Let's do this FAQ style...
What is the purpose of this site?
To bring personalized ska content (new bands, shows, news, etc) to users based on their preferences and location. We also want to be a definitive place for people in the ska community to interact easily, efficiently, and without a headache. Ska fans should be able to come here and get info on shows in their area or to discover new bands. Ska bands should be able to come here to find shows, get fans, and plan tours.
Aren't there other ska portals out there? Why do we need another?
There are others, each with their own pros and cons. We are trying to do something difference. Our goal is to bring strong technology and software to be a way to get relevant and customized, local oriented ska info out to people. That's something no other portal is doing.
Who runs this site?
The site is owned by a dude named Kyle Polich who hails from the southside of Chicago. He enlists the aid (often through blackmail) of friends to assist in the site. Skaspace.com is also eager to accept volunteers. There is plenty of work that needs to be done for the site. Whether you're a web designer, data base administrator, small time promoter, or no talent hack... we've got something you can do. Ideally, skaspace.com will become a very wiki-ish, community driven site with a fair and honest staff of editors to keep the site focused, relevant, and useful.
How can I contribute to this site?
Go to the contact us page and get in touch with us. If you've got an idea of something you can do for the site, let us know. If you don't know what you can do, contact us anyway and we'll find something.
How do you establish the rankings on your site?
This is, and will continue to be, a secret. The goal of skaspace.com is to include a truthful and unbiased means of evaluating content so that users can get the content they really want. In fact, eventually, we're going to apply Bayesian Networks and some other artificial intelligence features to learn your preferences and bring you stuff you're likely to like.
But in the meantime, consider this predicament. Most users would probably like to hear any news about bands within 20 miles of their home, no matter how crappy the band might be. Someone on the other side of the country probably doesn't want to get a ton of content regarding tiny acts far from them until the group can be considered "up and coming". It's a big challenge to do this. It's also complicated by the fact that most users will try and cheat the system. Look at myspace for example. If you look at their rating of bands, you'll often find tiny, often mediocre sounding, unknown acts with top scores. Go their page and you see they have like 500 friends but somehow got a 10,000 plays today. Or bands that started two weeks ago but have 20,000 friends and a page full of "thanks for the add" comments and other spam. Obviously these bands are "cheating". At the same time, it's a matter of opinion who the biggest band should be.
Our goal at skaspace.com is to let users define what level of granularity they want to see. We do our best to provide the optimal filtering of information, and learn about your personal preferences from your feedback. We're always eager to hear your comments on how we are doing!
Anyway, to answer the question, the bottom line is, it's a secret, but we try to be as fair as possible. If you think we suck, please tell us what you see as a problem and we'll see about fixing it. And whatever you do, DON'T try and cheat the system. We penalize heavily for that. Otherwise the site is gonna fill up with junk.
Have a question that's not answered here? Go to contact us and ask it. As long as it's half way intelligent and relvant, we'll post your question and its answer here for all to appreciate.
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