CPR for a Dying Goose
Jan 29 '02 (Updated Jan 31 '02)
The Bottom Line Epinions seems to be terminally ill. Can this website be saved? Is it at least worth a try? Do you even care? Oh well, it's probably too late anyway.
Epinions, once a fun and relaxing refuge from reality, is getting to be quite unpleasant.
So many in the community have turned bitter, hurtful, and argumentative. The only thing that we all seem to agree on is that Epinions just ain’t what it used to be.
You can’t make money here anymore. Folks are eating each other alive for the few pennies that are available. You don’t get much respect as a writer. Editor and Top Reviewer status often seem randomly awarded and not based on ability or the extent of a person’s contribution. Epinions’ management and the membership are constantly at odds with each other. Mutual distrust seems to be rampant.
Everything seems to have gone downhill, and a lot of good folks have gone out the door.
The fact is, I don’t see much of a future for this site. Nirav tells us that they continue to lose money each month. And I believe him. From the day I joined, I’ve never been a big believer in the Epinions business model. It’s too unwieldy for consumers to wade through. Too subjective. It provides plenty of useful information to the consumer, but that information is not easily quantifiable and accessible to consumers.
Instead, it is buried among the reams of personal anecdotes that we dutifully include in our reviews. This personal touch is what makes it fun and satisfying for us as writers, but awkward for consumers to extract useful information. Don’t blame us. That’s how the expected, if not required, content of reviews has evolved over time, since the membership was given control of rating the content. That’s what we wanted; so that’s what consumers got.
From the first day, the inmates took over the asylum with the warden’s blessing.
Epinions is really a writers’ site masquerading as a consumer site. And, as it tries to do both, it succeeds in doing neither. This conflict of writers’ site vs. consumer site is at the heart of all of Epinions’ current problems and the reason for the dissatisfaction of the membership.
And it is this conflict that may lead to its demise.
It’s broke, but can it be fixed?
Probably. But first you have to fix the mechanism for consumer reporting, which is Epinions’ only reason for existing.
The idea of having real folks like you and me tell of our experiences with products and services is a good one.
I don’t want to kill reviews, or even limit them in format or length. Writing them, personal anecdotes and all, is what makes Epinions enjoyable for all of us. It’s also what attracts so many people to join and keeps us here toiling away day after day. However, in order for Epinions to survive, something has to be done to make this place more accommodating to the needs of consumers.
Individually, our experience is valuable. In aggregate, our collective experience is marketable. It’s the aggregate part where Epinions has been deficient.
To maximize the value of our input, each review should be supplemented by a fairly comprehensive checklist covering the major points that a consumer would be interested in when making a purchasing decision. This checklist should include factors like duration of ownership, ease of use, durability, warranty, and overall satisfaction. The key here is to be comprehensive, and to tailor the checklists as much as practical to the type of product rated.
Epinions should then aggregate the responses to these checklists, and provide the results, point by point, for each product. Side by side comparisons of similar competing products, as well as rankings among similar products would greatly enhance the value of the information offered by Epinions. Consumers can then be directed to individual reviews for personal, anecdotal information, if desired.
Epinions must also find a way to keep their database of products current, and make it easier for consumers to locate information on those products. Nothing will frustrate a consumer more than an inability to find a product on our database. Perhaps the answer is to abandon the idea of trying to be all things to all people. Whittle down the database. Determine which categories tend to draw the most consumer inquiries, limit the database to those product categories, and keep current in them. Use Epinions’ existing resources more efficiently.
There is strength in numbers. Epinions has the numbers in terms of members and content, but has yet to use that strength effectively.
Unfortunately, doing something like this costs money…lots of money. Does Epinions have the resources to pull something like this off at this late stage? Is it too late? Your guess is as good as mine.
The next step is to ensure a steady flow of quality content. This is the delicate part since it depends on keeping the membership happy.
Money sure would go a long way in keeping us happy; but, if the money isn’t there right now, at least treat us like adults.
The management of Epinions must try to be more open and honest with all of us. We provide the content. We’re supposed to be members and writers; not just fodder for banner ads. Within the constraints that the current business climate and their own tenuous financial situation have imposed upon Epinions, they must try to make this site more member friendly.
