Fukubukuro will never be fair
56Just a quick note, this is not a technical explanation of why Fuku isn't fair but a philosophical one. For the technical stuff, check out @shawn's post.
A lot of y'all seem pretty pissed off that you couldn't get a Fukubukuro. In a way that is the best possible indicator that the event was a success. We sold something that so many of you want so badly that you're mad as hell when you couldn't get one, so…thanks!
But don't we want you to be happy? Of course we do, but we are a start up and we have very limited resources. That means picking and choosing what we spend those resources on. The cost (time, money, and effort) to get the site to run completely smoothly for the short time it would take for a Fuku to sell out is really high. And doing that would mean we couldn't spend nearly as much time, money, and effort working on launching other sites and experiments (such as the Ambivalanche).
One option we have is to stop doing Fuku all together so we can actually get all of this work on other sites we want to do done.
Or everyone can understand that when Fuku happens the site will be slow and crash for a while and we can keep doing Fukus and all of those other fun things. Hint: this is the one we like the best.
That said, we totally agree that 2 hours of service downtime isn't cool. @shawn goes into detail here about why the crashing happened, and why it's not quite as simple as "buy more servers."
Even after all of these optimizations are done, when the site is getting as hammered as hard as it does with the amount of infrastructure we have some downtime during Fukus isn't just expected, but totally acceptable in our eyes.
As @shawn's post mentions, once stuff was working we sold 870 of them in 145 seconds. How boring would it be if everything worked right away and it was all over that fast? Where would the thrill of the chase be?
The real core of this is what it's always been -- there are more of you than we have, or can have, Fukus. There really is no good solution to this.
This last point applies to much more than Fukubukuro, but it's still relevant to mention here: if you want retail service and retail availability, you have to pay retail price.
Could we sell a box of predetermined goods at a very slight discount to 10,000 people? Sure.
Do we want to? Nope.
We'd rather send out a bunch of random, crazy shit to a few of you, so that's exactly what we're going to do. But don't get too excited, it'll probably be total crap.
- 48 comments, 180 replies
- Comment
LOL, the longer I hang out here, the more sane @unixrab starts to sound.
@neuromancer
@capguncowboy hey... don't be mean when someone's warming up to my sanity...!
@unixrab sanity and senility aren't really the same thing :) Think of it like Yosemite Sam. This town isn't big enough for two of you.
@capguncowboy great... now you gotta start THAT argument again... wheresmypills
@neuromancer, @unixrab received some lithium in his FUKU #3 and seems to be taking it on a regular basis.
@cengland0 I keep passing these little flat round silver things though... weird. hurts
@unixrab Have you been taking the CR2032s? Those are a little big to pass. Maybe take two CR1616 ones instead.
@neuromancer How awful it is that a website you pay nothing to use doesn't accomodate your every whim
I think your goat may have gone rabid last night. If you have to put him down, may I suggest a cat instead.
@Outofmymind
@joelmw GGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
@Outofmymind Have I said this to you before? I said it to someone with a similar sentence of a name. Rabies is the least of my problems. Anyway, I see your user name as a sort of reminder. Don't forget, @joelmw, you're outofyourmind. Creepy, huh?
@Outofmymind
@JonT, if only a small fraction of the community are going to have access to some of these things, why not raffle them off or distribute them in a way where everybody can share in the fun? I know losing a raffle feels a lot more fair then clicking on a broken Captcha for two hours. But that's just me.
@neuromancer Perhaps that's more than just you, but that's not me. We're helpless in the face of tech issues, but when the process runs as intended, we can put our success/failure on ourselves. I'm not interested in having someone pick my name from a hat.
@neuromancer Or, you could stop sulking, put on your big boy pants and try harder next time
@neuromancer every meh.com member secretly hopes to crash the servers... it's so much more random that way while @shawn is rebooting one and blowing in the NES cartridge of the other... we could score a Fuku! @shawn is keeping the plates spinning and we're watching and waiting for a crash...
@neuromancer A raffle would generate significantly less ire and still satisfy all of JonT's arguments. It also has the benefit of letting people know up front that most people would not get one. I'm new here and was complete caught by surprise by the limited supply, website problems, and the hostile forum apologists.
In fact they should sell raffle tickets for $1. You either win or lose your dollar. This would lower the price and clearly set expectations.
In fact this is one of the smartest things I've seen in the forums since I've started using them, which to be fair is yesterday.
