Gmail and SPAM

Like everyone else in the world, I seem to have a virtually unlimited amount of Gmail invites given to me in batches of 50. I have been wondering when Google was going to give up the bata and “go live” with gmail and do away with the invite system. Now, after more thought, I hope they never do it.

Gmail is one source that I don't get spam from! The “create and burn” hotmail and yahoomail accounts have flooded my spam filters over the years. Somehow, I expect that if I invited a spammer to Gmail, my account would probably get pulled or suspended.

When a product is hot, requiring a current or “known” customer to recommend all new members is a way to encourage the community to police itself. Peer pressure and tracking who invited the troublemakers is a good first step.

SportsShooter has done the same thing. New members have to be recommended by a “Senior Member” who will vouch for them. It is a system that both controls who is let into the community and also serves to restrict their actions; no-one wants to mess up and embarrass someone who recommended them!

What could other web communities learn from this?