Please Put an End to the "Come Join Me On" Spam Invites!

I prefer the Ning option to be like this:

NC Control:
Allow members to invite members to other Ning networks: NO

Ning really needs to allow NCs to be in total control of the networks they work so hard to create, build, and maintain! I don't know why they refuse to do this. We've been asking for a couple years and this is my biggest area of frustration with Ning. ( Delete or Edit)

Agreed. Premium NCs should have the option of running independent from Ning.com and other social networks. ( Delete or Edit)

Agree! ( Delete or Edit)

Hi, that's the reason why i get no satisfaction with Ning since they closed the NC Forum. Where are the workers from Ning. What is with our suggestions. Can they give us a sign that they are reading these topics here? ( Delete or Edit)

No one from Ning reads this, we are talking to a brick wall! ( Delete or Edit)

Jens, I have the same concern. If Ning starts focusing more on being a social network as opposed to a platform, we're all better off just using Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, etc. They are superior in functionality and you can get a lot more reach on there. That move would make Ning pretty much useless.

I definitely won't go quietly because I have invested a lot of time and money to building this community. ( Delete or Edit)

Alex, sure ... for me it is the same. I am network creator since 2 years now. But there is one point: I am losing my fun without the NC community and that I shall purchase for a guaranteed support by Ning. I know Ning is company and I appreciate so much the customer connection by Ning in the beginning of Ning. Now ... Ning is a big and customer blind company and I am looking for some other options witout Ning if Ning decide to run their platform without us. ( Delete or Edit)

Nope! not really ... I am just only romantic. ( Delete or Edit)

the email verification is only for ning.com not for all the networks. It is for the main social network. the groups which we the network creators belong don't have this yet.

why not just implement this to all networks? ( Delete or Edit)

AT LAST! Woo hoo! Where can I opt my network in???? ( Delete or Edit)

I agree. I am bailing as soon as I am able. But I really LIKE whining in the mean time. :) ( Delete or Edit)

That's what I needed. Thanks! :) ( Delete or Edit)

Response from Ning:
Hi,

First, we're sorry to hear you're receiving these unwanted invitations and messages, as we take spam very seriously. We completely understand why you're upset about this.

To protect the privacy of the member you mention, we aren't able to disclose account-specific information or settings about their Ning ID.

Do you recall if at any point you may have messaged Sukhpreet Kaur directly through email? If so, it's possible she's sending you these invitations and messages by directly messaging your email address.

As the Network Creator, you can definitely use the Broadcast Message feature to reach out to your members and your members are also able to choose which emails they wish to receive from your social network (such as network messages, member activity and discussion activity). Some Network Creators may simply want to use the Broadcast Message feature as a way to instant message everyone within their social network. When this happens, they may be notified about over-messaging and complaints about these broadcasts. One way to minimize the number of complaints from your members is by giving them the option to opt-out of these messages and to be sure you're sending them on-topic and pertinent messages.

So that we can look into this specific issue in a bit more detail, would it be possible for you to forward us some of the messages and invitations you have received from Sukhpreet Kaur. If so, please include the full message and full header information such as to, from, reply-to, subject and date fields.

Regarding the post you mention on Get Satisfaction (http://getsatisfaction.com/ning/topic...), we aren't able to always respond to every discussion. With regards to people on the Ning Platform receiving invitations, we're able to best help people on an individual and/or per-social network basis if they contact us through the Ning Help Center (http://help.ning.com).

Just so you know, when a member is friends with someone on Ning, they're friends across all social networks. Being friends with someone allows them to send private messages within a social network, and invitations across all social networks. Sometimes people are quick to accept friend requests from people they don't personally know. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can lead to some confusion as to why they're receiving random invitations and who's sending them. While Sukhpreet Kaur may have had only two friends on your social network, it's possible she had more friends on other social networks across the Ning Platform.

The recent changes to limit the number of friends that can be invited is part of some performance changes we've been making to the Ning Platform. We certainly appreciate your patience as we explore which settings have optimal results when it comes to friending and messaging.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
The Ning Team ( Delete or Edit)

My response to Ning:
• I have no interest in the contact information for Sukhpreet Kaur. The problem is a little greater than this one member.

• To my recollection I have not sent Sukhpreet Kaur any private emails. I only do this sometimes when messaging with a sponsor.

• Which email adderess would you like me to forward the spam invites from Sukhpreet Kaur to?

• I can read in your response that you picked up on my frustration and anger over this issue. Be aware that it is only due to my deep love for the Ning software that I have not left your platform faced with these destructive elements in the software. Is it your strategy to rely on this from the rest of your customers going into the future?

• I can "definitely" reach out to my members through broadcast message, but they can just as definitely make sure that I can't ? I would describe my intelligence as average, and I cannot read your reponse in any other way than: the members are deciding if I can reach them, hence I can definitely NOT reach all my members through broadcast message.
My question is this: why can the members who of their own free will signed up to my network decide if I can reach them, yet people from other networks can decide wheather they can reach me?

• "we aren't able to always respond to every discussion". In the real world your customers live in, we are not seing ANY responses to ANY discussions. Here I'm not counting the once a month reply from Ning because I feel it's embarrassing to mention.

