Simply not displaying who rated you up or down (just like on here) is the first step towards that.
That is definitely something that has been a consideration since day one though. Epinioins was widely disqualified as a reputable source because people formed such "cartels" to take advantage of their paid review model.
Sure epinions would be a closer comparison to us, because we do allow user reviews.
Our approach though, is mostly to let people submit links to outside reviews. There will always be CNet & engadget (and these will be submitted), but what we're hoping for is a place to help people find reliable reviews from lesser known sites like audioholics, i4u, GSM arena, or the hundreds or thousands of tech blogs like digitalconsistency.com that pop up all the time.
Forming a user-driven centralized hub for consumer electronic reviews from all over the web.
Someone who's IQ is reasonably high will still say uninformed things. Also, IQ does not change with age... so a 14 year old with a high IQ would fit right into your "elite community" and immediately spoil the party due to their lack of maturity.
Why not just form a blacklist of "stupid IPs". Keep your input productive... or die.
:-) I'm glad this got posted on here. We are building a product review site & I was super tempted to leave a comment on techcrunch. Alas, our site isn't far enough along, nor is it prepared for that kind of attention.
PowerReviews/buzzillions has a pretty clever business model. Essentially its creating Sheep that $hit grass. It is a step beyond it's competition iNods, which is two steps beyond ViewScore, which are both only marginally more useful than just searching google to find reviews.
But what I (we) think would be a lot cooler, is building a community around and for this tech consumer market.
Our site ( http://revvu.com ) uses a user-driven model for centralizing consumer electronic reviews on the web. Users can submit reviews that they find, or blog, or want to share. Then the community can vote reviews up or down (based on value) per each individual product page. (sort of reddit style)
Votes on reviews effect the weight of ratings, forming a dynamic review score that reflects the opinion of the masses.
We just launched on Monday, so karma is not yet visible. Also, our social network aspect is not in place yet. That aspect will be the key to creating a strong community, creating an addicting user experience, and creating a way to share (read: show off) the things you own & are interested in.
I think PowerReviews is a cool concept, and will probably work for some retailers... but they (like everyone else in this space) don't get "it" yet. Aside from the arbitrary use of tagging, their site isn't really reflecting any of the advancements or evolutions of the way people use the internet today. They have found a business model that seems feasible and built an idea around it in a market that NEEDS improvement. What they lack is a carrot to attract users (those seeking reviews) to care, return, or get involved. Which might be fine for them, if thats not what they want. If thats the case though, suggesting that PowerReview (or buzzillions) "may get the market" doesn't sound very likely.
Anyway, we'd really appreciate feedback on our site. This is a very sharp community. We would certainly be interested to hear from, or chat with, anyone who has feedback/suggestions for us.
The company is an entity. It would be appropriate to use "we" more often that not. Use "I" when talking about yourself or yourself on behalf of the entity.
The same should be said for 2 or 3 person teams. Try to get in the habit of thinking about the company as an entity bigger than yourself.
The answer is yes. Apparently (as you already know) Google's employee intellectual property agreements say that they have the rights to anything developed while employed by Google. Read all the fine print and speak to a lawyer.
"A duck can swim, walk and fly. But an eagle flies faster and more skillfully, fish are better swimmers and just about anything on legs can outrun a duck." In other words, ducks can do a lot of things but they are not experts in any of them. So, in your business, don't be a duck! "
Great analogy! I've gotten similar advice from a number of people. Must be worth something :-)
I'm sure it would be nearly impossible to sell. ;-) Hence i volunteer to sell it myself. I'm sure it would be a huge undertaking because of things the hardware limitations & time it would take to update things... but once in place, it'd be well worth it for everyone involved.
yea i definitely want to see micro payments catch on. I've been ranting about this for months now. I think it is a much needed component of the new internet i want to see exist :-)
- revamp the music industry (big business is not invited)
- political social network (get people talking)
- revolutionize the structure of the internet (its a mess)
- introduce new airline software (I'd sell that myself)
If anyone wants to do any of these things feel free, because they need to be done. If you want to participate in my efforts to seem them happen in the future - [email protected]
Trying to provide a service that is of value?