What is the point of UnSpun?

• Existing methods for community collaboration on the Web aren't good at developing consensus rankings. If you do a web search for "sexiest movies," you might find websites that have lists of "sexiest movies," but each will be the opinion of the individual who authored that website.
  
  Wikis (as prominently and beautifully exemplified by Wikipedia) are an excellent mechanism for community collaboration, but they don't support consensus rankings. Imagine a large group of people editing and re-editing a wiki page that purported to have a ranked list of "sexiest movies." It wouldn't work -- they'd step on each other.
  
  So that's the niche that UnSpun endeavors to fill.
  
  If you want to see the community consensus on what's the best or the worst, the scariest or the funniest, the tastiest or the dumbest, UnSpun provides the right amount of structure to make that possible.
  
  Give it a whirl and let us know what you think! E-mail us with feedback here.

Is UnSpun supposed to be fun or useful?

• Yes. We designed UnSpun to be useful, but as we've played with it and have seen some of the lists people submit for creation, we've found that it turns out to be both. Examples of useful lists you could check out are Best Bakery in Seattle, Best Book to Give As a Gift, Favorite Travel Spot, Best Widescreen HDTV Models, Top Plumbers in New York, NY.
  
  Some of our favorite fun lists: Favorite UTF-8 Character, Cool Science Words, Top Women You Would Leave Your Partner For, Best Baseball Players on Steroids, Best Inventions, Favorite Color. There are many more!

Can I create my own lists?

• There are lots of lists that might not exist yet on UnSpun, so it is up to you to create them! Simply enter the list you are looking for in the search box on the homepage. If you can't find the list you are looking for, simply click the orange button on the page and follow the instructions to log in and create your list. Please be sure your title appears exactly how you want it to be on the site and that the list you are creating doesn't already exist. Once the list is created, UnSpun will immediately start gathering results from Amazon Mechanical Turk and from the UnSpun community. Usually you should see results start to show up within several minutes.

Why is it called UnSpun?

• We liked the name because community consensus rankings aren't subject to "spin" (and it rhymes with itself).

Won't UnSpun rankings be subject to vote spam?

• UnSpun provides a number of mechanisms to eliminate bad votes. The first is that people must first log in with a valid Amazon account before they can vote, submit new items, or create new lists. Each user can only vote one time per item so one user is not able to "stuff the ballot box" with votes. Additionally, merges of duplicate items and deletions of inappropriate items (items that don't belong in that particular list) are corroborated by a combination of the community and an editorial team. The combination of these features will help us to maintain the integrity of the rankings.

How did UnSpun come about?

• We started building UnSpun as a sample app for Amazon Mechanical Turk, but we got a little carried away, and it turned into a full-on application. If you're curious about how Amazon Mechanical Turk is used, read on below. Short answer: Amazon Mechanical Turk is used to seed a new list once you create one.

How do I find ranked lists on UnSpun?

• Start typing into the search box, and we'll immediately show you all lists (or items within lists) that match what you've typed so far.

Do I need to login and create an account to use UnSpun?

• You can search and find ranked lists on UnSpun without logging in. However, if you log in you can then cast your own votes, make your own personal rankings, or create a new list and have the community add items to it. Because UnSpun is part of Amazon, we are able to use Amazon's login page. If you already have an account on Amazon.com you can use that login name and password for your UnSpun account as well. You can also create a new account if you don't already have one. Once you log in the first time, UnSpun will ask you to create a screen name. This is the name that will be visible to other users of the site.

How do I vote or add my own rankings?

• Once you have logged in, you will be able to vote for items on the public list or create your own set of rankings. Clicking on the up or down arrows in front of the list items enters your vote that you think that particular list item should move up or down in the rankings. UnSpun will only record your vote one time per item while it is in the same position, but if an item moves up or down in the rankings you can vote again. If you want to create your own rankings or add an item to the list, click on the "Your Rankings" link just below the list title and arrange the items in your rankings to show what you think the rankings should be. Your personal rankings will automatically be incorporated in the public rankings as well.

Will my rankings be viewable to the public?

• Yes, UnSpun is a community site and any rankings you submit, new lists you create, and individual rankings that you give to any lists, will be visible to the rest of the community. The "Lists You Recently Viewed" information on the "Your Spin" are only visible to you. Remember that lists you've created and your individual rankings are only visible under the screen name that you selected when you first logged in.

Is there a way for me to share my rankings with my friends?

• There are a couple of ways to share UnSpun rankings with your friends. The "E-mail this list" link on every list page allows you to send an e-mail link to friends showing them a list you think they might find interesting, along with a personal message. If you want to show your friends what you think, you can e-mail them a link to your personal rankings as well.

Can I link from my website directly to a list or item on UnSpun?

• Absolutely! The best way to do this is to use the "permalink" URL that can be found just below the title on a list or item page. This URL will not change and will allow you to link directly to either the latest rankings for the list or an item detail page.

How can I find the lists I have created?

• Click the "Your Spin" link in the upper right hand corner of the page. After logging in, you will see all of the lists you have created as well as the lists you have ranked and the lists you have recently viewed.

How long does it typically take for a new list to be populated once it has been created?

• Results will be automatically updated as they come in. Typically, you can expect results to start appearing within several minutes of creating your list.

How do you ensure the quality of the rankings?

• UnSpun requires users to log in before they are able to add rankings to the lists. If we find any users that have been abusing the site, we can roll back any changes or additions that user has made to the site. Because you have to have an Amazon account to contribute to UnSpun, we can be sure that the rankings are not done by automated bots and can limit the spam added to the site. Additionally, every list page contains edit links that encourage the UnSpun community to merge duplicates, edit misspellings, identify misplaced items, and tag offensive content. In this way, inappropriate entries can be quickly eliminated.

