| Archives Threads we can't stand to throw away. |
10-30-2001, 02:33 PM
|  | Gravitas! | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: New Orleans, La. U.S.A.
Posts: 666
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Although there was a lot more than merely the removal of the Edit/Delete buttons, that was the thing that got the majority of people riled up. (Me included!) I personally stopped writing as a strike because of that issue. Now that the buttons are back, will you post reviews again? Or have you decided to say farewell to epinions?
I'm in the middle of a book right now, that I might write a review on when I'm finished. |
10-30-2001, 02:38 PM
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No idea.
I will probably not write frequently because I am not going to be getting paid anymore. Working my butt off for a nickle is ludicrous (not really saying a real dollar amount here). Yeah I might participate just because I enjoy the community, etc. but beyond what has all ready been built up it is pretty tough to get motivated for basically nothing (I don't write on Amazon or the IMDB either).
Ander |
10-30-2001, 02:42 PM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: The Nutmeg State
Posts: 13,780
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Maybe.
Will I trust Epinions as much anymore?
Probably never. |
10-30-2001, 02:43 PM
|  | I'm against it. | | Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 551
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I've kind of been writing sporadically at best for the past few months. I don't see that changing, really.
I enjoy rating and commenting and just being part of the general community much more than writing my own reviews anyway. Especially without $$ coming in, I doubt I'll feel so motivated to write anymore. I make hardly anything on IS.
Top Reviewer was never an aspiration of mine! I was kind of hoping to make Editor (don't ask me why) since I've been rating so much for the past few months, but I guess my participation in EBD has killed that dream. 
heh.  |
10-30-2001, 02:45 PM
|  | Junior Member | | Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 8,328
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I'm leaning towards wrapping things up. I've started pruning my epinions -- not doing a mass, angry delete of everything, but getting rid of the ones that I don't necessarily want sitting up there forever -- sort of in the same spirit as cleaning out my closet or my files. Figure I should do it now in case they take away the delete button again.
I haven't slammed any doors. I may write there again. But the general direction I'm going in is that I feel I want to wrap things up, get some closure <-- (don't you hate that word?).
As I was going through some of my old reviews as part of my spring (actually fall) cleaning thing, I began to remember how I felt when I first started at Epinions. It was fun, then. It really isn't a whole lot of fun, for me, any more. |
10-30-2001, 03:04 PM
|  | Geeky goof | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Boston, Mass.
Posts: 5,605
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Probably not (not that I have been). It's nothing personal, I just need to take care of other things first.
Ailsa |
10-30-2001, 04:03 PM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Ohio
Posts: 1,080
| | Re: Will You Still Write? | |
Quote: Originally posted by Dani257
Now that the buttons are back, will you post reviews again? Or have you decided to say farewell to epinions? | I think I'll continue to write now that the Edit/Delete has been restored. I like writing reviews and reading them, and I've never taken Epinions all that seriously. While I'm sure there will be future idiot moves like this, at least I know what I'm getting into now.
arianej
P.S. I'm also hoping many of my favorite writers (and you guys know who you are, I hope!) will stick around too, simply because I will really miss reading their reviews if they don't. |
10-30-2001, 04:04 PM
|  | In Spanish, I'm Marijuana | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lawn-Guy-Land, NY
Posts: 29,212
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I was never prolific anyway - kinda wrote in fits and starts. I'll probably still do it occasionally, because I like how knowing I'll write a review puts me in a more analytical state of mind, helps me keep my writing skills up, like avoiding writing run-on sentences with lots of phrases only separated by commas, you know, things like that that we don't always think about during the course of a real work day, or in our daily correspondence, you know what I mean?
mj
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MJ
It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.~ Bono |
10-30-2001, 04:18 PM
|  | Forum Code Administrator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: PA
Posts: 20,310
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I had already scaled back my participation on the site before this happened. I don't plan on changing my writing or rating habits.
The thing is, I have a very hot temper. I have also done some very stupid things in the name of trying to do the right thing. For me not to be able to forgive somebody for doing something wrong would be a tad hypocritical.
I fully expect some people to leave the site, and I don't blame them a bit for doing so. Everyone has their own comfort level. I just wanted to remind everyone that whether or not you write for Epinions, and no matter what side you took during recent events, you are STILL a part of the EA community, and we are happy to have you here.
