Anyway, please don't lose your soul like the place that "once was". And for the love of Pete (he's special ya know!) Please ignore twatter and facialnook. These are both fads that are being steamrolled by the same type of idiots who have sucked the life out of the place many so loved.
Good luck...can't wait until this all makes sense..:)
@beachhead, I am happy to know what you mean and mostly over the fact that it's ultimately my fault. For the moment, we are working on addition of soul. Once we have obtained it, we will indeed protect it from the evil corporate dogs. :)
@snapster, the very fact that you, and not some mod-nazi, took the time to participate here is a big part of the "soul" you should be looking for. I am just a guy who enjoyed a small part of the magic that no longer exists in a quirky, fun community. And FWIW, no "blame" here...I'da done the same thing, there were too many zero's for any sane person to say "no" to!
@beachhead, the effort to build something meaningful to us again is underway, but it is taking considerable time and it's hard to be patient. I should note one element is the conflict between the desire to recapture/enjoy past magic and the call to innovate. We'd like to build things that leave ourselves options to grow and innovate in the future. Setting our course to do multiple projects is the only way to appease ourselves and any audience we are lucky enough to attract again.
Additionally, I'm sad to report that Amazon is threatening and may prove to be overzealous in it's use of the legal system to try and avoid what they imagine to be unfair competition. Their misguided saber-rattling won't stop us but it is an unfortunate distraction. In fact, it's similar to the fear and misunderstanding that drives them to try and over-moderate the remaining community - there's very little point in it.
@snapster, please don't misread my attempt at humor as impatience. Anything worth doing, is worth taking the time to do it right, and if you never make a mistake, you've never done anything. (little words of wisdom that I wish I had made up, but try to live by)
If there is anyone that can give the man raspberries, it's you'se guys! Just like those famous brown bags, often the hunt is the most fun part of it all. I'm sure you'll get there. It's just pretty dang exciting to know you are working on it. Hopefully it'll help knowing there are people "out here" that are rooting for you, especially after the abortion that your original creation has become...:-)
For me, the magic was the simplicity (just one thing...love it or leave it for the next guy who will) and the ability to laugh at yourself. Because the focus was never seemingly on the money, and more on having fun, you attracted people who loved an inside joke, tounge-in-cheek humor, and having fun.
While every business has to make a profit, once the bean counters take over, they take all the fun away because the focus is on pennies rather than smiles. So, there it is...fire the bean counters, and save the fun!
@smilingjack, I know that, and that's part of my vent. The "other guys" took over the coolest site on the net, and ruined it. Took it from one item per day, to 45,000 items per...errr....some time, added mod nazi's who have no clue, completely threw away all the "traditions", decided twatter and blah-blah-book was where the marketing should happen, got rid of low prices as an "outlet" to the big store, etc.
I'm sure we'll never see the same exact thing again, but my money's on snapster to pull something equally as awesome off once once they get around those who want to keep him on the sidelines..:)
My co-worker floated around the idea of buying the domain amazonsdumpster.com and pointing it to Woot... That never happened. Something about possible litigation stopped me from a troll like that.
It seems like Amazon is trying to make it into an outlet store. Use the established brand and turn it into an Online Big Lots. Meh...
@snapster, I just saw this on Reddit and thought you might like to see it. I like what you guys are doing. I'm afraid not everyone is understanding the joke approach to job posting on LinkedIn. It drew me to your company, but it appears others don't really seem to 'get it.' Plenty of comments. Hopefully bringing this to your attention is nothing but helpful for you to build and move forward. Good luck!
@11mattdbl, cool, thanks for the link. It is awesome to get raw opinion from a group not influenced by past impressions (e.g. our woot history). Looks like /r/jobs take themselves very seriously! I went back and read the screen shot content and didn't really cringe too much - in this case I think our language and company name are doing exactly the sort of pre-filtering of candidates we hoped them to do.
@readnj, apparently our name choice and super-ambiguous direct are not setting expectations low enough. Man, I wish I still owned uttercrap.com!
