2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
Member Advisory Board Update
Posted: Friday, December 21, 2001
Details on the Member Advisory Board will be announced in January, 2002. As 2001 has drawn to a close, Epinions has spent considerable time working towards the creation of this new contributor-based body. We look forward to announcing further details about the Member Advisory Board's purpose and structure in the coming new year.
Top Reviewer and Editor Selection Process Update
Posted: Friday, December 14, 2001
The Top Reviewer and Editor selection processes will be revised to address concerns voiced by the contributor community. The basic requirements for each role have not changed, as outlined in the Top Reviewer and Editor FAQ in the Help Center.
For details, please see the full announcement.
Local Services Update
Posted: Wednesday, November 28, 2001
After evaluating the results of the Services test announced earlier this year, Epinions has decided not to retain the Local Services section at this time. Epinions thanks all members who contributed Local Services reviews, and regrets that we will not be expanding this section at this time.
Please note that the results of this Local Services test do not rule out the possibility of a Local Services section on Epinions at a later date. All Local Services reviews will continue to be displayed on the site and can be accessed from reviewers' profile pages. However, the Local Services section will be removed from the site in mid-December, 2001.
October 30th Chat Transcript
Posted: Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participated in yesterday's chat session. For those members who were unable to join us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript of the entire session.
Information for Tonight's Chat
Posted: Tuesday, October 30, 2001
October 30, at 6:00pm PDT, Epinions will host a special moderated chat with Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia and other members of the Epinions team. All members of the Epinions community are invited to participate. For details on how to sign in, please visit the pre-chat page.
Edit/Delete Functionality Restored
Posted: Monday, October 29, 2001
The ability to edit and delete reviews has been restored. Please see the letter from Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia for full details on this change.
October 25th Chat Transcript
Posted: Friday, October 26, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participated in yesterday's chat session. For those members who were unable to join us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript of the entire session.
Eroyalties Program Update
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
In an effort to increase the operational efficiency of Epinions' financial incentive system, monthly Income Share will become the sole form of Eroyalties credits awarded to reviewers. Member and non-member visits to individual reviews will continue to be tracked and displayed, however base Eroyalties and Content Partner Eroyalties payments will be discontinued. This measure is being taken for the following reasons:
- To emphasize Income Share as the primary system for rewarding the most valuable reviews, as determined by Epinions users. As many of you are aware, Income Share currently accounts for the majority of incentives distributed on the site.
- To eliminate financial compensation for reviews with low average ratings (e.g., "Not Helpful" or "Somewhat Helpful".)
- To better protect the community against fraudulent activity involving the base Eroyalties system. The majority of gaming on the site is triggered by base Eroyalties.
- To respond to many of your suggestions that Epinions take this step to address the above issues. After careful consideration, we have decided that Income Share is the most efficient method for rewarding the best reviewers on Epinions.
This transition will take place on November 1st, 2001.
Content Partner Program Transition
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
In an effort to improve performance on Epinions, the Content Partner Program will be discontinued in mid-November 2001. Content Partner Eroyalties will be discontinued on November 1st, 2001. This action is being taken for the following reasons:
- To reduce page loading time. Customized content partner sites contribute additional page loading time for each type of page displayed on Epinions.
- To reduce the frequency of recurring bugs.
We realize this is a difficult transition for many of you who have invested time and effort into customizing your partner sites. Epinions recognizes the customization efforts put forth by each of you. We hope the benefits to all Epinions members of increasing site performance and reducing site bugs will be worth this difficult tradeoff.
When this transition happens, all existing partner site links will be redirected to www.epinions.com and you may continue to link directly to Epinions from your sites. Finally, the Content Partner referral program will officially end with the discontinuation of the Content Partner Program.
Edit/Delete Policy Change
Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2001
In an effort to ensure that reviews on Epinions remain accessible to all Epinions users, reviews may not be edited or deleted after they are published on Epinions. Reviewers will be able to edit a review as many times as desired in draft mode. Epinions reviewers continue to retain all rights as outlined in the User Agreement.
Reviewers can continue to post comments to a review as follow-ups or to highlight relevant information that may be of interest to others reading that review. Epinions encourages reviewers to edit a review as a privately viewed draft before publishing it and making it publicly visible by others.
October Chat Details
Posted: Wednesday, October 17, 2001
On Thursday, October 25, at 6:00pm PDT, Epinions will host a special moderated chat with Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia and other members of the Epinions team. All members of the Epinions community are invited to participate. For details on how to sign in, please visit the pre-chat page.
If you have questions you would like answered during the upcoming chat, please send them to epi_chat@epinions-inc.com.
August First Review Write-Off Sweepstakes Winners
Posted: Thursday, September 13, 2001
The winners for the August First Review Write-Off Sweepstakes are as follows:
bilbopooh,
bkalafut,
chrisjarmick,
criteeker,
ddustyrose,
dolphinboy,
dtv_engineer,
jedikermit,
jeremy1456,
ldon526,
lindaohio,
merle_levy,
milyjohnson,
mountainhigh,
pantazis5,
pmills1210,
swooshfan2,
teamfreak16,
thesmarttraveler,and
wendy7734.
