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Nirav Tolia: Good evening everyone, and thanks for joining us for today's chat. Nirav Tolia: Our email inboxes and the boards have been humming, so we are looking forward to answering many of your questions. Nirav Tolia: Before we get started, I want to quickly comment on three issues I have personally heard from many of you. Nirav Tolia: And by the way, let me make a very important point: THIS CHAT IS NOT SCRIPTED. Many of the folks here -- and specifically Ron and Alexis -- spend hours preparing for this session. But it is not canned... your questions are answered in real-time. Nirav Tolia: Ok, here we go with the three questions: 1) what's up with the recent changes?; 2) is Epinions going out of business (I'm growing weary of answering this one); and 3) what is Epinions up to these days? Nirav Tolia: Number one: what's up with the recent changes? Nirav Tolia: Yes, so we made rather large changes. Nirav Tolia: Each decision (eliminating base Eroyalties, eliminating the CPP, eliminating edit/delete functionality) was made with the greater good of Epinions in mind, NOT because we are going out of business or disrespect our contributors. Nirav Tolia: Regarding base Eroyalties, we had received feedback from a number of you over and over that we should consider moving to a pure income share based program. Nirav Tolia: So we did. And we believe that the reduction in fraud as a result will make Epinions a much better place to be rewarded for helping shoppers make better buying decisions. Nirav Tolia: BTW, this initiative was not based on cost-reduction needs -- the overwhelming amount of Eroyalties payout go towards Income Share -- now 100% of the rewards will go there. Nirav Tolia: Moving on to the CPP -- one of our two large Q4 initiatives is site performance. Nirav Tolia: We have heard lots and lots of feedback from you on this issue and understand we can improve in this area. Nirav Tolia: The CPP affects the display of all pages on Epinions and makes it much harder to manage the overall web property. Nirav Tolia: Reducing complexity here will result in significantly better performance for all of our users. Nirav Tolia: And finally, the edit/delete functionality. Nirav Tolia: Let me say for the record: WE HEAR YOUR FEEDBACK. Nirav Tolia: Because edit/delete is currently a complex, tightly integrated function, we could not eliminate one without the other. However, we hear your concerns and already had planned to investigate ways of bringing back editing functionality. Nirav Tolia: So please be patient (as usual) and stay tuned... we will investigate alternative ways to edit new content and get back to you on its return as a feature. Nirav Tolia: Ok, moving on to question two: is Epinions going out of business? Nirav Tolia: I am pleased to report that we are not even CLOSE to going out of business. Nirav Tolia: Unfortunately, we still are not profitable, but revenue growth is occuring, and we are optimistic about our future. Nirav Tolia: In addition, because of our third round of funding, we have plenty of cash in the bank -- in fact, if we didn't earn ONE MORE DOLLAR in monthly revenue than we Nirav Tolia: currently do, we will still be fine for two years or more. Nirav Tolia: So please, please do not worry about Epinions going out of business. Many of the incredibly difficult Nirav Tolia: decisions we made earlier this year have enabled us to be around for the long term. Nirav Tolia: Finally, question three: what is Epinions up to these days? Nirav Tolia: As an adjunct to the last question, let me first say that October has so far been our best month ever in terms of traffic, so we're up to good things, I think! ;) Nirav Tolia: Seriously though, we have two major initiatives for Q4: 1) improve website performance (which I referenced earlier); and 2) augment shopper functionality. Nirav Tolia: On the second priority, I hope you've noticed all of the recent additions to the site, most notably price comparison related functionality. The response from our shopper community has been overwhelmingly positive and there are many more improvements on the way. Nirav Tolia: Whew... sorry for the long-windedness of that opening. Nirav Tolia: The reason I spent so long on it is because it covers the vast majority of questions received prior to and even during the chat. Nirav Tolia: Ok, on to more questions. Ladysmom: What is the Editor roll going to be now that people can not edit their reviews? Is it going to be eliminated. Joel Truher: Hi Ladysmom, Joel Truher: I understand that the absence of the review-edit feature will impact the relationship of editors and reviewers. Joel Truher: My hope is that editors will continue to provide the valuable feedback that they do, in the form of ratings and comments, Joel Truher: even though the reviewer will only be able to react to that feedback with their own comments, and in their future writing. Joel Truher: The Editor role is certainly not going to be eliminated, don't worry. loves2run: Will there still be Editor Bonuses along with Income Share and will we see an increase in our IS because you have done away with Eroyalities? Joel Truher: Yes, the Editor Bonus program will continue. Joel Truher: And as Nirav mentioned, the Base Eroyalties were small, compared to Income Share, so I don't think anyone will notice any change in the Income Share numbers as a direct result of the discontinuation of the Base program. Moderator Alexis: Many of you have asked about being able to view bold and italic