@neuromancer @michaelforman Daily Steals does that. It's a great idea, and I recommend it, but as @JonT said, Fuku will never be that. Plus, if you've ever seen the reactions to losing a Rush (we've tried to win several) they're pretty similar to missing a Fuku. At least with Fuku you have some control over your fate.
http://www.dailysteals.com/rush/
@neuromancer raffle = boring as hell
@Michaelforman I don't think you'll like it here... it's not fair or logical or even civil. Things are hashed out in brute force and the moderators are fascists.... @snapster is a benevolent dictator until his brother pisses him off then he trolls 170,000 people with 1000 possible fukus. You have to work hard to get stuff you want... putting in extra effort and hours.... then flip a coin... you have to be smart or you get your as..prin bottle handed to you... Don't stay for day 3
@hart Funny you say that, think I said the exact same to him in the other thread, or at least someone. Hell I can't even win loser circles over there, but it is funny to see the hundreds of twitter responses upset they lost for a 1 in 3-5000 item which is the same odds of dying in a person's lifetime from choking on food.
@Outofmymind Actually that isn't close to the same odds, unless your lifetime is also 20-30 minutes long. It is however very low odds but extremely fun...we now have 7 people in our office who are tuned into the DailySteals/Rush feed when a Rush is on. I can't get more than 1 of those people to be interested in Meh for more than a couple minutes.
@tightwad Depends, if you consider it a lifetime event that only happens once, the odds are roughly the same. 1 in 4600ish either will occur. It all depends on what way you look at the event. I usually miss the DS events due to work, I find it the most fun when I do catch it just hanging out rather than the item offered.
@neuromancer Woot did a raffle like thing a few times. You bought something cheap like Woot Off lights. The last number of your order number had to match the last number of that day's Dow closing. But even the number of lights sold were set at a limited number. It seemed much more democratic but it pissed off people more that the regular BOC offering.
@hart I'd argue it's still luck. Maybe I'm just scared of the automated "FIRST POST!" type of behavior, where us mere mortals stand no chance against the legion. Just because the last step requires a human does not mean the previous steps were not done by evil robots. That, and rapidly checking the meh.com at exactly 9pm when other things are going on really tends to annoy people. To be fair, I suppose by doing nothing, meh has actually implemented my earlier suggestion by simply keeping the window of purchase down to about 120 seconds. meh. The true issue of the matter is I now want fried chicken, and meh just doesn't get me fried chicken. Why is there not a crazy discount for fried chicken? I am your customer meet my demands! FRIED CHICKEN!!!
@neuromancer Who promised it'd be fair? Actually, it is fair, if you work at it. I got my fuku at 1:42am. No dirty tricks or special techniques; pure brute force. In a week or so, I'll get a box of (probably) crap in the mail. If meh would sell me a fuku whenever I wanted one, I wouldn't want one. It's not about the fuku. It's about getting the fuku. The thrill of the chase, the repetitiveness of the click. I'm pretty sure that's the point. Amazon will treat you fairly, if that's what you want.
@Teripie It pissed some people off. I thought it was great. The people who were pissed off were the entitled tools. You know how it works going in... if you don't want to be one of the 90% of losers, go the fuck to sleep.
@editorkid Another k badge telling people to fuck off. How original.
@neuromancer Oh for Christ's sake. If it helps you sleep at night, enjoy my rapidly increasing lack of interest in the community here as people come up with weirdly stupid "them vs. us" conspiracy scenarios. I mean, I fucking lost all of those contests myself, but I enjoyed them, and years later, someone has to tell me I'm an elitist about it. Give yourself a nice fucking high-five, bro.
@editorkid you know you find this fun :-) or at least certain "personalities" fun to watch. @neuromancer 's "k badge" arguement will soon prove er...umm...stupid. in two years we'll have another elitist badge or tag or something and they'll only be 6 months joining difference between "the k badges" and @neuromancer 's "ruler of all things fair crown badge."
@editorkid Too bad the search function doesn't support quotes or I'd show you. Whatever it is what it is.
@RedHot It's not the badge, its the attitude.
@neuromancer To be fair, I've also suggested that people might be more comfortable using another site. Sure, our community ends up being a little Wild West-y, but we don't want to censor our community - especially because we don't want to stifle honest feedback. We benefit from it.
That said, we know were not the right site for everyone, and we've been upfront about that. We have no qualms suggesting that this might not be the right place for certain people. We don't want to be Amazon or Wal-Mart where one size fits all. We want to be Meh, where fuck you unless you want this one thing that we're selling and want to have fun doing it.
I hate to invoke the dismissive gibe, but seriously, being mad that you stayed up for hours past your bedtime unsuccessfully trying to give your money for a box of what is almost certainly going to be complete junk is like the definition of a First World Problem.
@hart That should really be your tagline "We're Meh, where fuck you unless you want this one thing that we're selling and want to have fun doing it."