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for participating!
Christal & The Epinions Team
August First Review Write-Off Sweepstakes Winners!
Posted: Thursday, September 13, 2001
The winners for the August First Review Write-Off Sweepstakes are as follows:
bilbopooh,
bkalafut,
chrisjarmick,
criteeker,
ddustyrose,
dolphinboy,
dtv_engineer,
jedikermit,
jeremy1456,
ldon526,
lindaohio,
merle_levy,
milyjohnson,
mountainhigh,
pantazis5,
pmills1210,
swooshfan2,
teamfreak16,
thesmarttraveler,and
wendy7734.
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for participating!
Christal & The Epinions Team
August Chat Wrap-Up
Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participated in last week's chat session. For those members who were unable to join us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript of the entire session.
Advisor Role Transition
Posted: Thursday, August 9, 2001
Epinions will be transitioning away from the Advisor role on the site laterthis month to introduce two new roles for active site participants: TopReviewers and Editors. These new roles are being introduced to betteracknowledge contributions made by the site's top contributors. For detailson this transition, please refer to the Advisor Role Transition Q&A.
New Categories on Epinions!
Posted: Wednesday, August 1, 2001
Epinions has launched an Online Stores category! Help others find the best and worst stores online by writing reviews of online stores you've purchased from. Plus, you can now review your local mechanic or car dealer in a category Epinions is currently testing. For details, see the Local Services FAQ.
Note: Epinions removed its local services category based on results of testing the category.
June Chat Wrap-Up
Posted: Tuesday, July 10, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participated in last week's chat session. For those members who were unable to join us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript of the entire session.
June Chat Details
Posted: Tuesday, June 26, 2001
On Thursday, June 28, at 6:00pm PDT, Epinions will host a special moderated chat with Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia and other members of the Epinions team. All members of the Epinions community are invited to participate. For details on how to sign in, please visit the pre-chat page.
If you have questions you would like answered during the upcoming chat, please send them to epi_chat@epinions-inc.com.
Member Center Eroyalties Rate Change
Posted: Thursday, June 21, 2001
Based on feedback received from community members, essays written in the Member Center will no longer receive Eroyalties credits.
Epinions Rating Guidelines
Posted: Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Based on feedback received from community members who rate, the following rating guidelines have been created to offer raters guidance on how to rate.
May Chat Wrap-Up
Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participated in last week's chat session. For those members who were unable to join us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript of the entire session.
Compare Products on Epinions!
Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2001
Now you can compare products side-by-side on Epinions! Try out the new compare buttons on any product listing or product page to compare similar product features and specifications before you buy.
May Chat Details
Posted: Tuesday, May 15, 2001
On Thursday, May 24, at 6:00pm PDT, Epinions will host a special moderated chat with Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia and other members of the Epinions team. All members of the Epinions community are invited to participate. For details on how to sign in, please visit the pre-chat page.
If you have questions you would like answered during the upcoming chat, please send them to epi_chat@epinions-inc.com.
Selected New Products Added This Week
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2001
Based on feedback we received from the community, we now have a page in the member center that lists selected new products added to the site each week.
April Chat Unanswered Questions
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all members of the community who joined us for our monthly chat in April.
For any members who were unable to participate in the chat, we have posted a transcript of the entire session.
We received more questions than we could answer in the hour we had planned. The answers to these unanswered questions are now available.
Monthly Redemption
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2001
Due to recent changes, redemption checks will only be sent out once a month. Redemption is a time-consuming process for Epinions Community Care. Therefore, this change will ensure that their time is being spent in the most valuable way for the community. Redemption will be processed the first Friday after Income Share is distributed.
April Chat Wrap-Up
Posted: Tuesday, April 24, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participated in last week's chat session. For those members who were unable to join us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript of the entire session.
April Chat Details
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2001
On Tuesday, April 17, at 6:00pm PDT, Epinions will host a special moderated chat with Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia and other members of the Epinions team to address recent changes at Epinions. All members of the Epinions community are invited to participate. For details on how to sign in, please visit the pre-chat page.
If you have questions you would like answered during the upcoming chat, please send them to epi_chat@epinions-inc.com.
Email Alerts are Back!
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2001
Email alerts on reviews, comments, members and products are once again available. We apologize for the delay in reinstating this feature. We have made some improvements, such as the ability to temporarily suspend alerts, that we hope you will enjoy.
March Chat Wrap-Up
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all members of the community who joined us for our monthly chat in March.
For any members who were unable to participate in the chat, we have posted a transcript of the entire session.
We received more questions than we could answer in the hour we had planned. The answers to these questions are now available.
Eroyalties Rate Change
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2001
Effective Wednesday, April 18, Eroyalties rates will be $1 for every 100 member visits to your reviews in all categories. Please note: these changes only affect Eroyalties credits you earn from Wednesday, April 18th forward - this will not affect Eroyalties credits you have already earned.
Epinions Reduces Workforce
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2001
Due to increasingly weak economic conditions, Epinions has made the difficult decision to again reduce its workforce. While this action is extremely painful and emotional, we are convinced it is the right one for the future of the company. For a detailed explanation of this decision, please see the letter from Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia.
