Japanese women like protected sites

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-japan-sites-wn-0917-xsep17,0,4027833.story

by greut • 18 years ago

11 8 18 years ago

streety• 18 years ago

"Prospective members of Women's Park confirm their identity by sending a postcard to the company, and all messages sent to the site are checked before being posted."

I don't get it. How does sending a postcard to a site confirm your identity? I can understand the site sending out a postcard with a verification code on it but for the user to send in a postcard doesn't seem to make sense.

Besides that it looks like an interesting phenomenon. Simply increasing the latency of posts would probably improve the quality. With no instant gratification many trolls simply wouldn't bother posting.

This seemed flawed to me, "To post opinions in the Tsukurepo section, advance approval from those who introduced the recipes is necessary." I bet all the reviews are raving. Seems like a nice way to stifle differing opinions.

DougBTX• 18 years ago

I suppose lack of raving reviews counts as a negative reception, and perhaps the control over reviewers makes people more likely to post tentative recipes...

eru• 18 years ago

Perhaps just the higher cost of joining, i.e. sending a postcard vs filling out an online form, makes people value the site more psychologically.

msie• 18 years ago

Other people like protected sites as well!

denglish• 18 years ago

It makes sense to me - traditional media is highly controlled and edited, whilst most interactive forums are completely open. Nice to see people developing middle ground alternatives. There must be a better way than snail mail to confirm identity though!

tomjen• 18 years ago

The best way to confirm the identity would properly be to check peoples passports/drivers license. That would prevent trolls.

urlwolf• 18 years ago

I think the postcard makes sense to check identities because in Japan each family has a seal (Not trivial to replicate) and they 'sign' correspondence that way.

Never been to Japan, I must have read it somewhere, so reader beware.

whacked_new• 18 years ago

The postcard, like using a .edu email, is just a barrier to entry. The seal functions as a signature, and asking for it in a postcard would be very suspect.

Japanese women like protected sites

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