Hi @hart It just seemed to me that customer service had been doing a better job at resolving problems, setting expectations, and just a better overall tone in general customer communication through the forums and otherwise as of late. If that was my imagination then please accept my sincere apologies. :-)
@pulphero agreed. It wasn't even that hard to get as long as you really, really wanted one: Make sure you are signed in/got everything straightened out for checkout. Check exactly at 12am eastern. 250 lucky people who checked at this time got it. Stay smart and refresh in different places. Then refresh. ~900 orders were place in 145 seconds. However there were another minute or so right before hand where orders slowly came in. If you really wanted it and weren't afraid of hard work you would have gotten one unless you were super unlucky (computer crashed, internet was slow at that exact time, had to pee etc). Having stayed up to order things on Black Friday/flash sales, virtual sites that stock a very limited amount of high value items this wasn't even that difficult. I have seen a lot of people who say they've been refreshing for 2 hours and suddenly it wasn't out of stock. No, you weren't refreshing for two hours straight. Some people were. Those people (and the lucky refreshers) got it. I rather it award the people who were committed and lucky rather than just lucky.
I think the point is that if the server HADN'T crashed, you would have clicked for about 240 seconds. The point they can work on, and indeed, ARE working on...is that 2 hours. Why should it be fair?
@Mavyn It doesn't have to BE fair, it just has to FEEL fair. Snapster said that a large pool of customers means better deals for everyone. To build this pool, the site should help everyone share in the fun, even if not wveryone wins a prize.
@neuromancer That's a totally criteria. How can you expect one site to make everyone feel they're treated fairly when everyone defines fair differently? I'm on the east coast, but I think it's fair that I miss out if I'm not willing to stay up until midnight. Clearly, there are those who feel otherwise.
@Mavyn Hey you guys can do what you want, its your company. But if it stops being fun for people, then people will stop coming by.
@neuromancer the best way to judge if it's still fun for people is "have we sold out?"
@neuromancer Depends on your definition of fun. Sorry, but the fallout or reaction to last night's Fukubukuro has been fairly entertaining...and instructive.
@katylava If your desired customer base is 1000 people.
@tomvarela it made my day.... so tired after staying up so late with F5 and all that
@neuromancer This model is proven...enough people think this type of exercise in futility is fun.
@neuromancer People keep conflating fukubukuro sales with regular sales. They are completely different beasts. The people who think the fuku hunt is fun will do the fuku hunt. People who don't, won't. But, for most people, that doesn't mean they won't visit the other 360+ days a year.
@SSteve case-in-point I never go for the BOC at wootazon... and they are SO easy to get these days... boring
@unixrab this is true. Once it was offered multiple times in smaller batches, it was easy to get -- and for the most part, wasn't worth a shit.
@capguncowboy
@Unixrab I disagree. Woot worked by growing and changing. A lot of people here don't like what it became, but not all of that can be blamed on the Amazon acquisition. I understand the premise of the site and how everyone wants to keep it a mom-and-pop type operation. Hey, if they can manage that then congrats. I doubnt, though, that the few thousand k-badges and die-hards are gonna keep the lights on with small quantity lots of cheap shit. I certainly could be wrong, but for as much as the k-badges are encouraged to chase people off who complain or suggest change, there is still a lot of focus (in the newsletters and official posts) on how big the user-base is. I don't think that's by accident.
@unixrab I'll also point out that although the flasks were real cavalier about their "like it or leave it" customer service posts about the @twistedlisa incident around Thanksgiving, you can't deny that there has been a distinct shift in how CS issues are handled on the forums. There might be an official party line of "Hey we're MEH like us or leave" but I think that these complaints and suggestions actually bring about useful and positive change. You just have to wade through a bunch of the fanatical supporter's bullshit to see it.
@neuromancer what "distinct shift in how CS issues are handled on the forums" are you talking about? i can't keep up with everything but i try to pay attention to topics posted by staff, and i've only seen more "this is who we are, this is who we are not" posts.
@neuromancer Never go full retard bro.
@neuromancer These responses are going to be by sentence. Watch your punctuation and don't get mixed up
(here's a hint - I'm moving on now to your followup post directly below your first post)
so...
@katylava You can go search for twistedlisa if you are interested.
@neuromancer I'm sure the mediocre labs employee needs you to show her around the forums.
