"dr
July 6, 2009 07:55 PM
I would be very very cautious before starting a network on Ning now.
Don't Ning!
A Fatal Mistake When Starting Your Social Network
So you are going to build your own social network & you are trying to make the right decision on who to build it with.
A site devoted to stopping others from making the mistake of hosting their social network on the Ning platform.
Before you consider using Ning read what others are saying in Ning's own forum!
I frequent many forums but I have never seen so many disgusted,disappointed and downright angry customers as Ning has. I have copied many of their quotes below.
**Warning**
Read what Ning customers have to say,then decide where to build your social network
Quotes from Ning Users in Ning's Own Forum!
Beware Of Ning
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I'm very suspicious of their intentions, and very scared that they will co-op my content and my users, and turn them into just another "interest group" on their own social network.
Ning promised almost a year ago that they would offer network creators a way to export their content (such methods used to exist, by the way, until they were banned by Ning). But there is nothing but dead silence from Ning on the issue now, and all queries on the matter meet with, you guessed it... dead silence.
Until Ning makes its intentions clear, I would advise everyone to wait it out, or look at hosting elgg (http://www.elgg.org)."
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"It all feels so...dishonorable.
And do they know that ning master is advocating people with problems to stop whining and just leave ning ? "
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"...continuing to say things are 'coming', continuing to make surprising decisions suddenly that really do impact on our networks does not instill confidence.
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I don't hate Ning, I am just disappointed and concerned."
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"If I'm being spammed by sites on the Ning network, my members are as well. Ning is allowing this because they can claim that the overall network is growing, but it will reach a point where people tune these sites out (including messages from legitimate hosts) ultimately pushing the network into irrelevancy"
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"I have the same need to export the whole NING site and now I'm really upset with them as they stopped all related API, WEBDAV, FTP and any information on how to get back my data.
I'm not a lawyer but I think we are in the position to start some legal action.
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"I've had over 800 of my members join competing sites that were started in my niche since this policy change. Both of the new sites were started by members of my site, who then spammed my site and poached my members.
the value of my site has dropped dramatically because of this decision by Ning."
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"...that's why we need our contents back- so that we can jump off this sinking boat. Staying on Ning mean you will be a victim of freebie competitors till the end of times."
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"My advice to anyone thinking of starting a Ning site:
DO NOT spend money on advertising. You will bring members into the Ning community. However, if there is any profit potential in the niche you're targeting, Ning will allow any NC with a free site to spam your members non-stop by creating fake profiles and then sending cross-network invites."
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"..it would seem something has changed lately and that they are not on our side and cant be trusted to keep our best interests .If Ning was my boyfriend I would suspect that he had started using drugs and then dump him.
Ning please rehabilitate yourself I dont wanna break up!"
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"Does anyone from Ning look at or answer questions in these forums or is it just a place for us to vent?"
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""Bait and switch"
It's obvious that Ning doesn't care what we think at this point... Otherwise, there would be a Ning rep actively addressing these issues and solutions would be implemented.
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"Ning is no longer about creating the best social networking platform, they are about creating their own social network (which competes with us). The sad thing is that they are doing this with the time and money that WE invested. "
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"Of course every company can change direction now and then, but NING does this a little bit too often. It's hard to keep track of everything that is changing every single day."
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"Ning has big problems and they are ignoring them."
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"Ning is down!...Again
my entire network is down due to an "Unscheduled Maintenance." what's going on with Ning? My site has been down at least 3 times in the last 60 days. Most of the time, I see Ning links to their status blog in replace of my site which shouldnt be since i'm a premium subscriber. Thankfully, however, this time they are displaying my custom message.
Why has the system become unstable? Also, what the heck happens if Ning crashes and loses its data? We cant backup our own websites!!??"
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"I saw the Ning error pages popping up this time, too........
Free advertising for Ning on our sites yet we pay for premium service to remove links to Ning and disable ads... All their error pages link to "Create your own social network".
"This is ridiculous .... and someone needs to stop this.. "
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"EXACTLY...most of my members have no idea who/what ning is..until my site goes down and they click the links! then, of course, they create their own site and spam the hell out of my members.
