2 ms·

I wasn't very clear with my point. We're not about professional services, but with something, which doesn't need a degree or special skills. Like choice betwe

by white 19y ago

I wasn't very clear with my point. We're not about professional services, but with something, which doesn't need a degree or special skills. Like choice between red or black shirt, one nightclub or another, how good is some idea, the best gift for the girlfriend, etc.

SwellJoe 19y ago
Ah. OK, then it's a terrible idea. ;-)
- white 19y ago
  Can you tell me why? I'd really appreciate this kind of feedback.
  - joeguilmette 19y ago
    b/c if i want to ask those types of questions i can ask (in order). my friends on gtalk/yelp/google furthermore, i would never in a million years think of paying for the answer to a question such as "which color shirt do i wear" or "where do i shop for X". i have a brain, and the internet offers answers to those questions for free, and it doesn't take an hour.
    - white 19y ago
      Well, #3 is not good choice. ;) That's even not a subject for discussion. Besides, our potential clients already gave up on Google when they are coming to us. #2 - well, maybe yes, maybe not. We make it easier. And #1 - not much people have hundred of friends on IM. And sometimes, it'd be nice to know 50 opinions, instead of 10 (someone's typical online IM active list). (And well sometimes you don't want you friend know that you're interested in SOME THINGS :P Don't forget that if you know where is the best retail store close by, some people don't, and they are not that happy to invest hours looking for it. Speaking about my example with shirt/club/etc, these are really bad examples, saying about paid questions; but they are good if they'd be free (and they would). However, just a silly example. I'd like to buy a gaming console, but I don't know which one. I have close to 100 of active contacts in my IM, but barely few of them know something about gaming consoles. So I'm about to spend several hundred dollars, and (me, personally) would be happy to spend $10 or $20 in advance to gather opinion of 50 or 100 people about the gaming consoles before making a purchase. And I want it now. Not tomorrow. Not after the week of gathering all pros and cons.
      - alaskamiller 19y ago
        i don't see the value in this. informed shopping is done either with search (google, mahalo) or simply visiting a store. that's what they're for. if you're dropping 400 bucks on a video game console, most people go to best buy. if you're dropping 25,000 on a car, most people go to a car dealership. even when it was paid, google answer didn't gain traction. you need an even more vigilant and coherent audience in order for answers to be replied to within 60 minutes. the technical challenges aside (which, really, this site sounds cloneable within a weekend), this is just a chicken and egg problem.
      - SwellJoe 19y ago
        To go further with what others have said, it sounds like you're putting strangers in charge of answering questions that only close friends have the knowledge to answer well. What game console do I buy? Well, the one my friends have, so we can trade games and play against each other! What club? The one my friends go to...we like the same music (roughly), and have the same general style...we probably even like the same kinds of girls. So, IM is infinitely more valuable than the service you describe even if only one or two friends are active right now. If it's not expertise that you're brokering, you've got nothing of value, as far as I can tell. A Google search about game consoles will turn up thousands of random opinions from strangers about just about any subject (particularly game consoles, but clubs also get talked about, etc.), so without some sort of expertise, you're just doing a really inefficient and slow Google search. Now, I'm not saying brokering expertise is an easy business, but I can at least see value in it. I can't think of any good use cases for a dedicated "trivial questions with easy answers" system. I'm happy to be wrong. Maybe you should build a prototype this weekend and see how people react...you'd probably be able to get some media for it, since all of the big answers services have been shutdown or shuffled off into a corner to die quietly. If it looks cool, you'd be able to get a crunch and maybe some hits from design blogs. If you use a funny language (Smalltalk or Erlang or something) you can get some hits from that. It costs nothing but time to try it. But, it's not an idea I would be willing to invest any time in. (Although, I did just invest fifteen minutes or so in my various responses to your query about it.) ;-)
        white 19y ago
  - kingnothing 19y ago
    Here's the harsh answer: Why would I want to pay you to tell me what nightclub to go to, what color shirt I should wear, or what I should buy for my girlfriend? Those are things that either a) I should already know or b) I would find out from my friends and family.

