Comments on: Brijit runs out of money! http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/ Intelligent Criticism in the Service of a Better Nation Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:01:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Paul Woodland http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/#comment-133336 Paul Woodland Sun, 18 May 2008 03:42:39 +0000 http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/#comment-133336 I loved Brijit, too, but sadly only for a day. I found all kinds of interesting articles that I never would have found otherwise. Launching a human-driven project like Brijit is difficult, especially if the goal is to promote quality writing and not simply implement a borg-based ranking/editing system as Google and Wiki do. These companies are always talking about online communities, but they stay as far away from individual human beings as possible. This impersonal approach may be necessary to maximize revenue, but it tends to promote the most boring recycled content while ignoring interesting and unique ideas, especially if those ideas take more than a paragraph to explain or go against the community's will. I look forward to seeing Brijit back online soon. In the meantime, readers might want to checkout Arts & Letters Daily <a href="http://www.aldaily.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.aldaily.com</a>. They do a nice job of linking to articles coming out of academia. I loved Brijit, too, but sadly only for a day. I found all kinds of interesting articles that I never would have found otherwise. Launching a human-driven project like Brijit is difficult, especially if the goal is to promote quality writing and not simply implement a borg-based ranking/editing system as Google and Wiki do.

These companies are always talking about online communities, but they stay as far away from individual human beings as possible. This impersonal approach may be necessary to maximize revenue, but it tends to promote the most boring recycled content while ignoring interesting and unique ideas, especially if those ideas take more than a paragraph to explain or go against the community’s will.

I look forward to seeing Brijit back online soon. In the meantime, readers might want to checkout Arts & Letters Daily http://www.aldaily.com. They do a nice job of linking to articles coming out of academia.

]]> By: Josh Friedlander http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/#comment-133333 Josh Friedlander Sun, 18 May 2008 01:38:56 +0000 http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/#comment-133333 Jeremy: After spending many days on the site, I'm sure someone will give you the cash you need, though I expect they'll only lend it at a ruinous dilution to your existing shareholders. But there are usually at least a few white knights willing to invest a modest sum for a modest share of a potentially very high return. I'm guessing the real overhead is not the absurdly cheap labor (16k posts x $5 = 80k = great bargain), but your startup burn on graphic design and coding (worth the investment!) and ongoing server costs and maintenance. Aren't you just the sort of company Google should be buying? My guess is they'd want to get rid of select writers and open the site to a yelp interface, and that's not an awful idea, though the summary quality would then vary in a wiki way and articles would rank based on salaciousness. It's not your goal, so I hope you don't take that route, but the VC sheep are probably thinking along that route. Jeremy: After spending many days on the site, I’m sure someone will give you the cash you need, though I expect they’ll only lend it at a ruinous dilution to your existing shareholders. But there are usually at least a few white knights willing to invest a modest sum for a modest share of a potentially very high return. I’m guessing the real overhead is not the absurdly cheap labor (16k posts x $5 = 80k = great bargain), but your startup burn on graphic design and coding (worth the investment!) and ongoing server costs and maintenance. Aren’t you just the sort of company Google should be buying? My guess is they’d want to get rid of select writers and open the site to a yelp interface, and that’s not an awful idea, though the summary quality would then vary in a wiki way and articles would rank based on salaciousness. It’s not your goal, so I hope you don’t take that route, but the VC sheep are probably thinking along that route.

]]> By: JeremyB http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/#comment-133332 JeremyB Sun, 18 May 2008 01:30:47 +0000 http://americanmadness.com/2008/05/17/brijit-runs-out-of-money/#comment-133332 I worried when I read your lede that you were going to prance around like some online-media Nostradamus. But you didn't. Thanks for that. In the end you're respectful of the effort, and I appreciate it. I'm sure if we pull it out you'll be one of the first to welcome us back and implore your readers to visit Brijit. Best, Jeremy Jeremy Brosowsky founder & CEO, Brijit http://brijit.wordpress.com/ I worried when I read your lede that you were going to prance around like some online-media Nostradamus. But you didn’t. Thanks for that. In the end you’re respectful of the effort, and I appreciate it. I’m sure if we pull it out you’ll be one of the first to welcome us back and implore your readers to visit Brijit.

Best,
Jeremy

Jeremy Brosowsky
founder & CEO, Brijit
http://brijit.wordpress.com/

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