Amy
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Salt makes mistakes taste great. |
10-30-2001, 04:52 PM
| | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 50
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Before the protest I was fairly certain I would continue to write because the monetary issue was of no importance to me personally. However I made the decision of joining several message boards and egroups when the protest began in order to *hear* a multitude of voices. This was very beneficial to me during the protest, but very bad for me in my perspective of epinions.
Up until that point my only knowledge of epinion writers were from their epinions or perhaps their profile page. Certainly there are writers that show more of a personal voice in their pieces and of those I chose who I liked to read and who I didn't, but the writers I saw little personal voice in I now have voices for and in a lot of cases that hasn't been pleasant. Though I will additionally say that there have been others that I found to be a delightful surprise.
I miss my objectivity, albeit based in naivety. I find myself lacking the joy I once had in reading and rating epinions and because of that my joy in writing there too. So I'm not sure really if I will write anymore. |
10-30-2001, 05:09 PM
| | Eternal Outcast | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: way out west somewhere
Posts: 102
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Quote: Originally posted by Roxymarie
I miss my objectivity, albeit based in naivety. I find myself lacking the joy I once had in reading and rating epinions and because of that my joy in writing there too. So I'm not sure really if I will write anymore. | I think you have posted something very important here - there is a joy in distance from the tumult, from not knowing too much about any situation. And once that distance/innocence is destroyed, there is no way it will ever return.
I originally joined here because I did not know what was going on with Epinions, and I really wanted to know. However, you can't control all the knowledge you gain, and sometimes the drinking fountain is fueled by a fire hose.
As for the original question: Of course I'm going to write. I've been writing long before Epinions, and I shall continue long afterwards.
It just probably won't be posted at Epinions anymore. |
10-30-2001, 05:16 PM
|  | Queen of Godivaland | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: New York
Posts: 99
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I find myself being a writer - no matter what- the nice part is that several non-members have written me through my email and told me what a trememdous impact some of my college articles have made- that did leave me with such a positive feeling. The money issue is something I do feel badly about- everyone likes to feel good about what they do- even if that is strictly a monetary reward. One a side bar note- Amy has been a most gracious person- so often with epinion groups geared to editors or past advisiors - once your title was stripped so was your ability to visit them. That becomes an exclusive country club atmosphere that really stinks. Amy- thanks !
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10-30-2001, 07:14 PM
|  | Swashbuckling Picaroon | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sailing the Seas of Limburger Cheese
Posts: 277
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A number of thoughts:
As several others have pointed out, it's not a choice between writing at Epinions and not writing at all. There are multitudes of other venues--whether in traditional print or the almost limitless space available on the Web--and right now I'm seriously considering the idea of forming a Web space by and for writers. I'll keep writing because I have to keep writing. It just won't be at Epinions any more.
Having said that, there are a couple of things about my experience at Epinions for which I am very grateful. If I hadn't started writing at Epinions:
* I might never have gained faith in my own ability to write. Epinions was the first place that offered to pay me, however small a sum, for my writing; it's made me think twice about the long-held assumption that I was unpublished because I wasn't any good. I'm not Shakespeare--hell, I'm not even David Abrams--but I guess I'm a little better at this than I once believed.
* I wouldn't have met a wide range of great writers and fantastic people--not the least of which are right here at EA. You folks are great, and regardless of what happens at the Mother Site, I'm pleased and proud to know you. |
10-30-2001, 07:17 PM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 9,648
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I'll write again, but some of the thrill is now gone.
I've got four books that are waiting for reviews. None will ever make anything IS-wise.
I mean, how many people are going to read my review on the Dictionary of Asian Christianity to make a purchasing decision... |
10-30-2001, 08:07 PM
|  | Mr. Nice Man | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: New York, NY, USA
Posts: 2,479
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Yep. |
11-01-2001, 12:08 AM
|  | Word to your mother | | Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Shangri-La
Posts: 504
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Yeah, at least I hope to continue writing. I've been pretty infrequent as of late. Of course, this is because I'm a full time college student. Still, I do hope to continue writing, not so much for monetary reasons, but simply because it serves as a cathartis. Writing gives me the opportunity to express my thoughts about something--like say, a movie--onto paper.
Besides, writing (movie) reviews has always been a pleasure to me. No matter what Epinions does (whether it takes away eroyalities or something more extreme), they cannot take away my joy for writing.
