EMBARASSING PIECE OF SPAM (dooyooMagazine)

Member Name: jillmurphy

Product:	dooyooMagazine
Date:	24/10/02 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: *

Disadvantages: *

Go look at the latest dooyooMAGAZINE. You can find it here if you didn't delete it thirty seconds after it arrived in your Inbox:

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/magazine/dooyoomag/doo yoomag21/

Let's see what's in it, shall we? From the top:

* A banner ad for ZNetUK

That's the top 5% of the page.

* A brief puff piece (advert) angling for registrations at game rental company Game Loaner, including a draw for all dooyoo registrations for a single prize of six months free membership.

* A link to the top-searched (notice searched, not rated) printers and scanners on the site.

* Another puff piece (advert) for Equitalk, a phone company.

* Links to dooyoo/kelkoo's top selling DVD list for price comparisons. Not quite an advert, but a link for affiliate sales.

That's 60% of the page.

* A link to the winners of the last dooyoo competitions.

* A link to the current dooyoo competions.

* A link (sponsored?) to the category for the Sony Clie PDA (but no incentive to actually read the opinions there or to write one).

* A link to a promotion giveaway of goodies for the film Lilo and Stitch but it takes you not to how to enter (is it a comp? a draw?) but to the category page.

* A link to a competition to win a Mobo album, but it's not a dooyoo competition, it's driving traffic to twiceasnice.com

That's 20% of the page.

* Email and contact details for the dooyooteam and editor of the dooyooMAGAZINE.

That's 15% of the page.

Not much, is it? As far as I can see, apart from a link to the competitions, there's no content at all. None. Nada. Zilch. I don't mind advertising supporting newsletters, but this is just plain silly. It ain't a newsletter, it's about one step away from spam! In a newsletter I'd like to see:

* Articles on new active members with
some words from them, and links to their profiles.

* A featured member, rather like the old Hall of Fame.

* Some news as to the progress of the undesign, oops redesign.

* A brief personal article written by a staffer - um... Katie could write about life in Berlin for example.

* A brief personal article written by a member, oops user, talking about what they like about dooyoo and why (if they could find anyone who wasn't going to swear).

* Some INTERESTING competitions involving activity on the site - reading and rating opinions especially.

* Community news from tooyoo, chuckleboard, OpCom.

* Any unofficial "write-offs" that had been organised.

* Progress and donations to date made by the FORCHARITY account.

There. It's taken me three minutes to make those suggestions. I'm only writing this opinion because I was surfing the Marie Celeste, oops, dooyoo community page and stumbled across the dooyooMAGAZINE. There, at the bottom, amidst the email addresses is a link to write an opinion on it. Well, here's my opinion. It really is quite pathetic. One star cos I can't give none. Is it any wonder this site grows more depressing by the day? I've annoyed myself now so I think I'll stop typing.

Come on dooyoo, sort it out.

Summary: