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AlexPk
7198
Community
Jul 18, 2016
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I don't think votes should be limited exactly(avoid making a money based class system on MD), but I do like the idea of having reruns somehow confirmed for a certain order amount before launching. Not sure how to do that exactly, but it would be nice to relaunch things that the community for sure wanted.
Jul 18, 2016
Geckt
709
Jul 18, 2016
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AlexPkI should clarity myself as to the line where it limits to a money based category where there will always be more arguments made. And certain am not trying to limit other's reach and demands. It's only so people who are willing to pay that premium get what they wanted while others would wait years even so they find a single set of items they wanted.
Honestly, that doesn't sounds quite right to me either ways.
Well, how do I put it? Something like the Bazaar? A limited period of time offer say like every bi-annually with the most popular and sought after items are being re-released for an offer maybe.
Really the current Bazaar isn't really a nice model, with all those less than wanted items I don't think there's even a need when they can just be normal reruns with early drop dates set
Jul 18, 2016
j.a.l
716
Jul 21, 2016
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AlexPkOne approach could be polls with an option to commit to pre-order. I know MD is at trying to figure out how to extract signal from noisy polls. If there were both "I like these" options and a "I like this one enough to commit to it, with the understanding it may never happen" option, you have a new, somewhat stronger signal without losing whatever you can infer from the polls as the exist now[1]. That may introduce confusion, especially for folks new to the site or new to the group-buy idea. I'm not a UI guy or a copy writer, so I'll leave communicating that to someone else.
It isn't entirely classless, in that signal with a dollar sign attached is stronger than a signal about window-shopping, but, well, we aren't a classless species, and you're a startup in a capital-driven, money-obsessed society. But I think it might capture better data, reduce MD's uncertainty about viability and preserve the community aspects you're concerned with.[2]
Don't know your code architecture, but you already have the building blocks, assuming it is well-structured. Might make an interesting experiment.
[1] Or it might not. Socio-technical engineering never fails to surprise when taken from design to reality.
[2] There's a wealth of studies showing how polling options presented influence people's responses, and doing this would introduce a different category of decision into an existing test, so this pretty imperfect from a research perspective. If you don't mind being a bit evil/Facebook-ish, you could A/B test it, and perhaps not feel slimy about doing that if you notified folks in vague terms about what is going on.
Jul 21, 2016
Data
2004
Data
Jul 22, 2016
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j.a.lMy only problem with this is, how do I commit to buy a product with unknown future availability? A commitment alone isn't enough to guarantee a drop. Even Massdrop can't guarantee any particular manufacturer will agree to work with them. There are also issues with credit card authorizations -- they expire after 30 days and it costs MD money to re-authorize them.
The polls exist almost exclusively to show MD what areas and products have broad interest in the community. The "winning" product often isn't even available when the drop happens -- it's sometimes the 3rd or 4th (or lower) item in the poll that gets the drop, for a myriad of reasons. So committing to buy anything based on a poll would mostly be a huge waste of time for everyone involved. That's why we separate polls from actual drops.
Jul 22, 2016
Data
2004
Data
Jul 22, 2016
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GecktThe Bazaars are how Massdrop liquidates excess inventory. They typically order a few extras on any given drop to create a buffer in case of lost/stolen packages, damages in transit, fulfillment mistakes and other issues. Once the drop ends and the dust settles on shipping, then they clear those leftovers for sale in the Bazaar.
Jul 22, 2016
j.a.l
716
Jul 23, 2016
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DataYou raise some interesting points, and you're right, I don't think my idea survives them. CC auths can be worked around, but the rest are real problems.
Collective action: still a sticky wicket.
Jul 23, 2016
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