@neuromancer I think most people react to tone, moreso than the complaint. If you ask a forthright question, or make a suggestion to function (like forum features, etc.) - you're treated pretty fairly. If you start out with how "unfair" this place is, or want the entire site operation to shift to suit you, you get a lot flack. I think your vendetta against the "k badgers" is a bit silly. Not all of us early supporters agree, not all of us have said something mean to someone (I however, have.) You keep calling out anyone with a k badge as though we are more than a group of people who kickstarted something. Then, when people within that large and diverse group response, you throw out some shorthand "ugh, another k badge, blah blah" swipe, that doesn't address anything actually said.
At the the end of the day, the users can kick up their heels, cry, whine, yell, beg, and generally be asshats. The PTB at Mediocre will run their site how they see fit. While they know how to adapt, they aren't going to bend to our will, and they don't need to. They are obviously doing something right for tens of thousands of people who check the site every day. I think you signed up here to watch this place fail, and are pissed off that it's not failing. Especially since they are doing things in a way you don't like. Get over it. Get over the silly argument of "us vs. them." Choose to be a part of the community and pour that energy into something besides starting a fight with every person who happens to have a K next to their name.
Hi @Thumperchick!
@RedHot she asked a question; i answered it. What is your problem?
@neuromancer Oh hai!
@katylava No "have we sold out" is a function of the number of items for sale which, in this case, is way less than < that potential customers in your customer base who want it. Fun is not necessarily part of the equation.
@Kidsandliz Fun is half the reason Meh was created and the only real reason they have fukubukuros. If you're not having fun, even if you had to waste 2 hours to lose, then maybe you should be at some other site that ends in "mart" or "azon". I'm sure they'll have plenty of whatever it is that you find fun.
Sorry that this is random, but am I the only one seeing a broken star for this reply? I'll blame @Joelmw . But it's still weird...
@Keyeno It's been addressed as a glitch form the list tag @unixrab used.
@Thumperchick ab
@unixrab
@Thumperchick well now that's one way to work around the star issue ! Well done. :-)
@Keyeno Yeah, I dunno, but this keeps happening too:
@joelmw
@JonT Just last month....
@lisaviolet @JonT I think it's contagious.
Lmao, I love how this derailed.
Unacceptable! I think it's only fair that all of the people who couldn't get a Fukubukuro get to keep the money they would have spent on it. Anything else is unjust!
TLDR: it's JonT's fault
@medz technically... @joelmw... but where has he been in all this.. ABSENT!! F for you goat!
@unixrab Just for you.
@joelmw and yet, we all had to see it. Thanks.
@joelmw whoa... you woke up! Welcome back! I told you too much sugar would put you in a coma
@Thumperchick Seriously. I'm trying to cut back. I'll do better.
Even if you sold that box of predetermined goods to 10,000 people, the other 160,000 mehmbers would still complain. You deserve a free 10 pack.
Well said @JonT. I really appreciate the honesty and transparency from this thread as well as @shawn 's thread. In the end it really comes down to the fact that everyone that joins quickly learns the drop time for new products, it's not random and it's certainly no secret. Truthfully it's already fair for everyone. Everyone gets an equal chance with a little commitment and a little luck. Meh continues to exceed my expectations.
Basically...every time meh.com offers a fuku they are self-DDoS'ing. The money it would take to have a pipe and servers big enough to handle 50,000 simultaneous orders would be mind-blowing. The rest of the time, that bandwidth would be wasted.
The plain simple truth is that - Fuku's are a game and it's a game of skill AND chance. You may not like those type games... You may prefer all skill game or all chance game, and that's your prerogative. Meh.com has chose the skill + luck format. Don't like it? Don't play. Don't ask to change the game - It's their game.
It's quixotic to continue (every Fuku) wishing things were fair, more evenly distributed, level playing ground, offer more total Fuku's. It's not going to happen.
I would personally find a raffle or a staged release trite and boring, and probably wouldn't even participate. You ALL know how much I DO NOT BUY here (so far), But I play the Fuku game. I like the Fuku game. So stop griping and moaning and wishing for fairness. It's a game. you win or you lose based on your skill, learning and luck...
@unixrab It's nice to see you like something.
@unixrab Damn, I want to slap you right now, but it just doesn't feel right. Because, you know, you're making sense.
@unixrab I even spelled your name correctly in celebration. Twice.
@lisaviolet ahhh.... what the hell: c'mere baby!
@hallmike You are giant among giants and a hallmike that all hallmike's aspire to be... I salute you!
@unixrab I think people are confusing 'fair' with 'equal'.
@unixrab
@lisaviolet
@Mavyn True.. I use fair here in the RNG sense of the dice.... The "House" always wins (not fair) but we all have an equal chance ... you rightly point out a good distinction
@Mavyn True, because as I like to tell my kids "Fair's are places where pigs win prizes". This process is fair, just not equitable.
