3 ms·

How? It seems more like a curiosity than a viable business.

by imp 17y ago

rms 17y ago
Exponential growth first and then new features is normally a viable path for a Web 2.0 business, but the founder of Chatroulette is finding it a bit hard to deal with new features when he has to worry about scaling his exponentially growing site, including limo rides and negotiations with Russian billionares. To the OP: Isn't the strategy for succeeding at business in Russia to find out how to get in cars with Russian billionares? You would have to be careful though, because the existing billionares that own the social networking sites might not like you much. This could also work for you as a quick flip, if you can get your page views up in a year and sell, that may be wiser than getting in cars with Russian billionaires. --- Chatroulette would be completely illegal if run by a US founder. People that are under 18 are regularly exposed to live masturbating penises on Chatroulette. US Law is such that if a certain prosecutor was sufficiently morally offended by your existence, the founder of a Chatroulette clone could be charged with Federal Racketeering. I don't think the DMCA would provide any protection for the site operator. So anyone from a country with rule of law similar to the USA should be really careful about starting a Chatroulette like site.
- nkohari 17y ago
  > US Law is such that if a certain prosecutor was sufficiently morally offended by your existence, the founder of a Chatroulette clone could be charged with Federal Racketeering. IANAL, but this sounds like a load of FUD to me. The majority of porn is created within the US. In my understanding, to be legally protected, all you have to do is put a warning that states that underage people are not permitted to use the site.
  - rms 17y ago
    No, it is much more complicated than that, depending on if the host of a Chatroulette clone is defined to be a porn producer. Again, my point is that hosting an unfiltered Chatroulette clone is not safe without receiving a great deal of legal advice.
- imp 17y ago
  Not sure about the legal stuff, but I'm still curious about the making money part. So the business model is either 1) advertising, or 2) getting acquired? That's what I think of when I hear "Web 2.0 business."
  - rms 17y ago
    Yup, advertising or getting acquired is the typical Web 2.0 business. There could also be some freemium options.

How? It seems more like a curiosity than a viable business.

by imp 17y ago

How? It seems more like a curiosity than a viable business.

rms 17y ago

Exponential growth first and then new features is normally a viable path for a Web 2.0 business, but the founder of Chatroulette is finding it a bit hard to deal with new features when he has to worry about scaling his exponentially growing site, including limo rides and negotiations with Russian billionares. To the OP: Isn't the strategy for succeeding at business in Russia to find out how to get in cars with Russian billionares? You would have to be careful though, because the existing billionares that own the social networking sites might not like you much. This could also work for you as a quick flip, if you can get your page views up in a year and sell, that may be wiser than getting in cars with Russian billionaires. --- Chatroulette would be completely illegal if run by a US founder. People that are under 18 are regularly exposed to live masturbating penises on Chatroulette. US Law is such that if a certain prosecutor was sufficiently morally offended by your existence, the founder of a Chatroulette clone could be charged with Federal Racketeering. I don't think the DMCA would provide any protection for the site operator. So anyone from a country with rule of law similar to the USA should be really careful about starting a Chatroulette like site.

nkohari 17y ago
> US Law is such that if a certain prosecutor was sufficiently morally offended by your existence, the founder of a Chatroulette clone could be charged with Federal Racketeering. IANAL, but this sounds like a load of FUD to me. The majority of porn is created within the US. In my understanding, to be legally protected, all you have to do is put a warning that states that underage people are not permitted to use the site.
- rms 17y ago
  No, it is much more complicated than that, depending on if the host of a Chatroulette clone is defined to be a porn producer. Again, my point is that hosting an unfiltered Chatroulette clone is not safe without receiving a great deal of legal advice.
imp 17y ago
Not sure about the legal stuff, but I'm still curious about the making money part. So the business model is either 1) advertising, or 2) getting acquired? That's what I think of when I hear "Web 2.0 business."
- rms 17y ago
  Yup, advertising or getting acquired is the typical Web 2.0 business. There could also be some freemium options.