How do I interpret the ranking numbers?

• List items have a computed score based on the number of people who have ranked the item and at what position it was ranked. We've indexed the score so that the 3rd item is always 1000. Items that are ranked higher and lower have their scores adjusted accordingly. This allows for general comparison of top items across lists. For example, if George Bush is the top item in a list with a score of 6914 and Angelina Jolie is the top item in another list with a score of 3118, and Verizon is the top item in a third list at 1427, you can deduce that George Bush holds a stronger first ranking, compared to other items on that list, than Angelina Jolie and Verizon in their respective lists.

What is an item?

• Items are the individual entries that make up a list. For example, Mozart is an item on the list of Top Classical Music Composers.

How do I add information about an existing item?

• Simply click on the item name and you will be taken to the item page. The item page gives you the ability to add links and comments about an item. If you know of a website that would be perfect for that item, simply enter the URL and it will be added. Similarly, if you have comments about an item you can go to the item page and enter your comments.

What do I do if I find a list or item with bad data?

• On an UnSpun list you can edit the name of an item, merge it with other items, mark the item as offensive, or remove it from the list (because it doesn't belong etc.). To use this functionality select the "edit this item" link associated with the item. Clicking that link will expose an edit box with a number of options. Select what you'd like to do and follow the instructions. Additionally if you find a URL that does not fit the list item it is associated with, go to the item page and you can either edit the URL or ask that it be removed. Thanks for helping to make UnSpun a great place!

Can I edit the name of a list that I created?

• Once a list has been created, in order to allow consistent Community Ranking, it cannot be edited. You are welcome to create a new list with a slightly different wording.

Can I edit an item that appears in my ranking?

• This functionality is currently not supported. For now, you should remove the current item and then add the item you'd like instead.

Why doesn't an item on my ranking show up on the Community Ranking?

• If an item which appears on "Your Ranking" is edited, merged, or deleted on the "Community Ranking" page, the item is not altered on "Your Ranking." We do this to preserve your intended ranking.

I just edited an item on the "Community Ranking" list. How come it didn't change in my ranking?

• We never allow changes in the "Community Ranking" to effect a specific user's ranking. See the previous question.

What happens when I merge an item?

• When you merge two or more items, regardless of which item you selected to edit, the highest ranked item will be retained. Comments and links from all merged items will be combined into the merged item. If you would prefer the text of a lower-ranked item from the merge then simply edit the text of the newly merged item.

I just fixed some bad data how come it's still showing up?

• We require that all edits (spelling correction, merging, marking as offensive, or marking as wrong list) be submitted for approval. Once your update has been reviewed and approved, the information will be updated on the website.

I just entered an item comment or URL and it's not showing up?

• We require that all comments and links be submitted for approval. Once your submission has been reviewed and approved, it will appear for that item.

How is this site affiliated with Amazon?

• UnSpun is operated by A2Z Development which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com. A key part of UnSpun is powered by Amazon Web Services.

How does UnSpun use Amazon Web Services?

• UnSpun leverages the Amazon Mechanical Turk web service to access a network of human intelligence, whereby people help populate a list created on UnSpun and then help identify the most relevant web links for each item.

What is "Amazon Mechanical Turk?"

• Each new list created on UnSpun is immediately sent to Amazon Mechanical Turk, where people vote their top 3 items to populate the list and get it started. Those results appear on UnSpun by Amazon within minutes, where the UnSpun community can expand and personalize the rankings. For more information on Amazon Mechanical Turk, visit mturk.amazon.com.

Where do the images come from?

Lists of things like books, movies, and other products display images obtained from Amazon.com via the Amazon E-Commerce Service. If four of the top eight items in a list have a link to an Amazon.com detail page, UnSpun will show product images. To add an image, just add a link to the Amazon detail page for that item (just copy and paste the entire Amazon.com URL, UnSpun will take care of the formatting).

Can I add an image for something that isn't an Amazon.com product?

No, not at this time. Let us know what other types of images you would like to see.

What is an UnSpun widget?

• An UnSpun widget allows you to put the content of any UnSpun list on your site or blog, just by pasting a single line of HTML. Visitors to your site can view the content of lists and vote items up and down, just like on the UnSpun site. You can learn more on the UnSpun widget page.

How do I put a widget on my site?

• It is very simple:
  1. Find or create the list you want to add to your site
  2. Go to the list page, look in the right hand column, and copy the HTML code
  3. Paste the HTML into your site or blog

Can I change the widget height and width?

• Yes. On the list page, you will see a link called Customize just below the HTML to copy. You can set the widget height and width there. Right now, the minimum width is 200 pixels. If you are interested in a narrower widget, please contact us and tell us what width you would like.

I'm an Amazon Associate. How can I make money with UnSpun widgets?

• If a list contains products that are sold by Amazon, you can add your Amazon Associate ID to the widget and when your site visitors click on the more info link next to the item, your Associate ID will be passed through. If you're not already an Amazon Associate, you can join here.

Why do only some items link to Amazon.com?

• Only list items with links to Amazon.com show the more info link. To add links to Amazon for items in a list, simply click on the item name and you will be taken to the item page. Then click on Add Link and copy and paste the URL for the item from Amazon.com. Be sure to link to the correct product. For example, if the list item is Gone with the Wind and you are looking at a list of Great Civil War Novels, be sure to link to the book, and not to the movie. Hint: You can easily search for the product by using the Search Amazon.com link at the bottom of the item page.

If you have any further questions, please contact us.