@tightwad My mom used to tell us she didn't love us all (her kids) the same but she loves us all equally. (not sure how this fits the larger discussion...just something my mom would tell us)
@unixrab We Are Meh: Equality is NOT our stock in trade.
@chellemonkey when my kids ask why their brother/sister got something they didn't I tell them it must be because I love that kid more...
@tightwad I'd tell them the item was cursed and that I was saving the non-recipient by not giving it to them.
@tightwad Haha they sound like they will be well-adjusted adults
All I can say is that I'd MUCH prefer to have a slim chance at getting something really cool rather than a very good chance at getting something mildly interesting. For example, I'd rather have a 1:10000 chance at getting a freaking giant TV for $5 (Thank you for that) instead of a 1:10 chance at getting a water bottle and a pack of stickers for that $5. If they gave everyone a guaranteed shot at a great Fuku, the Fuku would no longer be so great.
@Bingo Agreed. The sercurity cameras, which have now been hung all over the front of my house, are awesome. If they had spread that out over 60 Fuku boxes, it wouldn't have been as interesting. I like the current strategy. It's a lottery. Then if you win, you might win again. What's not to love about that?
@capguncowboy Did we get a pic of the hung cameras and I just missed it? I'd love to see them.
@capguncowboy I'm so glad you did that. I just had to explain this to my wife, because I just chuckled at the thought of this.
@capguncowboy @hart I'm sure they look a lot cooler than the dozens of PB n' J Spreaders I hung all over the front of my house. Wonder why the neighbors are suddenly moving...
@Cinoclav You should have a party and give them away as favors. Even better if it is for an adult birthday party.
@chellemonkey @Cinoclav And give away little jars of this!
@lisaviolet Oh man that would be PERFECT!!!! please do this, @Cinoclav!!!
@hallmike I really hope he sends you a picture of cameras with genitalia
@chellemonkey @lisaviolet I've already given a bunch away to coworkers and family. Though that barely puts a dent in the total. Still going to swing by a farmers market and see if someone wants to buy the rest to resell. Btw, the Goober defeats the entire purpose of having the double ended spreader. It would seem like a complete waste of the jelly scoop!
@Cinoclav But is would look super cute next together tied up in a cellophane bag
@Cinoclav Wind chimes? Tree ornaments? LOL
@Kidsandliz Security system. Wouldn't you think some complete lunatic lived there if they had a hundred PB n' J spreaders hanging outside their house?
I must say tho @jont - these musings do NOT sound "California liberal hippy" to me. You fascist. ;-)
@unixrab All the California liberal hippies in Texas are confined to Austin. That's 90% of the Texas National Guard's mission.
@SSteve keep it weird... (so it doesn't spread) DOH!!!!!!
Meh shouldn't change a freaking thing about the Fuku's keep up the good, but sometimes frustrating, work
I just came here to say that I think you guys at meh.com are doing a great job.
@jsh139
It sounds to me like you have no plan to scale. How long can you keep telling people that it's just three guys in a warehouse? How long can you afford to let a cadre of hostile apologists run off customers with complaints? How long can you sell product that's gone in 120 seconds?
I picture you all sitting around a card table in a warehouse passing around a spliff. Plans? We don't need no plans.
@Michaelforman I'm sure you're right. I'm sure that @snapster has no idea what he's doing. I'm sure you would be much more qualified to run this show. I'm sure... The entire point of the Fuku is two-fold. 1) it clears out old stock 2) it drums up attention. Loads of people get mad and talk about it. Then they check back every night hoping to get that bag. While they're there, they might see another item for sale at a price they can't resist. The Fuku has and always will be an attention grabbing advertisement campaign. It works. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Or get off the train. Whatever works for you.
@Michaelforman said "How long can you keep telling people that it's just three guys in a warehouse?" I'd say as freaking long as they want to tell people that.
@Michaelforman Have you been here: https://mediocre.com/ ? If not...go on. Read it. Check it out. Think how that applies to meh.
@Michaelforman Hey, it's four guys in a warehouse. I'm kidding (sort of). We actually have a pretty diverse and unique setup that I wouldn't trade for the world. @Mavyn is right, check out https://mediocre.com. Meh is the result of people who like new ideas, fun, and spontaneity with their ecommerce. If you don't like it, that's completely fine. There are other websites or retail stores that might be better for you. As for us, we're going to keep selling cheap shit, making fun of it, and sending wacky things to the few people who make it past the checkout page.
@hart
@hart
@jseay65 What's with the cylon, 4th tier just right of center?
@Mavyn Those freakin cylons man... could be any one of us.
@jseay65 Frackin' toasters.
