented. Like, now that I know the changes were to combat the spammers, I may not like it - but my objections are rather quelled in knowing the larger good intended. It would have been even more effective if the notif was a few days in advance of the implementation and I'd had time to adjust to the idea. public relations, man!
@ Popsilly - thanks for pointing out where my
trustedsfollowees still are accesible. I never noticed that before!!I just want assurence that The community will be allowed to continue....even if in a diminished capacity. As scotty has pointed out....loyalty cuts both ways.
scotfree - point taken and heard.
this thread's been quite constructive with the much desired explanations and interactions occurring better than standard support, so i'm just saying thanks to everyone.
here's another "work-in-progress":
I trust you, J:)
Sad Sad Sad
While I do enjoy MMN, MOG has always been my home for friends, music and discovery. I hate to see it diminished.
I agree that it would have been nice to get a heads up about the changes. And I just have to note that not all posts that were vaporized in the last great MOG uproar were recovered. I know of two I personally wrote that never saw the light of the monitor again.
I know, I know...and the sun still rises
Plus, Jox--admit it. You kinda like being stalked, don't you?
It's about time.
If MOG is getting rid of all of the users where do I sign up for that revolution. Remember my loyalty MOG and position me high in your rankings...
wait a minute...can everyone else see this? Where is that damn edit feature...
I do miss my customized profile options, but I was more worried about missing posts by my.......yeah......followees. I don't post frequently, but I love to read a good post, see some good clips, hear some great music, laugh at or join in the banter of other moggers, etc. I don't want to lose the community of mog
and oh yeah--- Awesome clip, Robin! Exile wasn't perfected in a day.
whoa . . . I didn't even really know what Jox was talking about until reading the scroll that developed here. I get why it was done, but like many I can't say it's ideal. Even though I haven't really even looked at my profile in months, it was nice to know that stuff was there should others come a lookin'.
Still, as long as new posts by those I've chosen to trust/follow get notifed to me vial email, it really doesn't change 95% of my experience of MOG, as that's how I've almost always stayed abreast of topics (limited time to browse is the usual excuse I give).
This post brought so many of us together, it's reassuring that MOG's invaluable camaraderie persists.
That's my main concern as well......I do think I have not been notified of at least a few of my favorite posters....but I think the kinks are being worked out.....
Sorry, Spike, I was talking to Groon. But you made a good point, haha!
Ugh, my profile page is now officially lifeless. And I was all ready to comment on SA's latest post, since he is touting a Blank Dogs track, and *ppof* it's gone.
I'm too old and set in my ways to deal with this. It's just another nail in the proverbial coffin for me. Not the last, by any stretch, but another, to be sure.
We seem to be an afterthought now. It's disappointing that MOG chooses to pull the rug out from under us all the time, without any explanation or advance notice of what's about to happen and why. We don't even rate a heads up- we just have to take what is given or taken away.
That master plan Tjay talks of, is never unveiled or explained to the loyal MOGgers still here. Perhaps it's in the plan to give us the absolute best kick-ass social music discovery sharing site out there, but we have no clue, since we are not clued in as to what that means.
I guess if we are going to stick around, we just have to be grateful for the scraps we are left with along the journey to the completion of the mystery master plan.
MusicRX -- take a peek at feedback.mog.com and you'll see a pretty transparent view on our plan. Stuff that's marked "started" and "planned" is pretty accurate on where we're spending our resources.
I think what we are seeing here is that we want a "kick ass" music social network even more than a "kick ass music music discovery" site...unless, of course, we discover music via the community/trusteds/follows
I just plain love some of the people that are here (and some that were here and aren't anymore) and it makes me sad to think I might not be able to add more music nerds to my friend harem.
True, but what we want is not what's profitable, so it's no wonder that the social aspects of the site have taken a hit of late. It's just going to take more work to make the social part work. Which is a shame, because I have enough work without this.
Yeah, it's a shame, because the 'og' (as in 'blog') part of MOG has taken a steep downturn as the music subscription service revs up. This was a place for sharing (through uploading MP3's) and commentary, and now it's mostly another place to hear music you can hear/purchase/download elsewhere.
So Dale, Amber, MusicRX, Spike, Cody B, etc., I feel your pain. It's not fun to be marginalized, but MOG's 'resources' are being concentrated elsewhere.
