7 ms·

Mahalo.com screws all their writers

31 points by melvinram 16y ago

mcknz 16y ago
I'll pretend to be surprised here. GASP
augustflanagan 16y ago
After a particularly frustrating day I reminded myself that at least I don't work at Mahalo.
shareme 16y ago
a word.. HuffingtonPost TechCrunch Gawker Mahalo what do these have in common? They all change writers contracts whenever the business favor winds blow in a different direction..ie whether we like it or not Jason is using a standard industry practice.
- melvinram 16y ago
  From what I understand, the difference is that JC specifically promised revenue sharing.
  - jasonmcalacanis 16y ago
    We did not promise revenue sharing forever. We said we were going to try revenue sharing and we, of course, reserve the right to change our model. We tried hard to make revenue sharing work, and it only worked for 5% of the audience. So, instead of pretending that freelance writers wanted something they told us they didn't, we pivoted and we're moving to a more About.com-like flatrate with a bonus system. Now we have a line of folks out the door who want to work for us.
lambda 16y ago
Why do we get articles about how much Mahalo.com sucks every day here at Hacker News? Why don't we just ignore them? I'm serious, I don't care about Mahalo, I barely even know what it is. Why do people keep posting stories about it? Is it just some weird kind of reverse-psychology marketing or something?
- nostromo 16y ago
  I think there's a lot of schadenfreude when it comes to Calacanis' more recent tribulations (starting with his Digg clone on Netscape). This is especially true in New York where he's known as a grade-A douche bag (even by New York standards -- and that's saying something).
- hackernews 16y ago
  I think for the most part Mahalo represents the growing problem with Google and aggravating anyone doing SEO work. To many searches on Google turn up a first page full of optimized pages focusing on advertising rather than the content. Sites like Mahalo make it very difficult for the little guy to optimize and get value from Google. Kinda like trying to get anything on the Digg home page.
greyfade 16y ago
I'd never even heard of Mahalo until now. Why am I supposed to care...?
- Thanks 16y ago
  If you dont care, why read/comment?
interlock 16y ago
This company is dooming it self a little more every day. Bravo to them! Time to make a competing product and fill the void they're about to leave.
- suitcase 16y ago
  Not necessary, there are already tons of other linkfarms and spammers that can "fill the void"
redorb 16y ago
I think the fairest solution and surprisingly the one not used here would be to "Grandfather" the revenue sharing pages in ~ but not allow any more pages to be built on that model. I am sure that it was thought of and discussed internally and then they went with the "I bet we can take it a little farther and never pay recurring feeds again.." which will save the company a lot of money per month..
slouch 16y ago
meanwhile, on twitter... "@Skitzzo here is the truth... http://jc.is/cyTdfu http://jc.is/cyTdfu jason links back to his announcement on mahalo of the new system that now has 50+ comments. the truth is certainly in there. "The terms of service of Mahalo always had people wondering if something like this could happen. I actually encouraged other people to join Mahalo and defended Mahalo on other writing sites like Absolute Write. I just hope those people will forgive me." "The entire guide system is based on the premise of writers being so desperate that they'd be willing to sell their time for a few dollars an hour with no rev share to provide long-term quasi-passive income."
jasonmcalacanis 16y ago
This is all 100% false. We did change our model from revenue sharing to paying writers, but we did not steal any money or not pay anyone. Also, we publish under Creative Commons, so folks are welcome to do whatever they like with the content provide they shoot us a link back. This is just false, and in fact probably libelous, stuff.
- dillydally 16y ago
  There is no reason to down vote this comment. I know the HN collective dislikes Jason, but there is nothing wrong with it.

31 points by melvinram 16y ago

mcknz 16y ago

I'll pretend to be surprised here. GASP

augustflanagan 16y ago

After a particularly frustrating day I reminded myself that at least I don't work at Mahalo.

shareme 16y ago

a word.. HuffingtonPost TechCrunch Gawker Mahalo what do these have in common? They all change writers contracts whenever the business favor winds blow in a different direction..ie whether we like it or not Jason is using a standard industry practice.

melvinram 16y ago
From what I understand, the difference is that JC specifically promised revenue sharing.
- jasonmcalacanis 16y ago
  We did not promise revenue sharing forever. We said we were going to try revenue sharing and we, of course, reserve the right to change our model. We tried hard to make revenue sharing work, and it only worked for 5% of the audience. So, instead of pretending that freelance writers wanted something they told us they didn't, we pivoted and we're moving to a more About.com-like flatrate with a bonus system. Now we have a line of folks out the door who want to work for us.

lambda 16y ago

Why do we get articles about how much Mahalo.com sucks every day here at Hacker News? Why don't we just ignore them? I'm serious, I don't care about Mahalo, I barely even know what it is. Why do people keep posting stories about it? Is it just some weird kind of reverse-psychology marketing or something?

nostromo 16y ago
I think there's a lot of schadenfreude when it comes to Calacanis' more recent tribulations (starting with his Digg clone on Netscape). This is especially true in New York where he's known as a grade-A douche bag (even by New York standards -- and that's saying something).
hackernews 16y ago
I think for the most part Mahalo represents the growing problem with Google and aggravating anyone doing SEO work. To many searches on Google turn up a first page full of optimized pages focusing on advertising rather than the content. Sites like Mahalo make it very difficult for the little guy to optimize and get value from Google. Kinda like trying to get anything on the Digg home page.

greyfade 16y ago

I'd never even heard of Mahalo until now. Why am I supposed to care...?

Thanks 16y ago
If you dont care, why read/comment?

interlock 16y ago

This company is dooming it self a little more every day. Bravo to them! Time to make a competing product and fill the void they're about to leave.

suitcase 16y ago
Not necessary, there are already tons of other linkfarms and spammers that can "fill the void"

redorb 16y ago

I think the fairest solution and surprisingly the one not used here would be to "Grandfather" the revenue sharing pages in ~ but not allow any more pages to be built on that model. I am sure that it was thought of and discussed internally and then they went with the "I bet we can take it a little farther and never pay recurring feeds again.." which will save the company a lot of money per month..

slouch 16y ago

meanwhile, on twitter... "@Skitzzo here is the truth... http://jc.is/cyTdfu http://jc.is/cyTdfu jason links back to his announcement on mahalo of the new system that now has 50+ comments. the truth is certainly in there. "The terms of service of Mahalo always had people wondering if something like this could happen. I actually encouraged other people to join Mahalo and defended Mahalo on other writing sites like Absolute Write. I just hope those people will forgive me." "The entire guide system is based on the premise of writers being so desperate that they'd be willing to sell their time for a few dollars an hour with no rev share to provide long-term quasi-passive income."

jasonmcalacanis 16y ago

This is all 100% false. We did change our model from revenue sharing to paying writers, but we did not steal any money or not pay anyone. Also, we publish under Creative Commons, so folks are welcome to do whatever they like with the content provide they shoot us a link back. This is just false, and in fact probably libelous, stuff.

dillydally 16y ago
There is no reason to down vote this comment. I know the HN collective dislikes Jason, but there is nothing wrong with it.