@Michaelforman If this place drives you so crazy why are you still here? And BTW, Kickstarter members have nothing to do with this site apart from buying the very first fukubukuros. @Snapster has said as much. He wanted a way to sell them before the site was up.
@jseay65
@hart I'm really new to this site. I have read the link you provided and I have recalibrated.
The next time there's upset on the forum from new folks who don't understand, I'll try to kindly educate them. Ooh. It's time again!
@Michaelforman I like you. On the internet, open minded people are like unicorns - rare and magical. So, thanks.
@Michaelforman I like this response. I'd like to refer @neuromancer to read here.
@hart fuck me that is an excellent post. saved forever.
@Michaelforman Your sense of entitlement is cloying. These guys know what they are doing, Read this: https://meh.com/forum/topics/ohshit-report-fukubukuro-4
@Headly read the whole comment section. he actually changes his perspective a bit. I can't believe I just said that on the internet.
@RedHot Will do. As a professional software developer nothing irritates me more that someone implying that it's easy.
I can't believe that @JonT has to even make a clarifying statement such as that at the top of the posting. I can't believe that people are still dragging on about "fairness" in regards to a daily deal website. It's freakin Capitalism people, supply and demand, there's nothing "fair" about it nor should there be. These guys at Meh don't owe you a freaking thing. Because they are in the business of profit it's in their best interest to give you the best daily deal experience around, and it's clear to almost everyone here that they are doing just that! I swear, this "everybody get's a trophy" and "let's not keep score, we're all winners" mentality is going to be the downfall of society.
@jseay65 ^^ This!
@jseay65 ALL HAIL COMMUNISM. The one true GOD
@JonT Ambivalanche, you say?
TELL US MOAR NAOW PLEEEEZE :D
@curtise Just do a little searching - the answer you seek is already out there.
@djames85 Search result: " :( Are you just testing the search function to see if it works? There are clearly no results for ‘Ambivalanche’" Although I have learned nothng about the "Ambivalanche", I have learned that the search engine is not strong in the Force.
@moondrake It's not. It only searches the title words of a thread, not the body of text.
@moondrake https://www.google.com/?q=site%3Ameh.com%20ambivalanche
@curtise Hate to burst your bubble, but https://meh.com/forum/topics/ambivalanche#54b81efd368b30a002379cea
@JonT
@JonT >pop<
Awwwwwww, shucks! Now I am sad.
@moondrake for some reason my work blocks medicore so i can't post during the day - anyway, the much smarter than me folks have got it covered. i just did some googling last night.
@JonT This should become the meh term of service agreement - also I can't wait for the forum rants after the first Ambivalanche.
I have to say it's thrilling to know the final name of multi-item Meh event, but also a letdown that there will be no more speculation on the name.
@dashcloud But the letdown can be lessened with the thought that if they've named it and bought the domain, it must be approaching.
Are there actually people in this community that are unfamiliar with Woot and the BOC? Same deal. Why is this even in debate?
@neuromancer You want a different start time, fuku's to be distributed differently, and the forum participants to act differently. Are you sure you're at the right site?
I think the reason that Kickstarter backers are defending the model is because we all backed a concept we loved and knew would be fun. It kind of seems like you joined, received exactly the site that was promised, and now would like it totally different. At what point did the site not meet your expectations?
@DaveInSoCal when it wasn't a post growth woot.
@DaveInSoCal And this is where I realize nobody actually reads the words in my posts. Thanks, now I don't have to bother responding any more.
@JonT I disagree with one thing. Fukus are always fair. They go on sale at the same time for everyone, and everyone knows (or should know) that there are only so many and there are way less than there are people that want one. It's not like (I assume) that certain people get special treatment or something.
Don't change a thing, except of course fixing the inefficient bottleneck code.
To me Meh is not really a shopping site. The purchasing is incidental to the experience. If I don't get a fuku #5 my butt will not hurt.
@Headly and yes I voted for my own post, because I am also awesome.
@JonT Thank you for all the hard work you and your team do to keep this a fun place! I love the excitement/frustration of the green bar when fighting to get a FUKU!!!! It makes the Meh site so much fun! You will always have assholes crying that they missed out on the perfect girl, the perfect wave, and the BOC/FUKU! Fuck them all and keep up the great job!!!!
I love purple.
As someone who has read all of the words in your posts on this thread, I have noticed that several people on here don't seem to realize that you are just trolling. If you aren't, then I am not sure why you start off incredibly selective of who you reply to, but when you do reply it is either to tell the "k badges" they are elitist. That or you are crying because nobody is reading what you are writing. To me it sounds like you are either a troll, or my brother during his "me against the world" phase. So if you say you don't have to respond anymore, I just have to ask; promise?