by white 19y ago

SwellJoe 19y ago

Ah. OK, then it's a terrible idea. ;-)

white 19y ago
Can you tell me why? I'd really appreciate this kind of feedback.
- joeguilmette 19y ago
  b/c if i want to ask those types of questions i can ask (in order). my friends on gtalk/yelp/google furthermore, i would never in a million years think of paying for the answer to a question such as "which color shirt do i wear" or "where do i shop for X". i have a brain, and the internet offers answers to those questions for free, and it doesn't take an hour.
  - white 19y ago
    Well, #3 is not good choice. ;) That's even not a subject for discussion. Besides, our potential clients already gave up on Google when they are coming to us. #2 - well, maybe yes, maybe not. We make it easier. And #1 - not much people have hundred of friends on IM. And sometimes, it'd be nice to know 50 opinions, instead of 10 (someone's typical online IM active list). (And well sometimes you don't want you friend know that you're interested in SOME THINGS :P Don't forget that if you know where is the best retail store close by, some people don't, and they are not that happy to invest hours looking for it. Speaking about my example with shirt/club/etc, these are really bad examples, saying about paid questions; but they are good if they'd be free (and they would). However, just a silly example. I'd like to buy a gaming console, but I don't know which one. I have close to 100 of active contacts in my IM, but barely few of them know something about gaming consoles. So I'm about to spend several hundred dollars, and (me, personally) would be happy to spend $10 or $20 in advance to gather opinion of 50 or 100 people about the gaming consoles before making a purchase. And I want it now. Not tomorrow. Not after the week of gathering all pros and cons.
    - alaskamiller 19y ago
      i don't see the value in this. informed shopping is done either with search (google, mahalo) or simply visiting a store. that's what they're for. if you're dropping 400 bucks on a video game console, most people go to best buy. if you're dropping 25,000 on a car, most people go to a car dealership. even when it was paid, google answer didn't gain traction. you need an even more vigilant and coherent audience in order for answers to be replied to within 60 minutes. the technical challenges aside (which, really, this site sounds cloneable within a weekend), this is just a chicken and egg problem.
    - SwellJoe 19y ago
      To go further with what others have said, it sounds like you're putting strangers in charge of answering questions that only close friends have the knowledge to answer well. What game console do I buy? Well, the one my friends have, so we can trade games and play against each other! What club? The one my friends go to...we like the same music (roughly), and have the same general style...we probably even like the same kinds of girls. So, IM is infinitely more valuable than the service you describe even if only one or two friends are active right now. If it's not expertise that you're brokering, you've got nothing of value, as far as I can tell. A Google search about game consoles will turn up thousands of random opinions from strangers about just about any subject (particularly game consoles, but clubs also get talked about, etc.), so without some sort of expertise, you're just doing a really inefficient and slow Google search. Now, I'm not saying brokering expertise is an easy business, but I can at least see value in it. I can't think of any good use cases for a dedicated "trivial questions with easy answers" system. I'm happy to be wrong. Maybe you should build a prototype this weekend and see how people react...you'd probably be able to get some media for it, since all of the big answers services have been shutdown or shuffled off into a corner to die quietly. If it looks cool, you'd be able to get a crunch and maybe some hits from design blogs. If you use a funny language (Smalltalk or Erlang or something) you can get some hits from that. It costs nothing but time to try it. But, it's not an idea I would be willing to invest any time in. (Although, I did just invest fifteen minutes or so in my various responses to your query about it.) ;-)
      - white 19y ago
- kingnothing 19y ago
  Here's the harsh answer: Why would I want to pay you to tell me what nightclub to go to, what color shirt I should wear, or what I should buy for my girlfriend? Those are things that either a) I should already know or b) I would find out from my friends and family.