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...Our content is not ours - we cant download it
We cant control when the site is offline
Our site's belong to ning
We are just the one's doing all the hard job of adding users and modaerting"
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"AND WHAT THE HECK IS THIS WEBSITE FOR ANYHOW?? THERE ENTIRE SYSTEM JUST WENT DOWN AND NO ONE FROM NING IS REPLYING TO THIS THREAD "
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"My members are BOMBARDED by constant Ning invite spam. I've asked Ning several times to fix the hole in their platform which allows for this but they refuse to do anything.
I've been accused of selling my members data to marketing companies because of all the spam they got after joining my site. This is RIDICULOUS.
Even after I ban a member for doing this, they can still continue to send the invite emails out to my members. Ning MUST do something about this.
IT IS DESTROYING MY SITE!"
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" -When did my social network become a "Group" on ning?
-What happened to "Create your OWN SOCIAL NETWORK for anything?? or "Create your OWN Facebook"
-Is Ning actually going to charge me premium fees so that they can steal my members, create an intolerable spamming environment, and now find more ways to take revenue off of my site?? SHARE the cut with ME? Its my SITE!!!!"
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"Ning is annoying me now. Don't they see that they are upsetting many people. argggggg. Ning was awesome, now it's C-R-A-P "
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"HELLO NING?? EARTH TO NING? ANY RESPONSES? "
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.."the "request source code" was probably the main reason I started building my network with ning.. and then they took it away without warning. "
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"Pulling the "request source code" option after we all started our networks was a dick move. They didn't even grandfather us in. "
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"Ning- Stop stealing my members or allow me to export my ENTIRE site
as a premium customer I am VERY upset with the decisions taken by ning. They led us to believe we were creating our own independent social network for anything, yet they took all of our member data for ning.com (a competing social network with better functionality no less).
I love the platform but I am fed up with ning dictating the proper content on MY website, stealing my member data, and allowing my members to be bombarded with "Come join me" spam emails."
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"
The problem with the editor is that it's so primitive and behind the curve. It seems weird to be asked what should be improved as if Ning users need to tell Ning programmers that they should look at the standard, popular editors found all over the Internet for ideas.
It's such a basic and important back-end feature that it's puzzling to see how low-priority it is to the company. It's like encouraging users to seek out a more up-to-date platform... "
.................................................................................................................................................
"It all feels so...dishonorable.
And do they know that ning master is advocating people with problems to stop whining and just leave ning ? "
........................................................................................................................................................................................
"...continuing to say things are 'coming', continuing to make surprising decisions suddenly that really do impact on our networks does not instill confidence.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
I don't hate Ning, I am just disappointed and concerned."
........................................................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
I'm not a lawyer but I think we are in the position to start some legal action.
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
"I've had over 800 of my members join competing sites that were started in my niche since this policy change. Both of the new sites were started by members of my site, who then spammed my site and poached my members.
the value of my site has dropped dramatically because of this decision by Ning."
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
DO NOT spend money on advertising. You will bring members into the Ning community. However, if there is any profit potential in the niche you're targeting, Ning will allow any NC with a free site to spam your members non-stop by creating fake profiles and then sending cross-network invites."
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
Ning please rehabilitate yourself I dont wanna break up!"
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"Ning has big problems and they are ignoring them."
.......................................................................................................................................................................................
my entire network is down due to an "Unscheduled Maintenance." what's going on with Ning? My site has been down at least 3 times in the last 60 days. Most of the time, I see Ning links to their status blog in replace of my site which shouldnt be since i'm a premium subscriber. Thankfully, however, this time they are displaying my custom message.
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-What happened to "Create your OWN SOCIAL NETWORK for anything?? or "Create your OWN Facebook"
-Is Ning actually going to charge me premium fees so that they can steal my members, create an intolerable spamming environment, and now find more ways to take revenue off of my site?? SHARE the cut with ME? Its my SITE!!!!"
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
"Ning is annoying me now. Don't they see that they are upsetting many people. argggggg. Ning was awesome, now it's C-R-A-P "
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"Pulling the "request source code" option after we all started our networks was a dick move. They didn't even grandfather us in. "
....................................................................................................................
"Ning- Stop stealing my members or allow me to export my ENTIRE site
I love the platform but I am fed up with ning dictating the proper content on MY website, stealing my member data, and allowing my members to be bombarded with "Come join me" spam emails."
It's such a basic and important back-end feature that it's puzzling to see how low-priority it is to the company. It's like encouraging users to seek out a more up-to-date platform... "
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