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Would you like to buy the backing auth system for DPReview? Alternatively, if you auth on there that you haven't used in a few years, how would you feel about

by shagie 4y ago

Would you like to buy the backing auth system for DPReview? Alternatively, if you auth on there that you haven't used in a few years, how would you feel about that getting sold to some person in the community or an advertiser (maybe Broadway Photo would like to buy it...)? A decade of some integrations into Amazon - what effort would it take to remove it? While its a loss (and it is a great loss), the possibilities for things to go horribly awry if someone else was to buy it... and the "this is hosted for perpetuity but all of the information is half a decade out of date and kind of embarrassing now" is also a real risk. A transition of ownership comes with some risk and cost for Amazon that is more than the loss of the site to Amazon and a transfer of ownership also has some risks to the community.

toomuchtodo 4y ago
These are reasonable questions, and as someone who is actively running an M&A infosec due diligence effort on the acquiring side (mentioned to demonstrate I am not naive to the effort involved), I’d be interested if Amazon even asked these questions or just said “fuck it turn it off we’re done squeezing it for what it’s worth.” That last part is what I take issue with, and seeing it happen over and over is getting old. But I suppose if you mention the word “goodwill” to Amazon proper, the closest you’ll get it someone seeing if it’s something they sell on the retail side.
- shagie 4y ago
  I suspect they did (note that this layoff / closing was not part of the initial layoff round) and that the between then and now was considering those questions and their impact. I also suspect that when they got done answering the questions, it came out to be "the cost of trying to sell this to a responsible party and make all the changes to the site to remove integrations (using what is likely a demoralized division of the company) is much more than any possible gains or loss of goodwill."

by shagie 4y ago

toomuchtodo 4y ago

These are reasonable questions, and as someone who is actively running an M&A infosec due diligence effort on the acquiring side (mentioned to demonstrate I am not naive to the effort involved), I’d be interested if Amazon even asked these questions or just said “fuck it turn it off we’re done squeezing it for what it’s worth.” That last part is what I take issue with, and seeing it happen over and over is getting old. But I suppose if you mention the word “goodwill” to Amazon proper, the closest you’ll get it someone seeing if it’s something they sell on the retail side.

shagie 4y ago
I suspect they did (note that this layoff / closing was not part of the initial layoff round) and that the between then and now was considering those questions and their impact. I also suspect that when they got done answering the questions, it came out to be "the cost of trying to sell this to a responsible party and make all the changes to the site to remove integrations (using what is likely a demoralized division of the company) is much more than any possible gains or loss of goodwill."