This site's just not fun anymore ! Feb 07 '01 (Updated Feb 09 '01)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Books Irene Hunt - The Lottery Rose: A Novel From $6 John Steinbeck - East Of Eden From $7 The Bottom Line What's the point ? Last fall I accidentally stumbled upon Epinions while trying to get some consumer reviews of electric shavers. I became absolutely addicted and I started writing about products I'd been using. My first reviews were pretty basic and I got some member feedback and my writing began to improve. I thought to myself, "Hey, this is great ! I'm getting a chance here to practice and improve my writing, I get almost instant feedback, and I earn a few bucks in the process." One of the things that was so addictive was the immediate updating that showed "hits" increasing. It was also fun waiting to see if your opinion was "Highly Recommended" or "Recommended" or worse. It was also great fun to see that your earnings increased by 45 cents or whatever in the last hour. I think most members would agree that getting comments on your opinions is the most satisfying. It kind of "personalizes" the whole experience. All in all, it was just fun to log on and see what's up. This site just isn't much fun anymore. Not because of site errors, but because of a lack of hits since the site came back up, and the lack of that instant feedback. I've written 2 opinions since the site came back. Not a single hit in the first 24 hours and only a very small handful since ! The fun of the site was trying to write a useful, coherent opinion and then posting it and watching for hits and comments. That fun is gone. Before the site was "improved", you could post an opinion on just about anything, and it would get 10-15 hits in the first ten minutes. Now I'm lucky to get 10-15 hits in ten days ! I've concluded that the fun of Epinions was the interaction between members. Read some clever writing, write some comments, get some comments, add someone to your web of trust or get someone to trust you. I have several writers who I look forward to reading when they posted new opinions. E-mail notification still isn't back so I don't know if or when they've written anything new. This site isn't my whole life, but it was fun to sit down in the evening after work and go to epinions to browse around. To me, it's the overall friendly atmosphere I originally found that's gone. It doesn't feel like the "coffee and donuts" place it once was. What a shame.

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