hebig.org/blog
Personal webnode of Haiko Hebig

The TypeKey discussion continues and while Ben answered some of my earlier objections, the key question "Why does the end user need TypeKey" as asked in above comments remains unanswered. I am anxious to hear Ben's answer to that question, though I assume that the announced TypeKey FAQ is more likely to answer the question "How we intend to sell it to the end user" instead.

Much of the current discussion in the community [see Technorati, Feedster] focuses on the question if TypeKey really can improve commenting, and I still think the answer is no. What is more interesting to look at is the fact that SixApart comes up with a full-blown service virtually out of the blue. So far it is very obvious that we are not talking about improving commenting, but about finally finding that commercial lever. As SixApart did not "embrace and extend" most of what the community has come up with it in the comment spam question (it did with many patches and tools from the community before), it basically left technically not so inclined users thirsty for a spam solution - voila, what a lever to introduce centralized registration. A story on that might read like that:

• SixAparts need to generate profits
• So far, high market penetration did not translate into profits
• New products like commercial TypePad licenses might be the main source of income, but not exploiting the high market penetration might be irresponsible
• To have users moving from a non-commercial solution to a commercial solution or to have users hooking in a commercial service, you need a "unique selling point". If you don't have that when operating in a competitive market, you are likely to think about creating a lock-in.
• TypeKey might be that lock-in. Presented as a tool to faciliate comment handling for both the commentar and the blog owner, many users are likely to enable TypeKey support in their MT3 installation (read: are likely not to change the default settings), thus creating a pseudo-standard.
• As a lock in provider, TypeKey is an essential part of SixApart's business strategy. A lock in provider has to excel in creating the lock, not in performing the task it officially is designed to. That's why one can present a centralized registration service as an improvement to commenting while it is more than doubtful that central registration can improve commenting at all.

Obviously, this is a risky way to do business: there is just one shot. Blogging tools is a competitive market, and so far, no product has a hard lock in. MovableType has some soft lock ins: deep market penetration, an active community, a friendly face. Still, user devotion and loyalty has limits, and once you get bad press, the blogosphere echo chamber can be devastating. Technically less inclined bloggers might have a look at Wordpress, those more inclined at Bloxom, Drupal or even Syncato, and both might look at Textpattern - to name but a few.

Considering blogworld's strong reactions so far, SixApart might have to act quickly in order to keep things under control. Official communication leaves much room for improvements so far:

• If you maintain radio silence on your official blogs for quite a while and then come up with a short announcement "Hey folks, we've built a commercial service with some technical and lots of social implications on your weblogs, but won't tell any details before everything is fixed and settled and released", don't be surprised if your style causes confusion and not so good press. Hope that it is a good thing if so many people discuss so much about so few lines of text.
• If your main product is a communication tool that helps people to engage in open discussion and you now come up with registration, control and lock-ins/lock-outs, don't be surprised if this slight swing causes confusion and not so good press. A good one for sales and marketing: as the company that invented distributed/remote commenting, now sell a centralized service to a community that loves openness and distributed architectures
• Don't ask your users to trust you. Even if your customers really like you, this is close to a PR desaster for the company and a risky path for you as a person. If you ask for trust even before you publish product details, it is a bit like the doctor who asks his patient to be brave before he pokes that needle into his body - because then, it won't hurt so much. It is like saying "We know you won't like it, but we have to do it anyway as we don't see a better lever." SixApart may be a 20 people VC-powered operation, but this friendly married couple that made blogging popular still is the face of the company. So why gamble with that image if a lot of your business success depends on that image?

Ben, Mena, your turn :-)