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Comment by seekely | Hacker News Reader

Below in the comments, I mention I am very curious to find out if people will take buying the least popular t-shirt as a positive (I'm unique) or negative (Why would I want a trash shirt). You clearly fall in the latter category, which is very reasonable. I am very open to tweaking the game mechanics so it is perceived as a win win by everybody while still a sustainable site.

The shirt and printing style are of high quality. I need to do a better job on the site emphasizing that.

Sorry you did not like this week's designs. Maybe next week (or not based on your comment =p)

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The fact that you only reveal the last hourly sales, which really has zero relevance to total sales and whether or not you "win", makes it feel like a game of 3-card monte, as I mentioned in another comment.

Maybe you need to be more transparent and show the total sales or the ranking. This might help show you're not trying to scam anyone. Then, it turns into something more where people can decide "do I want to buy this t-shirt in a 2-for-1 sale" since they get the next shirt free.

Except that the changes you propose would take all of the fun out of the game for those of us who -do- like the idea.

Though in fact, if there was UK shipping I have a feeling I might've bought the Graphic Love T-shirt just because it's clever.

However, it seems to me very much like you really don't find the concept entertaining and thereby end up feeling like it's trying to rip you off rather than entertain you; I don't think the site's owner can solve that without destroying the things that make it potentially interesting to other people.

I think its just a matter of redoing the copy. At first I didnt realize it was a competition between the 5 shirts, I thought it was just an incentive deal to offload some inventory. I would walk through the process first, and bring up the least popular shirt part last.

No need to tweak the mechanics!

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