in the draft mode. Joel Truher: Yes, actually the issue with HTML tags in draft/preview mode is something we can fix relatively easily, Joel Truher: and I hope that doing so will help offset the lack of a review-edit feature. mnehr: Still not profitable? After over two years of service it sounds as though you should higher some financial advisors who are not based in e-commerce. With a business plan that does not bring a company to profit in two years, one can assume that there should be some chopping off of heads somewhere near the top? Nirav Tolia: Let's start with mnehr... Nirav Tolia: As for chopping of heads near the top... now we're talking! Nirav Tolia: Just kidding -- I share your frustration with us not being profitable and assure you that we have plenty of financial Nirav Tolia: advisors who are not based in e-commerce. Nirav Tolia: However, I should note that two years is not really a reasonable time for a technology company to turn a profit. Nirav Tolia: In fact, the average technology company that eventually GOES PUBLIC (meaning those companies that are successful ones) take over six years to become profitable. Nirav Tolia: So we have some time, although I don't think it will take us four more years. jro26: Will we ever know the great Income Share secret on how it is distributed? Joel Truher: I can ansjwer jro26's question. Joel Truher: I don't think it's a great secret. Joel Truher: Honestly it seems like we talk about this topic every time we get together. Joel Truher: As you know, Income Share is generally higher for good reviews than bad ones, and it is higher in more-valuable product categories than it is in less-valuable categories, in terms of Epinions revenue. Joel Truher: The way to increase your Income Share payments is to write more high-quality reviews on popular products in high-value categories. Joel Truher: It's no secret! Workingmomof2: Some of us compared Editor IS and there seems to be significant discrepancies between categories - are some editors "less valuable" even if they contribute heavily? Nirav Tolia: Hello, workingmomof2... Nirav Tolia: All editors are valuable. Nirav Tolia: However, income share is based on the REVENUE we earn in specific categories, so the size of bonuses varies in part according to those specific categories as well. shantel575: WHEN WILL THE NEXT EDITOR/TOP REVIEWER SELECTION TAKE PLACE??????? It's been like 2 1/2 months since the last one? Some of us are working really hard !!! Joel Truher: In fact, the selection was made earlier this week and should appear on the site early next week. Joel Truher: Sorry we are late with this. Joel Truher: I appreciate the work that you and the other Editors put in, Joel Truher: and we intend to be more on-time in the future. jro26: Are you saying that Income Share will neither increase nor decrease? If there is no increase, that gives little incentive to the non-electronic reviews to keep reviewing. Nirav Tolia: Jro26 -- once again, income share is not based on arbitrary value judgements of the worth of categories. Nirav Tolia: It is based absolutely on the revenue generated in categories. Nirav Tolia: As I mentioned in my opening, one of our Q4 intiatives is to augment shopper functionality so we can make more revenue across the site. Nirav Tolia: As more revenue is generated, we will have the opportunity to award more Income Share. colleenmf: Which are the popular products and which are the high-value categories? Joel Truher: At the top level, computers and electronics are generally high-value categories. Joel Truher: Examples of low-value categories are education, media, and restaurants. Joel Truher: Just to be clear, when I say "value," I mean revenue. Joel Truher: To see which are the most-popular products in a category, you can check the category page. Joel Truher: Specifically, the "Most Popular" list shows the products that get the most traffic. nikjdog: But why is income share being distrubted later and later each month? Nirav Tolia: Hi nikjdog, sorry about the delay in income share distribution. Nirav Tolia: We hope to return to an early in the month schedule beginning in November. Thanks for the reminder. Lisa_J: With Christmas shopping season approaching, it would be most helpful to be able to add content of current market worthy products. Especially in kids and family. Joel Truher: Hi Lisa_J, Joel Truher: I totally agree. Joel Truher: The Kids and Family category is one of the higher-revenue categories (though not as high as the technology categories), Joel Truher: so we think it's important. Joel Truher: We're aware that some of our categories don't have the most up-to-date product content. Joel Truher: To address this issue, we are working closely with our growing network of merchant partners. Joel Truher: Our merchants have large catalogs of the best-selling current merchandise, and we would like to make sure that these products are available on Epinions. Joel Truher: So watch the Kids and Family category for new additions over the next few weeks. ratatosk: When will y'all stop with the fluff questions and get to the real issues: WHEN will edit be back? WHY is delete unavailable? WHY spring changes with no advance notice? Nirav Tolia: Well well well, ratatosk. Nirav Tolia: Ok, how about some quick answers. Nirav Tolia: 1) when will edit be back? Nirav Tolia: We honestly don't know. Nirav Tolia: As I mentioned in my opening, we are investigating the issue. Nirav Tolia: However, we DO plan to bring it back. If I had a date, I definitely would share it with you. Nirav