Seriously though, thanks for the optimism. Getting back in touch with people who cared about our past brand honesty is going to be a long road and it's great for our new staff to get glimpses of confidence.
It is odd to me that some of them went to the site, and poked around, but didn't see the large reference to having built Woot; which is a solid source of credibility and professionalism. Why does everyone assume to have to be bland and use dynamic syncopated buzzwords to be professional?
There was one poster in that thread who seemingly "got it."
-dixie_recht- I've worked for a couple of startups in the Bay Area and interviewed at several others. The examples you've cited struck me as irreverent rather than unprofessional. I suspect it's a cultural indicator of a young company out to take on the world.
it would be great if we could arrange for this sort of audience testing. as soon as the mainstream thinks we're right on the edge of not being professional, then we know we have it right.
@halesyeah, Whoa. SchuminWeb is an online acquaintance of online acquaintances of mine, and legendary for his good-natured cluelessness and, well, mediocrity. From long-winded stories about minutae to endless photostreams of fire alarms, he was boggling because he was so uninteresting. That was quite a blast from the past, seeing his handle there.
As for OP and his point, I'm so over people complaining about how everything went to crap there, but I'm not going to say anything because I remember how awesome the Internet was before 1993 when they let AOL on. I will tell that story if I have to. Oh, I just did.
Well said @beachhead You are right on the money with your assesment of what attracted people to that other place. Also spot on to why I don't go there anymore.
Hmmm...not very intuitive interface....
Anyway, please don't lose your soul like the place that "once was". And for the love of Pete (he's special ya know!) Please ignore twatter and facialnook. These are both fads that are being steamrolled by the same type of idiots who have sucked the life out of the place many so loved.
Good luck...can't wait until this all makes sense..:)
Precisely, @beachhead. While it may appear that our company and these forums do nothing useful at all, they are our collective place to vent.
How may we assist you in venting today?
oh, I see that may have been rhetorical now. curse my slow typing.
@beachhead, I am happy to know what you mean and mostly over the fact that it's ultimately my fault. For the moment, we are working on addition of soul. Once we have obtained it, we will indeed protect it from the evil corporate dogs. :)
@snapster, the very fact that you, and not some mod-nazi, took the time to participate here is a big part of the "soul" you should be looking for. I am just a guy who enjoyed a small part of the magic that no longer exists in a quirky, fun community. And FWIW, no "blame" here...I'da done the same thing, there were too many zero's for any sane person to say "no" to!
Thank you sir, is it done yet?
@beachhead, the effort to build something meaningful to us again is underway, but it is taking considerable time and it's hard to be patient. I should note one element is the conflict between the desire to recapture/enjoy past magic and the call to innovate. We'd like to build things that leave ourselves options to grow and innovate in the future. Setting our course to do multiple projects is the only way to appease ourselves and any audience we are lucky enough to attract again.
Additionally, I'm sad to report that Amazon is threatening and may prove to be overzealous in it's use of the legal system to try and avoid what they imagine to be unfair competition. Their misguided saber-rattling won't stop us but it is an unfortunate distraction. In fact, it's similar to the fear and misunderstanding that drives them to try and over-moderate the remaining community - there's very little point in it.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!
That is unfortunate. I hope you don't get derailed by that.
I AM the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No. I am the one who knocks!
You would have no trouble getting testimony to confirm there is no competition. You can't compete w/something that is self-destructing.
@snapster, please don't misread my attempt at humor as impatience. Anything worth doing, is worth taking the time to do it right, and if you never make a mistake, you've never done anything. (little words of wisdom that I wish I had made up, but try to live by)
If there is anyone that can give the man raspberries, it's you'se guys! Just like those famous brown bags, often the hunt is the most fun part of it all. I'm sure you'll get there. It's just pretty dang exciting to know you are working on it. Hopefully it'll help knowing there are people "out here" that are rooting for you, especially after the abortion that your original creation has become...:-)
For me, the magic was the simplicity (just one thing...love it or leave it for the next guy who will) and the ability to laugh at yourself. Because the focus was never seemingly on the money, and more on having fun, you attracted people who loved an inside joke, tounge-in-cheek humor, and having fun.