March Chat Details
Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2001
On Thursday, March 22, at 6:00pm PST, Epinions will host a moderated chat with Epinions CEO Nirav Tolia and other members of the Epinions team. All members of the Epinions community are invited to participate. For details on how to sign in, please visit the pre-chat page.
Epinions Chat Update
Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2001
The monthly chats with Epinions' Co-Founder and CEO, Nirav Tolia, will be changed from the third Thursday of each month to the fourth Thursday, and will now take place from 6:00-7:00pm PST. The next chat will be Thursday, March 22.
The unanswered questions from the February 15th chat are now available.
Media categories are back!
Posted: Friday, February 23, 2001
Books, movies, and music can now be browsed! We know there are still issueswith these categories and are working through them, but we wanted you to beable to get back to writing & reading reviews in these areas while wecontinue to improve them.Just so you know what we're still working on: - We are loading the latest movie releases now, and they should beavailable next week along with some browsing improvements in the moviescategory.
- Not all books are available through browsing yet, but they will all beavailable through search
- You will be able to search books by author or title, but not by ISBN #
- We are still improving the way you browse through the categories -- forexample, we know that most people don't search music by record label. Wewill have these changes out soon.
- Weekly updates for all categories (new movies, books and music) willstartnext week.
Starting next week, we will be working to keep these categories up to date,so you should be able to write & read reviews on all the latest releases.Enjoy!
February Chat Wrap Up
Posted: Wednesday, February 21, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all members of the community who joined us for our monthly chat last week. We have found the two chat sessions so far to be extremely valuable, and we hope that you have too.
For any members who were unable to participate in the chat, we have posted a transcript of the entire session.
In both of the chat sessions, we received far more questions than we could answer in the hour we had planned. We collected a list of those questions from each session. The answers to the questions from the January 24th session are now available, and the answers for questions from February 15th will be completed in the next week.
Epinions Monthly Chat
Posted: Tuesday, February 13, 2001
Epinions invites all members of the community to participate in a moderated chat with Nirav Tolia, Epinions Co-Founder and CEO. The chat will be held Thursday, Feburary 15, from 5:00-6:00pm PST.
Please visit the chat page for information on how to sign in.
Epinions Chat Follow-up
Posted: Thursday, January 25, 2001
Epinions would like to thank all of the community members who participatedin Wednesday evening's chat session. For those members who were unable tojoin us or who could not stay the entire time, you can read a transcript ofthe entire session.
We have also prepared an information page which addresses someof the most common questions asked about the new site design and what willhappen moving forward. If you have questions about the site, please take amoment and read through this page to see if we have answered them.
From this point forward, Epinions will be hosting chat sessions on a monthlybasis. We hope you will join us next month!
Comments are back!
Posted: Wednesday, January 24, 2001
Epinions is pleased to announce the return of comments to the site.
Theimproved comments feature allows you to preview and edit comments before youpost them and to delete your old comments that are no longer relevant.
Epinions understands how important comments are to the community and we appreciate your patience while this feature was unavailable.
Chat with Epinions' CEO!
Posted: Tuesday, January 23, 2001
Epinions invites all members of the community to participate in a moderatedchat with our CEO, Nirav Tolia, about the recent changes to Epinions.com.
The chat will take place from 5:00-6:00pm PST on Wednesday, January 24.
Check back here Wednesday afternoon at 5:00 for details on how to sign inand participate.
We look forward to talking to you about the changes and answering anyquestions you may have.
New Epinions.com Design
Posted: Wednesday, January 17, 2001
We have finished our new and improved site. With this new design, Epinions.com is an even better place to make informed buying decisions.
Please check out the new functionality and some of the important changes from the previous site.
Here's what you can enjoy with the new design.
Get high-quality advice that you can trust. - Multiple Points of View. With over 1 million reviews and comments, you can count on a comprehensive overview for many products.
- All Content is Rated. Using its robust content engine; Epinions presents you with the highest quality content based on how helpful other users have found it.
- Both the Pros and Cons. Opinions are grouped so you can easily find out why some recommended a product and others don't.
Find the right products and services for you. - Web of Trust Filtering. Epinions' patent-pending filtering technology provides you with trusted and relevant information.
- Product Filters. Care most about brand, price, reviews, or overall rating? Product searches can be based on what's most important to you.
- Get Better Search Results. New search technology helps you find a product or member more quickly.
Decide what to buy and where to buy it. - Price Comparisons. Once you decide what to buy, easily compare the latest prices from online stores to make an informed purchase.
- Millions of Products. Epinions covers 2 million products and services in over 30 different categories.
- Breadth of Information. In addition to detailed product reviews, you can read buying guides (What should I consider when buying a baby monitor?), product definitions (What is a megapixel?), and how-to guides (How do I install a car stereo?).
A great place to share your opinion and earn money. - Save Opinion Drafts. Write an opinion, save it as a draft, and publish it when you are ready.
- Rate More Products. Rate products on a five-point scale without submitting a review.
- Become A Top Reviewer. Write great reviews, actively participate in the community, earn money, and get the opportunity to be featured across the site.
|