@Morgue I'm going to guess this was aimed at @neuromancer?
@Thumperchick indeed, sorry I'm still new to post in on here. I apologize.
@Morgue I can't make any promises. Generally i get fed up and stay away for a week or two a time, but then get suckered back in when I get an email about free VMP or upcoming Fuku. Then I hang around until i remember why these forums suck.
@neuromancer Sounds good, see you in a couple weeks.
Life quit being fair once you graduated from kindergarten.
@macdaddy Actually, according to the laws of quantum physics, life is inherently fair.
@Headly I was just going by the rules that said this is a philosophical discussion, NOT a technical discussion. If the laws of quantum physics constitute a philosophy, please explain. I did read your post earlier, but do not accept just any "science" quotation as implicit truth. If you would just quantify your parameters and define all your terms, I'm sure we would be in violent agreement, but it still wouldn't fit within the rules of a philosophical discussion, and by that I mean "2.having or showing a calm attitude toward disappointments or difficulties" which may not be the first definition in a dictionary, but the one to which I assumed was being used in the first paragraph.
@macdaddy It's a reference to at a very basic level everything is random, and we all, everyone of us, have the same chance of a good or bad thing happening to us. It's human perspective that makes things fair or unfair. Its subjective. I took the technical point in the post to mean server issues. That's not what my point is. I guess my point is that fairness is subjective and point of view driven, but if you strive for an objective view point, you will see that a lot of what happens that is considered by many to be unfair, is in fact random and perfectly fair to all. At a macro level, pretty much everything that happens is more or less fair. A lot of it really sucks though.
@Headly I would respectfully disagree. For various reasons, some people have more bad things happen to them because of the choices they make in life. Some people have more good things that happen to them because of the life choices they make. At some level, macro or micro, I believe things are structured, maybe not to the extent we can figure them out, but there's rules being followed nevertheless. thanks for the discussion. Nice to meet someone with an opinion they can back up with logical arguments.
@Headly You would be an interesting person to have a beer with.
@editorkid I'd like to think so, and as long as it's XX
Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. Unfairness is in the eye of the not holder.
“nothing”
the unjust man complained
“is just” (“or un-“ the just rejoined.)
e.e. cummings
@JonT I'm super excited for the ambivalanche, and honored you picked my submission in the naming contest!!! =) I'm giddy like a school girl!
Though now I'm worried I will be the goat if it turns out to not be much fun
@dis_member again...Hate to burst your bubble, but https://meh.com/forum/topics/ambivalanche#54b81efd368b30a002379cea
@JonT
@JonT That's aright! I'm honored to be in the running then
Bath
Maybe it's time to introduce the Suckubukuro, a mystery bag of two things sold near retail price and always available.
I think everyone's forgetting one critical thing: @marklog fingered his dog.
@DaveInSoCal how is this known? is there a post that explains it that i cant find?
@Headly https://meh.com/forum/topics/are-you-dumber-than-me#53c6acd391d5fd340a7797d1
@Ignorant beat me by a minute!
@DaveInSoCal A shot out of nowhere like this... Also, I think @headly was a plant. "Is there a post that explains it"... like an infomercial.. "how much does it cost!??!"
@DaveInSoCal The big question is: Where the hell has @marklog been?
@Cinoclav sorry :) I've gotten busier at work so my forum activity has been relegated to 'lurker'. I shall find balance.
@Headly
@marklog Happy lurking, glad you're still around.
Sorry I was out of town in a hotel room away on business trying to get a fuku bag. My frustration is I had an order, but then I didn't. That's why I'm a little pissed off. Other than that everything is fine :)
Fuku is fair.... For the winners!! (no for you or me unfortunately).
... true, it is not a simple as 'buy more servers' if the architecture is vulnerable to crashes like that. it's not that expensive and difficult to build a system to avoid crashes. That's what queuing is for.
I honestly don't even care about getting a good fuku...i just want to be able to get one once, just once, be disappointed, and then no longer have to be disappointing every time I don't get a fuku.
@JonT, you replied previously that you were indeed hoping to maintain the "informal tone" of your communiques to us (aka the customers.)
You're doing an excellent job of it so far.
I think the problem I have is that I tried to purchase at 12:00:35 and by then the site was fucked. Then, people that moseyed in after me were able to purchase because they spammed f5 for 2 hours. I sent messages to the twitter account when there were barely any messages coming in, and nobody replied. It sucks when I can prove I was one of the firsts (screenshots I tweeted to you), but due to technical screw-ups by the site, I didn't get one.
