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> they're about to Digg themselves into a amusingly-recursive grave "You'll get over it" > All it would take is one great, open forum site to absorb the refug
by pdkl95 8y ago
> they're about to Digg themselves into a amusingly-recursive grave
"You'll get over it"
> All it would take is one great, open forum site to absorb the refugees from a terrible management mistep
This is fundamental risk to any business that depends on a social space. The best explanation of the mechanics that create this risk is Joe Peacock's talk[1] at NOTACON 8 about the time fark.com made the same mistake... and then poured gasoline on the fire with the infamous "You'll get over it" comment being the only publicly visible response by fark.com's management.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnVeysllPDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnVeysllPDI
- doubleunplussed 8y agoAs I recall, people got over it.
- pdkl95 8y agoMost people got over it, but it's hard to estimate if people actually "got over it". Looking at the behavior of the people using the site afterwords probably doesn't include[1] the people that left. In Q&A at the end of the talk they mention that the incident caused a significant drop in paid-account revenue[2]. They eventually recovered, but the exodus was real for a while. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias [2] They also mentioned that some of the loudest people that left came back later under a different username. That's the lesson the talk is trying to explain: most people probably do like (or will eventually like) the benefits of the "new and improved" version, so involve them in the process and respect that they might just need some time to adapt. Forcing people to adapt immediately only associates the new version with a strongly negative experience.