write.as clearly seems to be too heavy-handed in its approach to dealing with spam. Matt has long been intending to soften the anti-spam measures, as was mentioned since at least last December now, but nothing has come out of it. And all we see in the discussion forum anymore is such posts, and no other activity on write.as, new features, or how one can better use the platform. It’s frustrating because:
It makes it harder to recommend write.as to people who immediately after signing up get confused and annoyed.
This “discussion” space is rendered to be anything but that.
I totally get that, and I’m sorry it’s been so frustrating. I’m trying to find a balance (and I do message most people privately).
So it would help me to know: how are you using Write.as? Do you have an account, or are you using it anonymously? Are you posting stories that are getting caught? Do you share links in your stories?
Hi Matt, thanks for the quick response. I do have a paid write.as account since a few months now, and I’ve been experimenting with the platform anonymously. While my own account getting caught in spam early on had been resolved then, other non-techie friends I’ve recommended the platform to have all faced the issue and were surprised by it, and even sometimes discouraged, which made me increasingly less confident in spreading the word.
As for myself, I’m starting a couple of personal blogs on write.as, and as part of that had been scanning the forums here for weeks to get ideas, know features, and learn how to customize my blog. This is the source of the feeling expressed in the original post.
I truly appreciate what you’re doing with write.as, and I get that it’s not a big company or anything, but as a user I feel the discussion space in its current form isn’t serving my or the community’s larger needs ATM to be perfectly honest with you.
Thanks for the feedback. I did eventually find a critical issue that was affecting new and existing users, which has now been patched, and I’m working quickly to fix everyone’s account. More info here:
Otherwise, what would you like to see to make sure this discussion space serves your needs better?
Glad that issue was fixed. In general, I’d like the discussion space to be similar to help.micro.blog, wherein you regularly see either official documentation and tips (or links to those) on how to use micro.blog and what’s new with it, or people requesting and discussing new features and tweaks to existing ones, which in the process get people chiming it with good workarounds too.