LooseSuits

I think the majority of its success is to do with the amount you can destroy the design and ruin the work of W3C and usability experts... But if I took over I'd make things a lot more fixed and especially no auto-playing music...

Failing that just redirect all the traffic to my site >=)

I'd use standards compliant code and I'd create widgets.

Well the problem is that users don't use standards compliant code... I'd force W3C validation onto profiles, but that'd kill off the user base..

I'd go with Oli's idea, and use MySpace as a bot free (or is it really?) DoS network for the next few days ;)

I still hold with the 'everytime someone uses myspace a designer dies' ;)

karmatosed, that's hilarious!

If I owned Myspace I wouldn't change it since I'm one of the largest sites on the web.

If I'm just a user of Myspace and a diehard person at that I don't think there is much I would want to change. Not much more you can do with it since it's a basic social app, but it does what it does really well.

Oh I know what I do, making the edit friends function a bit easier to use. When you start to get hundreds of friends finding the profile of one can get a bit rough.

I don't regularly check my MySpace profile anymore, even though I've about 900 contacts on it.

I've been converted to MyBlogLog.
It's way easier to use and I'm able to build my network more easily and it just seems the interactivity is easier.

If you'd like to add me, my Andrew Wee MyBlogLog profile

MySpace just feels clunky to me, and there're tons of fake profiles being created all the time.

I'd replace the tables-based layout with CSS, and separate it from the styling of the content.

I'd also try and un-clutter the interface for the admin, much like Facebooks in my opinion.

Oh man, this is a loaded question.

I'd go in more of a Wordpress.com direction. Give the user's the option to change the look and feel of their page easily. That's from the end-user's perspective.

It's easy to critique the site from our standpoint, but Myspace has become part of our pop-culture consciousness now, so they have to be doing something right.

If I were running the place, I wouldn't be as worried about webstandards as I'd be about all of the latency or page errors. The best way to run off users isn't sloppy code, it's server issues.

I would fire all the developers and hire better ones. It just annoys me how many bugs myspace has, ridiculous.

I agree, the popularity of MySpace is insane seeing as how well, or poorly its been coded.

They should sell it off to someone who wants to improve it.

I know my suggestion, and it came from others as well, is to fix their crappy code, but can you imagine the nightmare project that would be? All of the cottage industry formed around MySpace and all of the customized profiles would be broken. I think it would cause a backlash of epic proportions.

I've never been a fan of MySpace for all the reasons mentioned. Personally, I'd scrap it or sell it and start over from scratch with better planning and development. Something along the lines of Blogger, WordPress, or TypePad would be a step in the right direction. Oh well, I guess we wouldn't appreciate the higher end blogs without the riff-raff.

Justin - well just reset all the profiles to "default" and let them be customized again under the new framework.

MySpace's greatest (and only) asset is the huge userbase.. It's the only thing that keeps them going - "well everybody else has a myspace page". How they got there in the first place is a mystery.

It's be easier to redesign the entire thing from scratch, with scalability in mind. And then just port everyone over. Oh, and devote a team to take care of all the spam, fake accounts, etc.

The top ten ways I would change MySpace.com:

10. Take the word "My" out of the name, and replace it with "Wast of".

9. Force all users that sign up to take an IQ test and report all results to 9rules.com for us to critque and ridicule.

8. Set a "500 errors in code found" limit on all user pages. And all pages MUST have a "doctype" defined! NO EXCEPTIONS!

7. Set maximum of 1 embedded "auto play' video or song per page.

6. All users must be atleast this tall --> ¯ to register. (Let's see if they fall for it).

5. The main/index page would include a disclaimer: "Warning, User registration may cause short term dizzyness and long term stupidity".

4. All users over 40 must register at "pervertedjustice.com".

3. Rule number 1, we don't talk about "MySpace".

2. I would change the name from "MySpace" To "Microsoft MySpace". This way, there is an understandable reason for not complying to web standards!

And the number one way I would change "MySpace.com" would be.....

1. Forward the domain to 9rules.com! :)

-Michael

I would not allow those I'm on Myspace IM messages
They get my blood boiling.
I can do without them
Mabey they could....I just hate those messages!@#$$@#@#

I think I look at MySpace as the hideous, media/bot-ridden Facebook for the masses.

I would agree with ryanarrowsmith on this one, that a wordpress.com feel would work a better. Perhaps not limiting them to standards code, but at least standard-compliant templates... that they can't change(outside of colors / images).

Perhaps each template has hooks for specific content.

Idiot proof: "Put your annoying movie here." - "Have your poor taste in music blasted here." - "Put the picture of a model you found online and are trying to pass off as yourself here."

That would be hot.

Sadly, I think Scrivs has it on this one; there's no point in spending the time/money to change the site, as it's already a huge cash cow as-is.

iWeep.

Channeling the spirit of Internet Zillionaire...

Change its name to MyAdSpace.com and completely remove the human “friend” concept and pictures. Instead, make it so that people are able to display their top 8 favorite matchmaking/singles ads, watch and download their favorite Fox TV commercials, and listen to promos about their favorite bands.

(Prediction: no one will notice the difference.)

... the spirit has left me.

Well, if I had cPanel access or or equivilent I would redirect to my site (thoughthacker.com) then delete every file that was non-essential to the redirect and cPanel itself. I would delete myspace & all back-ups.

This would make the interwebs a better place for us all :P