-shadow8
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"The duty of a patriot in this time and place is to ask questions, to demand answers, to understand where our nation is headed and why. If the answers you get do not suit you, or if they frighten you, or if they anger you, it is your duty as a patriot to dissent. Freedom does not begin with blind acceptance and with a flag. Freedom begins when you say 'No.' " -William Rivers Pitt |
11-01-2001, 01:27 AM
|  | Premium Member | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Michigan
Posts: 5,167
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Yeah, I keep writing. I haven't been very productive on the site lately because this school year beginning has been much more hectic than usual. I have also been finishing up my master's degree (which will give me a 'real' payraise) and that's been time consuming. And for an awfully long time I couldn't get into the site to read and rate at all. That's better now.
But I'll miss the ching, ching of the pennies as they drop. I really never thought of them as pennies so much as people who were reading what I wrote and I liked that feeling. To hit submit and then see the names that visited the review and often uplifting comments is a feeling that will be lost I think. The instant gratification has been gone for a while though as they never kept the instant hits counted correctly for quite some time.
I'm not a "author" like some of you, but I like to write. I'm not marketable in a writer's market but as long as I continue to like writing in this niche, I'll do it. No one would ever beat down my door for my writing expertise but epinions and the consumers that I hope get information and help from my reviews seem to think my writing style is good enough so I still have an audience to play to. I'd miss it.
My feelings haven't changed toward the site as much as most of you. For one thing I was busy and distracted during the major part of the upheaval so didn't get as personally involved as I may have done in a different time period. Maybe I expected less from them after two years of constant changes, but I've never expected epinions to look out for me. At the beginning of it all I had felt their excitement and it was an exciting time to be part of the "team". But it hasn't been a team approach for quite some time now. It is just another business and I guess that I don't have a problem with that. Most of the fun of a new dot com has disappeared but I've always been pretty clear in my understanding of whose playground it was and is. I think it's really important that they know how we feel; I think it's just as important that we know where we stand in the big picture of this business and either accept it; make it known how we feel; and then either get on with the business at hand or move on. Whichever is best for ourselves. They take care of themselves and our responsibility is to take care of ourselves.
Will I continue to write. Yes, I've weathered things that have bothered me almost as much as this before during the past two years at epinions. And it will continue to cycle as before, but each time these kinds of things do happen, we lose more of our connection to the mother site. That's sad but a reality. Accepting the new changes and directions are a part of continuing. So as long as I still enjoy it, I'll continue to write and read and rate.
Sandy |
11-01-2001, 02:06 AM
|  | Peon, and proud of it | | Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Tri-Cities, WA, USA
Posts: 128
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I was already scaling back, and it was mainly due to a plummet in reads. After the Edit/Delete fiasco, I'll likely scale back even further; I remain doubly embittered by Epinions management's draconian actions and by the mendacious PR I've seen from them. The text of this special 'chat' really did it for me, I'm afraid.
I just don't have any faith in their future prospects, business sense, or integrity any more. I'll keep my options open, but they've systematically destroyed most of the incentives to write for them. They seem almost mechanically compelled to, piece by piece, strip as much fun as possible out of the experience.
If they do anything else egregious, and I perceive it to be my duty to stand up with the community, I'll do as I did with the EBD writeoff. Not only am I not sorry I did that, but if need be, I will do it again tomorrow. I perceive that I and my efforts are pretty insignificant to Epinions management, and therefore, their rules and feelings and wants don't move me much. If they want to earn back that consideration, the ball's in their court.
However, I'll stay in touch with the community, because that's been the real benefit for me from Epinions: the great people I've met. I'm not deleting my account or my reviews, and I reserve the right to write more. If I get inspired, perhaps I shall.
You know, I used to work for an old fellow who was half Lebanese and half English; he'd been born in what was then the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Only thirty years before, the Mahdi had made his last stand near where my friend was born. He'd been a huge success in business and was mainly out of retirement to help the owner of the company, a four-star horse's ass who would not have been able to pour urine out of a boot even with written directions.
This man was a veteran of the Battle of Britain, and spoke twice as many languages as I did. He was wise. He had this jaw-clenching nasally voice and one day, exasperated with my general obstinacy and unwillingness to bother to get along with some of my less mentally endowed co-workers, took me aside and said: "Jonathan, if there is one thing I impress upon you it must be this: the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, except when dealing with people."
