AmericasBest1

StumbleUpon Blows It !

2009 November, 25th


Phil Butler



StumbleUpon
blew it. There is simply no other  way to put it. The
degradation of the community there has forced this user
to discontinue its use. I decided it is not necessary to
go into minute details, I intended to offer metrics,
links, corroborative reasons, and so forth, but in the
end just leaving is enough. Suffice it to say that
social service has effectively become useless - to be
blunt - a waste of time and energy.  Our

recent tilt with them over some of the issues, some
flaming from people who work for or with them, and the
general lack of value SU has become, have led me to this
conclusion.
Once upon a time there was a great opportunity for StumbleUpon and
similar, shall we call them "suggestion" engines, to genuinely provide a
groundbreaking value for Internet users. The sharing and discovery
possibilities there being the primary value propositions as far as users are
concerned. From my perspective (let me say that again - from my perspective)
StumbleUpon never really got much past what I will term the "coolness"
factor in forging something more useful from their development. It was
"cool" to be able to "trip" across beautiful images, to "hop" over the
interests of "friends", to play "hop scotch" with the idea that online
community would take us all somewhere. Well in the end, though some old
friendships were fostered and solidified (meaning most people who are real
friends on any network are probably friends any way), for the most part SU
community wise is rather shallow for most.