Truemors, the Twitter for rumors, smothered by spam

truemors2.jpgGuy Kawasaki’s new company Truemors, has launched, and it is a sort of Twitter for rumors.

It is noteworthy, because its a raw experiment at letting anyone post anything and letting the top-voted post float to the top in a section called “greatest.”

However, the site has been overrun largely by nonsense and spam — for example, rumors that a war is going to break out in the Middle East, to spam for “Sportiki” and “Dafun.”

Here’s how it works: You can call in a message to Truemors (or you text, or email), and leave your rumor. Kawasaki, a long-time consultant and investor in start-ups, was philosophical about the negative response even in the chatter leading up to the launch.

There’s a lesson here. The site had no focus, and thus no community. A moderator is also a good idea for such sites, because otherwise spam will prevail. There may still be hope for the “greatest” section of the site, where the most popular posts are ranked, and thus presumably only the best material is sifted. When we last looked, however, the top post was about how terrible Truemors is (update: the post has since been deleted). The site is worth watching, but as of now, a long shot.

Screenshot below:

truemors4.jpg

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Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • Ali
    Yikes, that site has more spam than anything I've ever seen before in my life.

    Well, at least he succeeded in getting submissions to the site.

    Is the site running on wordpress? Look at the source code.

    <!-- leave this for stats -->
  • This has to be someone's idea of a bad joke. Right!?
  • Though I've made fun of truemors on SuckyStartups for the spam, Guy seems to have gotten it under control these days. The site is still kinda sucky though.
  • Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! ljtmateuzyqv
  • Still don't get it how all this stuff about Truemors, the Twitter for rumors, smothered by spam can affect it...
  • Bodacious summary on Truemors, the Twitter for rumors, smothered by spam! Always enjoy your posts.