Check-Ins are Coupons. Game Mechanics are Bullshit.
500hats.typepad.com
500hats.typepad.com
Granted, I know plenty of people who still play Foursquare religiously, but I suspect they'll burn out on the gameplay too eventually. It's very hard to keep a game engaging over multiple years. I have nothing against Foursquare, I just hope they have some plans to mix things up.
regardless, i appreciate that u despise me enough to waste time commenting on my "incomprehensible drivel".
i'll translate 4 u: "LBS services cost money to scale."
got it?
(i can type slower if that helps)
I'm sure that post has interesting content, but so do many others, and they make their points in a much more readable way: for instance, try looking at the essays on paulgraham.com. A pleasure to read, and think about.
i'm an acquired [dis-]taste...
Your comments on HN are clear, simply written, and to-the-point. When you defend your arguments here, you make perfect sense. I'm not sure why you write the way you do on your blog. Could it be that you're just looking for attention/linkbait?
Please, stop. You're famous enough in startup circles to be able to run on the strength of your ideas alone. I think people here are beginning to realize that - once we parse through your language we'll find some fantastic ideas. There are many more people who can't/won't get past the parsing (for instance, while I like your ideas, you're not in my feedreader). There's no reason not to write simply, and clearly, the way you write on HN now.
Right?
but really... i'm not trying to write for fame & fortune, i'm just having fun. (ok, yeah i'm pretty sure it's also somewhat effective but honestly i do it as much for personal enjoyment as for public linkbaiting)
anyway, i appreciate the more straightforward way that folks like PG, Chris Dixon, and Fred Wilson write (all are among my favorites), but it just isn't quite my thing.
apologies if i end up seeming a bit off the wall.
maybe we can clear it up over a beer sometime.
cheers,
Alright, Dave, fair enough. I don't necessarily like the way you write, but I'm convinced enough to subscribe to you. Best of luck in your future writing.
It's pretty much the only place to go for parts that are hard to find. (for example, most of the places that claimed to have my x60s battery in fact did not. the ebay seller, thanks to the ebay reputation system, did. I usually go to ebay over unknown resellers on the 'net simply because if an ebay seller says they have part X, they usually do.)
the other major trend is that both search and social distribution have substantially eroded eBay's original network effect as a destination for buyers & sellers... now both search (via SEM) and social (via FB & other networks) are also able to acquire & influence buyers.
anyway, i probably rag on eBay a little too much since i used to work there (via PayPal), but they have slowed down on the innovation quite a bit. that used to be offset by them buying innovative services, but that has also slowed down in recent years.
Sure, you can buy shit from your friends on facebook; I do that without an online social network, through mailing lists and other informal networks. But I don't think that really competes with ebay in any meaningful way.
craigslist is not in any great danger, but they also aren't innovating much... and even they too face competition from social platforms eventually if they keep standing still.
The whole point of ebay is that I can pay 'some guy wants to get rid of it' prices, and still get exactly what I want, even if what I want is kindof weird.
I am not sure that a social platform is best for selling things; I don't care what you look like, your sexual orientation, or how much you love your dog. I want to know if you will send me the item after I pay for it, and I want to know if the item will be in the condition you said it was in.
I bet the only reason they signed up was because of the coverage by the mainstream media which picked up the hype from blogs like Techcrunch (or more specifically MG Siegler).
And, makes http://foursquare.grader.com look kind of silly. Oh well, at least I had a good time with it and you just never know.
You made some good points. My one counter-argument is that folks would have likely argued similar things about twitter back when it first launched. Tiwtter was basically Facebook status updates -- only different.
not sure the popular LBS stuff is growing anywhere near as fast... but it should be.
However, the one advantage foursquare etc have got over some poor muppet like me with my $6,000 dollar savings invested in our idea is lots of money and an existing infrastructure. That said, these days, its amazing what you can do with $6,000.