Tolia: 2) why is delete unavailable? Nirav Tolia: First of all, community care spends far too much time dealing with folks who grow emotional (because they receive low ratings, or negative comments), delete their reviews, and then request that they be restored. Nirav Tolia: Second of all, when reviews disappear, Epinions becomes a much less compelling place for all users. We felt it made sense to add some stability to the user experience. Nirav Tolia: And finally 3) why spring changes with no advance notice? Nirav Tolia: We communicate as closely to when we make a decision as possible. Nirav Tolia: And of course, we are giving notice on the changes in Eroyalties and CPP. jo.com: I spent 150 hours on this site last month..take a look at my editor share and IS. Why not get rid of the categories that are a waste of our time? Joel Truher: Our goal is to make Epinions a totally comprehensive shopping resource. Joel Truher: Some categories provide us with more revenue than others at the moment, but our strong belief is that the comprehensiveness of the site will bring shoppers back again and again. Joel Truher: Otherwise it's a hit-or-miss proposition for shoppers. Joel Truher: Our revenue per category varies over time. Joel Truher: We are still building our network of merchant partners -- you can tell by our expanding "Check Latest Prices" tables on product pages. Joel Truher: For example, in the Education category, we recently signed up Princeton Review, Joel Truher: and that deal made a big difference in the revenue contribution of the Education category. Joel Truher: Also, most of our categories are highly seasonal, i.e. October, November, and December revenue tends to be higher Joel Truher: than for other months. Joel Truher: We don't think any of our categories are a waste of anyone's time. mshawpyle: Giving the way the site's going, why should any of us stay? What incentive is left? Nirav Tolia: Hello, mshawpyle. Nirav Tolia: I am sorry you feel so frustrated, truly I am. Why would anyone here want to have a corp of their most valuable contributors angry (or in this case, raging)? Nirav Tolia: Let me answer your questions two ways: Nirav Tolia: 1) The last few years have been an incredible educational experience for us, and really, everyone in the technology space. Nirav Tolia: In 1998 (when I was working at Yahoo!), people believed that successful, well-functioning, PROFITABLE companies could be built in just a few months or years. Nirav Tolia: Truth is, it takes LOTS of time and effort, and most importantly -- learning from mistakes -- to build successful businesses. Nirav Tolia: We are putting in as much effort as we can. We are trying to learn from our mistakes (and yes I know, making new ones all the time). Nirav Tolia: However, the time piece is something we cannot affect. Nirav Tolia: We have a very ambitious goal -- to be the best way for shoppers to make informed decisions -- and it will take a fair amount of time for this goal to be realized. Nirav Tolia: Probably YEARS, not months. Nirav Tolia: So when we talk about things like features being added (or coming back), bonus programs increasing, categories growing more robust, etc. We want all of this to happen. Nirav Tolia: But it will take time. Nirav Tolia: I know you all are very angry -- you make that very clear to me personally, and in the personal attacks you send during the chat. Nirav Tolia: But we are working as hard as we can to make Epinions work in the long-term. There will be hiccups (have already been many of those), but over time, things will improve. Nirav Tolia: The edit function WILL come back, just be patient. Nirav Tolia: So, one part of my long-winded answer is: stick around because you are part of a growing (many times, struggling) enterprise, one that ultimately will be the entity all of users hope it shall be. Nirav Tolia: The second part of my answer is: stick around because: 1) The site is growing -- record levels of traffic, 2) We offer rewards for writing -- not just money, but recognition; and 3) We have enough will and money to make this thing work. Nirav Tolia: Epinions is still a good resource and we hope to make it better every day. Be patient, stick around, and it will be worth everyone's while. lisaw1215: Since we can no longer delete reviews ourselves, can we request that it be done for us or are we stuck with whatever we have posted? Joel Truher: Well, my hope is that you will feel *proud* of whatever you have posted. Joel Truher: So until you can edit already-published reviews, I hope that you and our other contributors will make liberal use of the drafts mode. Nirav Tolia: Ok, we're going to wrap up now. It saddens us that so many of you are angry when positive things are happening for the company. Nirav Tolia: However, we hear your concerns, and as I mentioned several times, will bring back the edit functionality in one form or another. Nirav Tolia: We sincerely hope you all will continue to contribute in the all of the valuable ways you do -- content, ratings, comments, and everything else you do to make Epinions a great place to go before buying anything. Nirav Tolia: And finally, two quick notes: 1) our hearts go out to those affected by the September 11th tragedies; and 2) our hearts go out to the friends and family of Mark (Hard_To_Please), a valued member of our community, who unfortunately is no longer with us. Nirav Tolia: Have a great holiday season, everyone, and we'll talk to you soon. Nirav Tolia: Goodnight.
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