[Aperfect]

Hi again,

I am not the brightest crayon in the box but I've faith this will work. I just need to build it professionally, that's all.

James Vo

[VectorJ]

I think the idea could work.

There's a stigma associated with cosmetic surgery. By being anonymous, the users could float an idea on whether or not to go that route without embarrassment.

A person in an environment where plastic surgery is not acceptable can get information from people who think plastic surgery is perfectly acceptable. By facilitating that change in thinking in your user, you can reap the financial benefits of advertising local doctors.

One thing I would change though, and this goes back to one of the things that akula was saying, is that people generally do not self-identify as "someone who had plastic surgery". There is no group for it. It may be better to rebrand the idea as a self-improvement site.

[akula]

EVIDENCE ???!!!!!

dipshits

[Unreal030]

After the wow factor wore off I am actually having to agree with Akula here.

In a not so boisterous way of course lol.

[akula]

Again, I don't have an opinion on this matter

It's a question of facts

All sucessful SN sites (Hotornot.com, Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, 43 Places etc etc) all built their critical mass on the backs of offline communities

On another hand, you have sites like YE, which have not been able to become commercially sucessful because they break the rule for SN success by marketing them selves to individual users, rather than groups

The point: Sites like hotornot only work because they don't give negative answers. No matter what you look like, you're gonna get an ego boost from using the site. For FixorNot.com, it's the opposite. The only answers are negative. No matter what you look like, at least somebody is gonna tell you that you need surgery, which makes people feel bad, and they're not gonna pass their profile to their friends. A girl who got a 7/10 on hot or not is gonna email her profile to her buddies. The same girl who got a "You need a nose job" on fixitor not, isn't gonna email anything.

Take Mabelle21 for example; she's had 26 voters tell her she needs surgery. Do you think she's gonna email her work buddies with the link?

This means that: Fixitornot not is based on the hypothesis that; "if hotornot works, then fixitornot will also work". However, this hypothesis is flawed for the reason described above. Hotornot sells positive user experience, which users share with others. Fixitornot, does the opposite.

The challenge for fixitornot is to design a positive experience for users and right now, I'm not hearing anyone positively contribute on this point

[VectorJ]

Settle down akula. Jesus Christ but you're an asshole. The opinion I floated above is based on the fact that people enjoy anonymity when seeking potentially embarrassing information and the fact that the self-help section of a bookstore takes up half the building. It's an opinion, which is entirely appropriate to this format, and Aperfect can take it or leave it. Keep your tourettes-like outbursts to yourself.

[silversurfer]

Originally Posted by akula

Again, I don't have an opinion on this matter

It's a question of facts

All sucessful SN sites (Hotornot.com, Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, 43 Places etc etc) all built their critical mass on the backs of offline communities

On another hand, you have sites like YE, which have not been able to become commercially sucessful because they break the rule for SN success by marketing them selves to individual users, rather than groups

The point: Sites like hotornot only work because they don't give negative answers. No matter what you look like, you're gonna get an ego boost from using the site. For FixorNot.com, it's the opposite. The only answers are negative. No matter what you look like, at least somebody is gonna tell you that you need surgery, which makes people feel bad, and they're not gonna pass their profile to their friends. A girl who got a 7/10 on hot or not is gonna email her profile to her buddies. The same girl who got a "You need a nose job" on fixitor not, isn't gonna email anything.

Take Mabelle21 for example; she's had 26 voters tell her she needs surgery. Do you think she's gonna email her work buddies with the link?

This means that: Fixitornot not is based on the hypothesis that; "if hotornot works, then fixitornot will also work". However, this hypothesis is flawed for the reason described above. Hotornot sells positive user experience, which users share with others. Fixitornot, does the opposite.

The challenge for fixitornot is to design a positive experience for users and right now, I'm not hearing anyone positively contribute on this point

I won't argue that what you wrote above is correct. I also won't argue that this entire board is filled with people who don't know anything about business other than they want to start companies. I still stand by my comments about corporatized SNs, but I don't think we really disagree here. I've already come up with a way that fixornot could improve as you also have (target the doctors). The idea is half-baked, but I don't think it's as desperate as you make it out to be- I think it has potential. I'm not sure what level of VC they're going for, but from a programming perspective they could have this running and hosted for less than $1m but unsure about the bandwidth costs for the photos.

[akula]

Originally Posted by VectorJ

Settle down akula. Jesus Christ but you're an asshole. The opinion I floated above is based on the fact that people enjoy anonymity when seeking potentially embarrassing information and the fact that the self-help section of a bookstore takes up half the building. It's an opinion, which is entirely appropriate to this format, and Aperfect can take it or leave it. Keep your tourettes-like outbursts to yourself.

hmm...I like your train of thought

can you give an example of where a site with a similar profile (i.e. embarrassing information) has worked?

I mean, there's http://www.am-i-fat.com/ but these kinds of sites tend to be portals for information, rather than something with photos and emphasis on face to face meetups

I've been looking at the SN lists and I haven't been able to find a suitable analogous concept for fixornotfix

[akula]

Originally Posted by silversurfer

I've already come up with a way that fixornot could improve as you also have (target the doctors). The idea is half-baked, but I don't think it's as desperate as you make it out to be- I think it has potential.

Fire away, what's the pitch?

I looooove the problem that Aperfect is shooting at

I think being able to get an opinion on whether you might need plastic surgery is an interesting problem

I'd like to be able to find a solution

I don't think adopting the hotornot solution is gonna work because with hotornot, the site gets traffic because it's users share their profiles with other users

When it comes to plastic surgery, users aren't gonna share their profiles the same they do on hotornot

I've been looking around to find a solution which might work, but I haven't been able to find it

[crackah]

Yeah, sorry OP, but i agree with Akula,

I cant see this as work as a SN site... I wouldnt want to post my self on a site, with the question, do i need plastic surgery? It's just not something anyone would want to do?