While every business has to make a profit, once the bean counters take over, they take all the fun away because the focus is on pennies rather than smiles. So, there it is...fire the bean counters, and save the fun!
Happy New Year to you and yours too!
:) thanks. humor enjoyed; impatience is my own, though I'm happy to share!
@beachhead, Mod nazi?!!?!?!??? Snapster never had any mod nazis! The nazism started when those other guys got into power.
@smilingjack, I know that, and that's part of my vent. The "other guys" took over the coolest site on the net, and ruined it. Took it from one item per day, to 45,000 items per...errr....some time, added mod nazi's who have no clue, completely threw away all the "traditions", decided twatter and blah-blah-book was where the marketing should happen, got rid of low prices as an "outlet" to the big store, etc.
I'm sure we'll never see the same exact thing again, but my money's on snapster to pull something equally as awesome off once once they get around those who want to keep him on the sidelines..:)
Oh, ok, I was ...still am, sort of....a vol mod over there. I'm still trying to figure out why they bought woot and then totally changed it
Sure, why improve the process when you can litigate! So much easier... Otherwise, think of the lawyers who would be unemployed.
Unemployed lawyers... That concept is as mythical as the Kraken.
My co-worker floated around the idea of buying the domain amazonsdumpster.com and pointing it to Woot... That never happened. Something about possible litigation stopped me from a troll like that.
It seems like Amazon is trying to make it into an outlet store. Use the established brand and turn it into an Online Big Lots. Meh...
@snapster Those of us who have been around for a while have full faith in your ability to innovate and slay the dragons in the process.
@snapster, I just saw this on Reddit and thought you might like to see it. I like what you guys are doing. I'm afraid not everyone is understanding the joke approach to job posting on LinkedIn. It drew me to your company, but it appears others don't really seem to 'get it.' Plenty of comments. Hopefully bringing this to your attention is nothing but helpful for you to build and move forward. Good luck!
@11mattdbl, cool, thanks for the link. It is awesome to get raw opinion from a group not influenced by past impressions (e.g. our woot history). Looks like /r/jobs take themselves very seriously! I went back and read the screen shot content and didn't really cringe too much - in this case I think our language and company name are doing exactly the sort of pre-filtering of candidates we hoped them to do.
@readnj, apparently our name choice and super-ambiguous direct are not setting expectations low enough. Man, I wish I still owned uttercrap.com!
Seriously though, thanks for the optimism. Getting back in touch with people who cared about our past brand honesty is going to be a long road and it's great for our new staff to get glimpses of confidence.
I'm disappointed this only has 2 points:
you must mean my late comment, heh:
@11mattdbl, that thread is gold.
It is odd to me that some of them went to the site, and poked around, but didn't see the large reference to having built Woot; which is a solid source of credibility and professionalism. Why does everyone assume to have to be bland and use dynamic syncopated buzzwords to be professional?
There was one poster in that thread who seemingly "got it."
@11mattdbl, That was too funny to read. thanks for the link :)
@11mattdbl, amazing find. My favorite line:
"They don't look serious, and they certainly don't look like real professionals."
@halesyeah, But you do look like FAKE professionals. I'm glad someone else noticed
it would be great if we could arrange for this sort of audience testing. as soon as the mainstream thinks we're right on the edge of not being professional, then we know we have it right.
@halesyeah, Whoa. SchuminWeb is an online acquaintance of online acquaintances of mine, and legendary for his good-natured cluelessness and, well, mediocrity. From long-winded stories about minutae to endless photostreams of fire alarms, he was boggling because he was so uninteresting. That was quite a blast from the past, seeing his handle there.
As for OP and his point, I'm so over people complaining about how everything went to crap there, but I'm not going to say anything because I remember how awesome the Internet was before 1993 when they let AOL on. I will tell that story if I have to. Oh, I just did.
Well said @beachhead You are right on the money with your assesment of what attracted people to that other place. Also spot on to why I don't go there anymore.