folly afoot (The dooyoo Redesign)

Member Name: pje

Product:	The dooyoo Redesign
Date:	04/09/02 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: There's an impressive database buried under all those pointless top lists.

Disadvantages: I know they say it's a horse and that the humps are an innovative design feature, but it still looks like a camel to me. And it keeps spitting at me too, that's a big giveaway.

There are currently 46,477,453* websites on the internet, so to be successful you have to stand out from the crowd. What you need is a U.S.P. That's a Unique Selling Point.

Remember what the teacher used to shout at your while you were playing footy during Games lessons at school? Don't all follow the ball! Spread out a bit. Make some space for yourself. Be creative, be different. You are all different. Yes! We are all different. [Cue the lone voice of a dooyoo boss: "I'm not." Or perhaps: "Ich bin nicht."]

Inevitably, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Unfortunately he who pays the piper sometimes turns out to be tone deaf, so he hires a really bad bagpiper, alienates his whole neighbourhood, and ends up being bludgeoned to death by pipe wielding music lovers.

It's like what happened at Nottingham Forest a few years ago. The money man who invested in the club (ridding us of that [expletives deleted for legal reasons] Irving Scholar) insisted on having a say in who was appointed manager. And it had to be a big name. So David Platt - who had no previous connection with Forest, and therefore no understanding of the ins-and-outs of the club - got the job. He promptly blew millions on Italian players who made so little impression that no-one can even remember their names now. Forest went from being permanently strapped for cash, yet fairly successful on the pitch, to being financially crippled. Simply because the people in charge suddenly had more money than sense. The manager didn't have a feel for the club he was running, it's particular strengths and weaknesses. To him it was just a club, like any other. And sadly it seems that to the people running it now, dooyoo.co.uk is just a website like any other. They show no understanding of its strengths and potentialities, except those that apply to all websites. They are visionless ball-chasers, chasing the same revenue sources as everyone else, obl
ivious to the unique selling points that their actions actually undermine.


Some people have remarked that newdooyoo looks like Ciao, and talk of an eventual merger. The mad cabbie, kenjohn, has often said that, in the end, maybe only one of them would survive. Well, I've always thought that the practical problems involved in a merger would be insurmountable, and that in order to survive, both sites would have to specialize according to their strengths (or their contributor's strengths perhaps?)

Ciao have always made their priorities clear by the way they dole out their Premium Fund. The monthly list of top opinions has always featured cars, electrical gizmos, and the latest blockbuster movies - but not, say, books. (Excuse me while I make that noise cats make when they're really pissed off because you've kicked them off the settee when they were curled up nice and warm. Niaaaagh!) That's one reason why I switched to dooyoo eighteen months ago, as I said in my first opinion. (Go and look if you don't believe me. NO, DON'T! - this new re-design has fecked up the layout of all my ops again.) Book opinions seemed to be valued here, and an impressive database was being built up by some knowledgeable contributors. Indeed, several of the best-known dooyooers (jillmurphy and alkaliguru) were habitués of that section, giving it greater visibility and perhaps importance in the dooyoo scheme of things. I hoped that dooyoo would capitalize on their assets in this regard, rather than taking Ciao's lazy, unimaginitive view that you will make more revenue if you concentrate on expensive stuff. (Ummm, look how many successful websites there are devoted to Rolls Royces and yachts.) But no.

Dooyoo made a stupid mistake, and spoiled the ship for a hap'orth of tar, when they laid off the people with hands-on experience of running the site, and who understood what made it tick and where it's strengths lay. It's
like sacking the driver, and then painting go-faster stripes on the outside of the bus. No, it's worse than that - they've also taken away the ignition key, steering wheel and driver's seat, so the passengers can't make the damn thing go either. Why on earth would you remove so many features that help members to navigate and use the site? Presumably because you've no idea how the site is actually used!

I think the trouble is that the mammonish don't see the value in a community - to them "there is no such thing as society" (as some mad old bag once said). Sadly, it looks like the bean-counters have downsized away all trace of human insight and imagination, and now see dooyoo members as little more than a list of e-mail addresses to sell to spammers.

When the bugs are cured, operation Aurora may be considered a success - but too much damage to the heart and soul and the patient will die. Members are the heart and soul of any site, just as fans are the heart and soul of a football club. If you drive them away who is gonna come through the turnstiles and buy your merchandise?


Only connect, baby, only connect.

______________________________________________ _________________________

* Of course there aren't, I made that number up because I couldn't be bothered to do any research - just like whoever's running dooyoo these days.
______________________________________________ _________________________ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Summary: