OpenSocial.TrainReq(MySpace);
I thought I would post an update on my experience in dealing with the beta launch of the MySpace developer platform. Let me start by saying that, as everyone has already mentioned, MySpace had 8 months to watch how Facebook handled their platform launch, and yet they are still off to a horrible start compared to Facebook or Bebo.
On Wednesday, the day of the official launch, I submitted 6 apps to the platform. These apps did not violate any part of the platform guidelines, and they were implemented with IFRAME canvases. Little did I know that MySpace's reviewers would spend the first 2 days of the platform launch denying IFRAME canvas apps across the board with no good reason. Wednesday and Thursday went by without any progress at all, as my apps went back and forth between "Development", "Pending", and "Suspended."
On Friday I spent 5 hours of my valuable time on the #myspacedev chat room, trying to get my apps approved. First I was told that it would take a couple hours for them to be approved. 2 hours passed, then 3 more, and that's when one of the platform people finally got tired of listening to me and approved my applications all at once (bypassing the whole review process). At that time, it was all's well that ends well, though my Friday work schedule had gone to waste.
Then, today, I awoke to find that one of my applications, Jetman, was suspended again. I didn't even get an e-mail as to why… it was just suspended after 2 days of being live (and 18 installs). Of course, I had to spend another hour on #myspacedev, explaining the problem, giving advice to the one MySpace product person that was available, and overall just trying to make some progress. But I have to say, if I could just walk away from this terrible mess and confine myself to Facebook app development, I would. I really would. Unfortunately, I have to be on as many platforms as possible, and I have to do whatever I can to make things work. Even if it means helping MySpace to fix the problems they've created.
Aside from the fact that I think OpenSocial is stupid, and that I don't think MySpace is capable of doing anything that is elegant from a technical perspective, the real problem around all this is that in every communication I've had with MySpace employees, I feel like I'm talking to young teenagers. There isn't an iota of professionalism involved. I've never spoken directly to anyone that is actually on the team of reviewers, but the reviewers themselves have always sent very poor explanations for denying applications, or none at all. The people I have spoken to in #myspacedev have been API/platform people or product/community people. And in that respect, I can't tell if any of them understand that the MySpace Platform is a big deal, that getting into it is important for large businesses and independent developers alike, and that it's essential for MySpace employees to handle everything in the most professional and transparent way possible. You can't possibly imagine how tired I am of hearing things like, "we're doing the best we can, bear with us" or "lol, sorry about that, i'll see what i can do," or, the worst one, "we're trying." This is not how a "forrealz" business is run. Forget web 2.0, forget "a place for friends," I expect a lot more from a Rupert Murdoch company, and if it sounds like I'm bitter about how things have been going, it's because I am. I seriously, honestly, totally am. Let it be known that I'm trying to work with the MySpace people, and so are my coworkers, because we can't have much more of this back-and-forth limbo that's been going on for the past 4 days. Hopefully things will be better soon.
I'm going to sum up my thoughts with a screenshot from #myspacedev that couldn't make things more clear:
p.s.: rondata1 is a MySpace employee. I hope she won't hate me for writing this; we're friends on MySpace -.-;;
hehe
And… heaven help you if you're down for a few minutes while you beat your server into submission. Their deputized testing posse comes sweeping through at regular intervals to suspend anything that looks a little off. I can understand the concern for having only top-quality apps pass muster, but it is a bit much.