
Two Social System Design Trends That Should Really, Really Stop - danw
http://www.brianoberkirch.com/2007/08/14/two-social-system-design-trends-that-should-really-really-stop-like-now/
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adamdoupe
I disagree with both of his points.

For the first, it is convenient to automatically search for all of your aim
buddies instead of having to do so manually. Of course I'd only do this on a
site that I trust (Facebook is one example). It adds value for the users. Plus
it is purely optional.

Secondly, while I can see that some people might find these email alerts
annoying, I feel they are quite useful. Adds a bit of clutter to the inbox,
but it allows me to keep up-to-date with the goings on. However, there is a
link on the emails to change what types of alerts they send you.

These are my thoughts on these points from the Facebook perspective.

~~~
bodhi
I think you might have misinterpreted his second point. He wasn't railing
against the alerts per-se, but having them content free. It wouldn't be too
much to ask for them to put an excerpt of the message in the email, but most
sites refuse to do so to 'drive traffic'. (One of the sites I helped build is
guilty of this too, so I shouldn't throw stones)