Tjay, I have been to the support site, I have seen the started or planned status. What I have not seen or heard in any newsletters or other communication is when. There are no hints of when any of it is happening. Is it planned for tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Next year? When I'm 64?
We can see what's started and planned "at some point", but we can't see the bigger picture or figure out how taking away customization of profile pages fits into making the most kick-ass music discovery site out there or how that relates to working towards those things started and planned.
Speaking of the profile pages. you know, I could have even seen the possibility of keeping the profile customization and removing the links to the people who follow me or I follow- if spammers were using those links to find people to spam.
I could even see keeping the customization until we notify you that a spammer is abusing it. Then, you shut down their customization.
I don't know if anyone thought about those options instead of inciting the natives to anger and frustrations with out a word of notice, by taking away what they put a lot of time and effort into designing.
Wouldn't it be a better approach to send us a newsletter, laying out the problems with spammers, what you intend as a solution, how we may be effected and how long we have to act to save information or links, before all is gone?
And then, enticing us with hints of great new aspects of the site coming in the near future? Maybe drop some lose feature ETA's on us to get us salivating and looking forward to what's going to make this the most kick-ass music discovery site ever?
Why incite anger, when you can create excitement instead? I really don't understand that tact.
I think you need me on staff. You need someone that is in the know, dialed into the master plan and able to impart critical information and communication to the community, IN ADVANCE of wide sweeping changes.
Perhaps even form a world wide focus group for you, so you know how the people that have supported the site the longest and long before the music service and probably even before MMN feel. We may not be real big revenue generators, but we are the heart and soul of MOG and MOGging. Don't we deserve a little more communication and better treatment than we are getting?
So, when do I start?
i hope all you guys take advantage of RX's post to retrieve what info you had on your home pages HERE, and i really hope you guys keep Mogging. not to belittle any issues but i'd like this gang to stay intact and i'll still read your posts to discover.
If the idea to take away the profile page was to remove links for people who follow me or I follow was because those links provided spammers a way to find people, then why are peoples' names still listed under Top Artist's Listeners on the artists, album titles & individual songs pages? Doesn't that same principal apply that spammers can find people's nicks?
I think that I received just one piece of spam in the email messagae box about two or three years ago. Was it really so out of hand that our profiles personality got wiped out by MOG to fix a spamming problem?
There doesn't seem to be as many upset MOGGERS as I thought there would be so maybe MOG had no choice but to erase early MOGGERS profiles down to the bare bones.
Click here for more pros and cons
Wow... i really am doing my best to stay optimistic on this one. Mog was a "new hope" when Lala died. And I've actually really grown to love the easy blogging features here.
Here's what worries me though: Devoting resources to a music discovery service. What does that mean? I have the Genius thingy on my iTunes already. I prefer to discover music through people that know about music.
I don't discover music from a robot. I don't have any interest in discovering music from the people I went to high school with. I want a place where I can find new music through people who have wildly different life experiences than me who may have stumbled across something I have never heard of.
I believe there can be a social music discovery model that will work. The most active people here likely have an iceberg of social contacts on other networks. I post Mog links on Twitter and Facebook and people check out Mog. They don't all stay, but it's exposure. And a few have even given it a try.
If the Mog product is great, more people stay and talk about it. I don't get how being less social helps a company that desperately needs widespread adoption.
Meanwhile, this has been a great thread, Ladies & Gents. Thanks for keeping it civil and realistic.
I mean, this place is still way better than Ping, right?
Ping does suck...
I am 2 days behind the curve but am saddened that MOG didn't email users and allow us to save our widget content before removing it (thanks for your individual effort, MusicRX!)
I agree with curtjanka - how can being less social help?
I bet what a lot of newbies want is their own personal music guru, and the MOG community was always able to fulfill that role so we didn't need logarithms to find music for us.
MusicRX, thanks for your offer. I emailed your post to the parties in charge.
Also, in taking your feedback dfirectly, here is advance notice on another change coming to your account.
http://mog.com/The_Time_Machine/blog/2400342#comment_956150
I've also emailed everyone who used said feature in recent history.
Just wanted to say that I'm flummoxed - and that I miss all of my Trusteds, whoever you are, were and will be. Now, back to work.
My godness.. this place is far from recognisable. Where did all the spark go?
I'm shocked!
Wow. I really can't believe that you think the new MOG is any good. Haven't been around in a bit and was shocked at how bland and corporate looking the site is now. I'm deleting my account. Bye.