• "While Sukhpreet Kaur may have had only two friends on your social network, it's possible she had more friends on other social networks across the Ning Platform". So if I wanted to go on a spamming spree on Ning, I would simply have to join 100 networks and only make two friends on each to avoid showing up on the spam radar on any of the individual networks? Are you telling me that you acknowledge this spam loop hole? Do you have evidence that it does not exist? Or are you telling me between the lines that it's the kind of spam you have no intention of preventing? I am of cause desperately hoping the answer will be that you will do everything in your power to prevent spam, ....even when it means removing a ....link (invite friends on other networks - paraphrasing) ?

• worried that real life friends will not have the email information so they can simply use the normal invite function?

• I'm sincerely sorry this correspondence can not be of a more joyful nature, but double speak answers, ignoring of customers, refusal to remove one link (all friends invite) that could stop the largest spam problem on Ning / largest outcry on Get Satisfaction, just puts me in a position where I do not have the extra energy to completely remove my dissatisfaction from my message (I have read it through a couple of times and removed the "red field" phrasing a few places).
I'm sorry, but you need critique if you must learn from your customers, which I belive is a broadly accepted philosophy used elsewhere in the corporate world.

• Evan came on appologizing that Ning had been so invisible on Get Satisfaction, promised this would end immediately.... and then he left not to be heard from since ?

• Would you prefer that I posted your response to all your customers on Get Satisfaction who are up in a roar about this problem and who are desperately seeking an answer, so you won't have to trouble yourself? I mean seriously ! ( Delete or Edit)

Nings response:

Hi,

The Ning Platform as you know it has been around since 2007. In this short period of time, we've made strides in how the platform performs and we have our eyes set on the long-term success of Ning! Because of this, we really do care about hearing from passionate Network Creators such as yourself and we appreciate all of your thoughts and questions.

We completely understand why you'd like to be able to message all of your members. That said, we've included the functionality for members of your social network to choose which messages they'd like to receive. These are personal settings made by each member and these cannot be changed by the Network Creator or Administrators. As mentioned, we take issues relating to spam very seriously, so once we have more information about the messages and invitations you've received, we'll be able to investigate this complaint and, at our discretion, take the appropriate action. You can place messages directly in your response to this message or by forwarding the message(s) to abuse@ning.com. If you do forward us messages from Sukhpreet Kaur, please also mention your ticket number in your response so that we can keep track of these messages. Please also include the full message and full header information, such as to, from, reply-to, subject and date fields.

So that we're clear, in what ways are you worried that real life friends won't have email information? Also, you mention our refusal to remove the invite friends link? Network Creators have the ability to hide the "Invitation" tab and/or update their social network's language settings to more accurately reflect the actions they'd like or not like their members to take.

While Get Satisfaction is a great way to educate the greater Network Creators community and our members in a transparent manner, answering social network-specific issues directly with Network Creators and members via our Help Center (http://help.ning.com) remains how we handle the majority of questions and inquiries. Also, you might be interested in seeing how we see our presence on Get Satisfaction in the following post: http://getsatisfaction.com/ning/topic....

Best regards,
The Ning Team ( Delete or Edit)

NINGs response:

Hi Brian,

We're all about keeping things as transparent as possible and that is one of the reasons why we use Get Satisfaction as a sounding board for Network Creators and members. Going hand-in-hand with this, we are best able to handle issues most effectively between members privately through tickets in the Ning Help Center. It's also important for us to keep track of specific issues Network Creators and members might be facing, so this is why we like hearing from people through the Ning Help Center as well.

The invitations and sharing features provided through Ning make it easy for members to share content with people they're connected with on the platform. Members can also share content with people they know in real life, such as through using the email function. Ultimately, the way one person might interpret their relationship with people they're friends with on the platform may be totally different from the way another person on the platform understands their friends list and connections.

For any social network on the Ning platform, it's up to the Network Creator and members to decide who they'd like to invite and it's up to the recipient to decide if they'd like to accept the invitation. That said, we completely understand and appreciate your thoughts about the "All Friends" invitation feature. Please know that we are working behind the scenes on this specific feature and re-thinking its ideal function within the platform.

Thank you also for sending along the messages sent from Sukhpreet Kaur. We're investigating this specific issue and will take the appropriate actions. Please let us know if you receive any other messages from this person and forward us the full message and header information as well.

Thanks again,
The Ning Team ( Delete or Edit)

Ok sorry then. But I mention that update in my response to Ning, and it sounded on your reply that like you were unaware of this. No biggie :) ( Delete or Edit)

Yes I was thinking that too, but forgot to include this in my reply.
I'm going to check if I can translate away the "invite all" versus "friends on this network" option. ( Delete or Edit)

That was kinda dumb of me to say that. Of cause we can't translate a link that resides on all the other Ning networks. But we CAN translate the "all friends" link on OUR network so that OUR members are not inviting OTHER networks members over to us ! ( Delete or Edit)

This is a great move on Ning's part. Thank you guys for listening to our feedback and respecting our input.

good work,
Scott ( Delete or Edit)

Nice going Ning, much appreciated. ( Delete or Edit)

If you're here to get help, great. If you're just here to harass Ning employees, we won't allow you to continue. ( Delete or Edit)