I like! Starts Off (Too) Well

Thanks to all of you that have tested I like! in the past few days.

By the time I post this, it will be almost exactly a week since I introduced the service and I would not have believed the amount of traffic the site has got since.

As a result, the server is sometimes a little slow in response. Usually it works ok, but it is a rising problem. I am in the process of upgrading my hosting server, so bear with me for a few days.

From the numerous emails and blog entries I’ve seen from users (see bottom of post), most people seem to like, I like! (pun very much intended).

Here are answers to a few of the most common questions and comments I’ve seen:

  • There is a problem with international characters: Yes I know, it’s being fixed. As a native speaker of Icelandic I surely understand your frustration. Give me a couple of days…
  • I want to be able to manage the pages I’ve marked as my bookmarks: That kind of features will be added. Expect the first version of that late next week. When the time comes you will be able to categorize and sort the pages you’ve already marked, so keep “Liking” as you please.
  • My top recommendations have no relevance to what I have marked: Actually I’ve been surprised to see how many users have been happy with their recommendations, given that the current recommendation algorithm is only my second version. Even the ones that have given the recommendations bad reviews have still admitted that they found pages that amused them in the recommendations. Keep in mind that the recommendations will improve:
    • …as the overall database grows.
    • …as you mark more pages you like.
    • …as I will further improve the recommendation system.
  • I want to be able to add details about the page as I mark it: As it is now, you will have to go the I like! page to add details about a page you have marked. I’m changing this so that you can do this right away when you mark the page. This will however be done so that it will not change the functionality for those that just want to quickly “like” a page and leave it at that. This is actually the next feature update. Hopefully ready by tomorrow.

I have a long list of feature and improvement ideas that I’m going to implement, but at the same time I will implement your good ideas and requirements as well and prioritize in line with the feedback I get, so please keep the comments and suggestions coming. I will evaluate the ideas thoroughly and try to do the best I can (use the comments here, or drop me a line at ilike.hjalli.com (replace first dot with @)). And if you find a bug, please-please let me know.

Thanks again for all the feedback and for using my service.

Here’s what people have been writing about I like!:
I Like It! – Chew’s News
I like, un outil de bookmarking avec recommandations – Outils Froids (French)
I like – Dr. Web Magazin (German)
I like – Cynical-C Blog
I like – She=Marmod (Dutch)
I like – Couchblog
I like. – The Presurfer (no permalink)
I Like… – Blog-Fu
Do You Like? – J-Walk blog
I like … – NurSo � OderDochSo
I like – *.*
I don’t like – Green Gabbro
It’s called I like – HubLog
I like! – Library Stuff weblog

4 comments

  1. Dear Hjalli,

    I’ve discovered that the MT method to retrieve RSS isn’t fast as i’ve thought, what i mean is there’s no auto-update without a manual rebuild, or a comment posting so MT rebuilds all the dependencies…

    I think it’s better the JS implemetation, or a better method like ping to a MT like this iTunes mp3list to Movable type… I think that something like this it could be nice, so I don’t need to make manual rebuild every time i want to update feeds.

    Excellent idea, go head!

  2. Mini-d: You might want to check out the mt-rebuild utility script from tima. It allows you to schedule rebuilds of your blog pages so that your lists (or any other syndicated content) would be updated.

    MITRA: I guess it is the “I like!” link that doesn’t work? I am working on an alternative version of the posting mechanism that I know will at least fix the same problem for older versions of the Opera browser. I don’t have a Mac around, so I’m unable to test it, but the odds are good that it will fix your problem as well. NOTE: If javascript is disabled, neither version will however work, so check that before anything else.

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