They have to be less heavy-handed in their dealings with us. Acknowledge that our contributions are great, but our rewards are few these days. A little respect would go a long way toward making us feel like equal partners in keeping this site afloat. And, in reality, that is what we are…partners. Without our content, this place would cease to exist. And without Epinions, most of us would be hanging this stuff on our refrigerators.
Epinions’ approach to the termination of Eroyalties and the elimination of our ability to edit and delete reviews was worthy of any two-bit dictator at his worst. It took extreme, but justifiable, measures on the part of the membership to regain the ownership of their reviews. (Unfortunately, in the process it seems we opened Pandora’s box, and now find it difficult to cram the evil that was unleashed back into it.)
There is also no excuse for tactics like the preemptive email that was sent to Editors and some members when Epinions got wind of the proposed SCADS write-off. A little investigation and communication before jumping the gun would have provided Epinions management with the comforting knowledge that the intent of SCADS was rather benign, and would result in nothing worse than many of the reviews that are routinely rated “VH” on a daily basis around here.
If you can’t pay us now, at least respect us and open up honest lines of communication with us.
But it doesn’t stop there.
As members, or partners, we have our own obligations.
What, if anything, can we do to keep this place alive?
Well, first off, if you want this place to survive (and why else would you be reading this?), take the extra time to write quality reviews. Quality, up-to-date content is the engine that makes this place run. You won’t get paid much at all, but if you’re going to take the trouble to write anyway, you might as well do justice to yourself and your abilities. Don’t know if it’ll do much good at this point, but at least you’ll be able to look at yourself in the mirror.
Rate honestly so that the really good stuff (and not necessarily your friend’s stuff) rises to the top.
If you’ve already given up on this place (and I wouldn’t blame you if you have), don’t hang around to snipe and vandalize. Do the honorable thing and get out. Sadly, a number of great writers have already done so, but most have done it with grace and dignity. That grace and dignity, which was always reflected in their writing, was a substantial part of what made them great to begin with.
Next, accept the fact that constantly kicking the golden goose’s rear end is just gonna force them golden eggs so far up its butt, they ain’t never gonna come out.
Now those of you who know me also know that I’ve rarely offered up a whit of useful product information in all the time I’ve been a member. More often than not, I tend to stretch, bend, and mangle topics and categories just to have some fun and get a few laughs.
But, I try to do it unobtrusively. You can have your fun and be minimally disruptive.
I have my fun in places where folks looking for real advice are unlikely to venture. Unknown to the general public, there’s a big playground in here. Essay categories…dumb categories…there sure are enough of them to keep us all busy and amused. If you want to play, look for them.
Don’t screw around in places where you’re going to frustrate, annoy, shock, and possibly chase away folks from the site.
Some people, mistaking their farts for performance art, tend to confuse obscenity with creativity. I’m certainly not a prude. But I am an adult. The indiscriminate, overuse of obscenity in a review is nothing but a manifestation of juvenile behavior and intellectual laziness. A creative review, even an off-topic review if written artfully, is one that can be displayed proudly on a library shelf. Much of what I’ve seen lately is only suitable for scrawling on a bathroom wall.
Lately, a lot of good folks have crossed that line. Maybe they did it out of anger, or frustration, or they felt that the end is near and it just didn’t matter anymore. For whatever reason, all they are doing is hastening the demise of what appears to be an already wounded site.
Why did I bother going through all this? This review is certainly not going to make me very popular with a lot of folks around here. Especially with those folks who don’t comprehend, or refuse to accept, the concept of personal responsibility.
Despite all of Epinions’ faults, I like it here. I’m an amateur with no writing aspirations beyond what I scribble here. This place gives me an outlet for my occasional attempts at writing, and I don’t want to see it go away.
This goose may die a natural death. It may be inevitable. But I’d rather see it happen later than sooner.
Besides, there’s still the remote chance that those golden eggs may come plopping out its rear end again one day.
If it doesn't self-destruct.
And if we, in our anger and frustration, don't kill it.
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Epinions.com ID:
rich2003dm
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Location: New York City
Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 171 members
About Me:
I broke my pencil so I'm probably done here.
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