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This blog entry is the Perfect Dilemma for the HN crowd.

jacquesm 17y ago
It's like when your evil mother in law drives your car over a cliff. Mixed feelings. To upvote or not to upvote, that's the question.
- brandonkm 17y ago
  I enjoyed his very direct analysis of the situation (however opinionated) and the list of links chronicling Facebook's recent changes were appreciated as well. Upvoted.
- jasonmcalacanis 17y ago
  That actually made me laugh!
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    I've said it before, with your business acumen you could literally move the world, it pains me to see you waste your time with shit like mahalo.
    - najirama 17y ago
      You have indeed said it before - but with all due respect ww.com is perhaps one of the shittiest websites I have ever had the displeasure to visit. From the horrific UI, to the icky spywarish ambiance, your website exudes an aura of danger. I am no fan of Mahalo, but before you run around telling people that they are wasting their time on shit, how about you make sure you aren't excreting any yourself.
      - jacquesm 17y ago
        I'm as identifiable as can be, and I have not hidden in any way what I've been up to in the past. I speak to JC as myself, with my name and reputation in full view, not as some anonymous entity (like you are). But, you're absolutely right that ww.com is nothing to be proud of (and believe me, I'm not), other than that it has managed to stay alive for 12 years and counting against pretty strong competiton. The horrific UI is there because I suck as a designer and because for the longest time I simply wished for it to die so I could get on with my life. That's a long story, maybe one day I'll write it up, the word 'depression' should probably figure in it somewhere and I countered that by building windmills on a very sparsely populated island in Northern Ontario, Canada. The content is a matter beyond my control, I've been upset about it since day one and I've tried very hard to keep it in check but there seems to be no way of stopping the influx of jerks. The current balance is just about as good as I can get it. As for the the difference between mahalo and ww.com, the second that I find a way to diversify I'm out of the webcam business, I've made that more than clear in other posts, but at least it does not pollute another resource that is useful, such as search results. The last four years have been an endless succession of trial balloons, none of which had enough air in them to go very far. And I don't have the illusion that I have the business acumen of JC either, even though I've been around the block, I attribute most of the success to simply blind luck. I'm grateful for the chance it gave me to learn though, and it has allowed me to materially improve the lives of a fair number of people in ways that would have otherwise been absolutely impossible, and it introduced me to a large number of very nice people. Ww.com has caused people to find each other and get married, and has caused people to get divorced. People were born on the webcam (and Elephants too!) and died there, after long bouts with disease. It's an indelible part of the early history of the internet, and it was at times lots of fun to be part of it. And at other times an enormous headache. Thanks for the feedback by the way, I'll definitely try to improve things. Think of ww.com as the millstone around my neck that somehow keeps me alive. Feel free to tell me how to turn this around for the better, I'm open to any and all suggestions, I've been struggling with this for longer than I care to remember.
        rms 17y ago
        Why have you held onto it for so long if you wished it to die? Is there not some domainer that would pay millions for ww.com, regardless of whatever useful content may be there?
- jaaron 17y ago
  If it's my current car, then she's done me a favor. The cars likely worth less than blue book value. Seriously, I call it my first "disposable car" because we only needed a car for a few months and I wasn't willing to pay much. Luckily I have a rather marvelous mother-in-law, so I just need to find some other villain to borrow my junker.
  - puredemo 17y ago
    What the fuck is up with the downvote mob on HN lately? Feel free to downvote posts that are malicious or flat out wrong but why vote down genuine conversation and responses? Sheesh.

It's like when your evil mother in law drives your car over a cliff. Mixed feelings. To upvote or not to upvote, that's the question.

brandonkm 17y ago
I enjoyed his very direct analysis of the situation (however opinionated) and the list of links chronicling Facebook's recent changes were appreciated as well. Upvoted.
jasonmcalacanis 17y ago
That actually made me laugh!
- jacquesm 17y ago
  I've said it before, with your business acumen you could literally move the world, it pains me to see you waste your time with shit like mahalo.
  - najirama 17y ago
    You have indeed said it before - but with all due respect ww.com is perhaps one of the shittiest websites I have ever had the displeasure to visit. From the horrific UI, to the icky spywarish ambiance, your website exudes an aura of danger. I am no fan of Mahalo, but before you run around telling people that they are wasting their time on shit, how about you make sure you aren't excreting any yourself.
    - jacquesm 17y ago
      I'm as identifiable as can be, and I have not hidden in any way what I've been up to in the past. I speak to JC as myself, with my name and reputation in full view, not as some anonymous entity (like you are). But, you're absolutely right that ww.com is nothing to be proud of (and believe me, I'm not), other than that it has managed to stay alive for 12 years and counting against pretty strong competiton. The horrific UI is there because I suck as a designer and because for the longest time I simply wished for it to die so I could get on with my life. That's a long story, maybe one day I'll write it up, the word 'depression' should probably figure in it somewhere and I countered that by building windmills on a very sparsely populated island in Northern Ontario, Canada. The content is a matter beyond my control, I've been upset about it since day one and I've tried very hard to keep it in check but there seems to be no way of stopping the influx of jerks. The current balance is just about as good as I can get it. As for the the difference between mahalo and ww.com, the second that I find a way to diversify I'm out of the webcam business, I've made that more than clear in other posts, but at least it does not pollute another resource that is useful, such as search results. The last four years have been an endless succession of trial balloons, none of which had enough air in them to go very far. And I don't have the illusion that I have the business acumen of JC either, even though I've been around the block, I attribute most of the success to simply blind luck. I'm grateful for the chance it gave me to learn though, and it has allowed me to materially improve the lives of a fair number of people in ways that would have otherwise been absolutely impossible, and it introduced me to a large number of very nice people. Ww.com has caused people to find each other and get married, and has caused people to get divorced. People were born on the webcam (and Elephants too!) and died there, after long bouts with disease. It's an indelible part of the early history of the internet, and it was at times lots of fun to be part of it. And at other times an enormous headache. Thanks for the feedback by the way, I'll definitely try to improve things. Think of ww.com as the millstone around my neck that somehow keeps me alive. Feel free to tell me how to turn this around for the better, I'm open to any and all suggestions, I've been struggling with this for longer than I care to remember.
      - rms 17y ago
        Why have you held onto it for so long if you wished it to die? Is there not some domainer that would pay millions for ww.com, regardless of whatever useful content may be there?
jaaron 17y ago
If it's my current car, then she's done me a favor. The cars likely worth less than blue book value. Seriously, I call it my first "disposable car" because we only needed a car for a few months and I wasn't willing to pay much. Luckily I have a rather marvelous mother-in-law, so I just need to find some other villain to borrow my junker.
- puredemo 17y ago
  What the fuck is up with the downvote mob on HN lately? Feel free to downvote posts that are malicious or flat out wrong but why vote down genuine conversation and responses? Sheesh.