This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz
by rodney ramdas.
Original Post: The WorkingWithRails Index
Feed Title: pinupgeek.com
Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/pinupgeek
Feed Description: A personal take on Ruby and Rails
Like many others my attention was drawn to the site "Working with Rails". Naturally (?) I looked myself up. I kind of went with the flow to see what we had here. The site indexes Rails developers; most of it's input seems to come from the Ruby and Rails forums and by scraping the Rails wiki. So I was in there as well. Ok. Bit shocked to be honest. Apperently I posted to the Rails forum 33 times and that's where they got my info.
Next they seem to rank you by your community efforts, like whether you have a patch into Rails core or whether you've released a gem. It felt like an involuntary job interview or a twisted j2ee certification process and in fact they want to know ( and in some cases just assume) that you are available for Rails work.
Like I said, I went with it. Now afterwards I still feel uneasy why is that ?
My name and other stuff was in there. I didn't put it in, nor did I ask to be put in. Furthermore my info ( attached to my name and surname) was editable by anyone who cared to do so. I felt compelled, almost obligated (tricked ?) to hit that claim button to make sure the record was mine. I didn't like that one bit. When I post to the Rails or Ruby forums I'm not assuming or giving you a license to grab my info, stick it in some database and "enrich" the data !
I have no way to opt out. Where can I unregister myself from the index ? At least give me that, the option to remove my name from the list. You see, even though I went with it and yes, I did get recommendations and yes I did recommend some folks I still felt pressured into doing that. No, I didn't like that one bit.
What's with this authority ranking ? What is this urge to be in the top whatever percentage of people most recommended etc. ? I just encourages randomly handing out recommendations in the hope that once you've given one the person you recommended returns the favour. That's fine but there has to be some good and clear reason right ? You're going to recommend people because of what ? You know them, you read their blog, everyone recommends them ? Other social network type of recommendation engines work because there are criteria everbody understand and because the people who use them are very care with given recommendations in the first place. It's not taken lightly. Usually it involves some kind of unspoken social contract between the requestor and requestee of a recommendation. As a recruiter or potential employer you want to make sure the recommendation you review are meaningful. I see no meaning in the recommendations on Working with Rails.
I'm worried about spam. I'm worried about recruiters crawling and mining the site. I really dislike most recruiters, they usually have no clue. I certainly don't want to encourage them.
Sorry, I've come to the conclusion I don't like the index. It's a wart on a vibrant, caring and pretty switched on community and I regret endorsing the site by claiming my record ( thanks Manfred, you said it just right). I'm interested in opinions ! Let's hear it.
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