ProLog

To say there are many online forums is a typical understatement of the Internet age.  By Google’s last  count, there are over 350,000,000.  In this Web 2.0 world, the mantra remains “power to the people” or, more realistically, “let your visitors provide your content”.  That’s why I’m always encouraged when I see people trying to do more with visitors’ content besides  simply posting it.

minekey.com is one example which attempts to provide some structure to the din of opinions expressed by its purported 3 million posts each day.  Integrated into its bulletin board however, is a simple polling mechanism that allows subsequent visitors to register a simple agree/disagree vote on each opinion.  The polling results are tabulated and presented  in real-time.  Results are available in whole, or categorized by gender and age; two factors you are asked to identify about yourself when you register.

To be sure, there’s a lot more they could do to understand the data they collect.  Since the polls are created entirely by their members, the questions are awkwardly worded, and often blatently biased.  I’d also like to see results cross-referenced or correlated between different, but related questions. It’s also apparent that Minekey needs to further promote the polling features of their service, since many more members leave comments on each post than votes.

Never the less, Minekey is a fresh look at one of the Internet’s basic services.  Check it out.