Epinions has yet to really apprehend this, though it recently received a sound clonking upside the head that seems to have, incredibly, gotten through to them that they're dealing with people who possess the quality of self-respect.
If they want to hear more about why I feel this way, I assume they'll write to me to ask me. I assume that they don't and won't, and that's fine too. It ain't my money that's at risk.
jk |
11-01-2001, 03:01 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Richmond Hill, GA
Posts: 2,329
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For Epinions?
Simply put, no.
After two years, I'm calling it quits.
There are a lot of reasons for my decision. Some of them have to do with this past week, some not.
I'd intended a long-winded, rambling, melancholic-nostalgic post to this thread and wrote/crumpled-up many different drafts in the past couple of days...but I think I'll cut it short.
I've (mostly) enjoyed my time at the mothersite and I've certainly cherished the interaction with the resulting community, but now it's time to move along.
....as if the exit of one more writer will make even a ripple on the Epinions pond.
Last edited by Grouch; 11-02-2001 at 01:28 AM.
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11-01-2001, 06:45 AM
|  | Epinions Members | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Alabama
Posts: 8,897
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Yes, I will still write, and this is why:
I still have fun writing. I still have fun posting reviews. I still have fun reading other people's reviews that make me laugh or make me think.
At times, I have taken epinions too seriously. I have one review, written when I was fairly new to the site and had just had my first brush with another member's hostility. I leave that review up as a reminder to myself to not take epinions that seriously ever again.
Sure, it's not about the money--though I do admit part of the fun, especially at the beginning, was seeing the pennies rack up (my beginning was in the 1-3 cent days). The pennies were a motivation of sorts though I've never made much off of member hits, income share, content partner, or the editor bonus. The money certainly wasn't worth the time investment.
The people I've "met" have been worth the time investment. This board has been worth the time investment. That's as much a part of the fun as writing the reviews.
So, I'm still in, though I respect the choices of those who feel that the fun is no longer there for them.
--naomi
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--naomi |
11-01-2001, 10:49 AM
|  | Law Talkin' Guy | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Trenton, NJ
Posts: 6,338
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Yes. I am working with a designer to update my personal website: txreviews.com
I will probably post hundred-word reviews to Eps to promote new reviews on that site. But as far as giving Eps any real content , fuhgetaboutit.
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Curtis Edmonds
curtis@txreviews.com |
11-01-2001, 11:01 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 9,648
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I'll most likely continue in some form or another as long as Epinions is around. But even before this time, my 'glory days' at Epinions are rather past.
Alas... |
11-01-2001, 11:09 AM
|  | Premium Member | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Lansing, MI, United States
Posts: 10,392
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Quite frankly, I haven't decided yet.
Nirav's comment that there is no monetary reason to write for Epinions rather turns me off on the site. I've always been upfront that I think writing is a service worthy of pay. Epinions is not a non-profit charitable organization for whom I feel any obligation to provide free services.
Yes, there are reasons other than monetary ones to participate. But that doesn't negate the monetary reasons.
If I do write, it will be for selfish reasons. I'll be even less likely to publish reviews in highly trafficed areas because there will be little compensation for it. Given the choice between writing a book review that enhances my appreciation of the book and earning 50 cents (made-up figure) or writing a technology review that would be a lot of work and benefit me not at all and earning 85 cents, I'll take the former.
It's sort of a pity, though, that Epinions doesn't want to reward the actions that will earn them money. In their desire to be always egalitarian, they've withheld rewards from the quality reviews that would earn them income in exchange for everyone making a few pennies regardless of the use of their contribution.
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Bridgette
"There are seven things that will destroy us: Wealth without work; pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; religion without sacrifice; politics without principle; science without humanity; business without ethics." --Mahatma Gandhi
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11-01-2001, 11:28 AM
|  | ArcAngle | | Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: taking a nap
Posts: 3,604
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I'm going to have to echo Sandy and Bridgette here. With the cavat that this has been my mode of operation for about a year now.
I write when I want, on whatever subject I please. I do not try to work the system, in that I read when I feel like it, very seldom rate, and do that rating according to my leanings instead of the site recommendations.
Ah well, I didn't want a hat anyway. 
Lynne |
11-01-2001, 12:41 PM
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