@BootlegCraig But how do you know there wasn't 1000 or more people that clicked in that first 34 seconds before you did? ~270 orders went through before problems started. You admitted the site was fucked before you got here, so very high demand had already hit the server. Even if the fukus went to the first 1000 that hit the buy button you probably still would have missed out.
I expected this to just say "Life... also not fair". Anyone who did not get a fuku, if you want to take a photo with mine I'll only charge 3 dollars. Let me know :)
For the record my outrage was feigned. #pleaselikeme
At this point I'd say I'm pretty used to 10 years of not getting BoC's so what's another Fuku..b.. buk..benihana..
@jont, please delete your above post and replace it with 'stfu whiners'.
Having to give that sort of explanation ruins (pronounced roo-eens) the reason behind these fukus. The idea of a fuku is better than the fuku. The chance that one pops up is why you check every day at midnight. The chance that one pops up and you actually get one is remote. The chance that one pops up, you get one, and it's AWESOME (by relative terms) is even more remote. The chance that one pops up, you get one, and it's a 61" infocus DLP wall mountable projection television or a human sized gumball machine is super remote. But it's why we do it. No one is allowed to bitch about servers being down because they didn't get 'their fair chance'. If you follow the twitter, you may have seen that I was trying for a few hours and went to bed right before the servers opened up. Was I pissed? Of course I was! Did I whine about it on the forum complaining that I didn't get the nearly free awesome thing because too many other people beat me to it? No.
tl:dr, Shut the fuck up, you entitled bitches.
@marklog Welcome back.
tl:dr @marklog fingered his F5 key and failed... just like I did.
@Thumperchick Thanks thump - this actually made me snicker. Apparently I'm a 12 boy hiding in a grown woman's body. ;)
A fair, fun, and profitable way to distribute fuku:
1. Pick a random day (e.g. 2/1) to offer a fuku.
2. Pick another random day in the past few weeks (e.g. 1/1 - 1/31) to be the lucky day.
3. Anyone who bought anything on the lucky day will be eligible to buy the fuku via coupon code, email link, or TBD method. This will encourage more VMPs to buy more mediocre products every day, and reward them with more chances to win a fuku.
4. If Meh is feeling generous (or stuck with too many MPs inventory), Meh may send each winner a free fuku without buying it. This will simplify logistics and avoid another server meltdown.
5. Picking a lucky day in the past will minimize the chance of bots buying fuku. If bot buys a MP every day, it deserves to win a fuku - Meh please do not discriminate bot or cyborg vs. human. If bot can hack Meh servers or travel back in time, we are doomed - Meh please send fuku with virus to infect the terminators and save our human race.
@mediocrelab What if the second date picked is one in which they didn't sell much and/or sold out early, thus excluding a certain geographic region of mehricans? Also, this will NOT encourage folks to buy more just for the chance of a fukubukuro; the thrill of the chase is what folks are after. Where's the fun if the opportunity is automatic?
@mediocrelab This is probably the least bad of the alternative fukubukuro-selling ideas. Not sure how well it will work out, but it's an interesting idea at least.
@mediocrelab personally, as a developer, I prefer fuku the way it is, because if we don't have the stampede of traffic, then we don't find the under-performing parts of our code, and we don't learn anything and we don't fix anything. we want to get to the point where we can handle that kind of traffic. sure i have to stay up late, but i learn so much, and that's stuff we can share with other developers too.
@mediocrelab Your suggestion sounds like it steps into illegal lottery territory.
i'm curious how many people tried to get the fuku, vs how many people are moaning about not getting one on the forum. vocal minority?
onetime i missed getting something on meh i would have wanted, so i set myself up a calendar reminder every day to check. sometimes i still don't get something i want. i move on. it doesn't occur to me to yell at the site runners because i didn't get to buy something. i just do not understand this controversy at all.
"One option we have is to stop doing Fuku all together so we can actually get all of this work on other sites we want to do done." Sounds like this is the best, most logical option. If they're keeping you from doing other work, they're not worth it except for the sadistic thrill of listening to whiners. You obviously have no desire to make them more "fair," which would involve more work on Fukus and less work you want to do getting done. I've seen the suggestions and made a few of my own (1 ordered per household or all get cancelled was one of mine). My best advice as a former whiner who actually thought paying a site 5 bucks somehow made my opinion mean more than the waste product excreted by an amoeba is this: don't bother trying to get a Fuku. If the site is not loading, go to bed or do whatever you should be doing. And if you happen to see the Fuku for a split second, they're probably already gone and most went to CA & TX. Maybe NY and/or FL got a few. The rest of those sold to other states were just dumb luck. Stop being so unhappy over a random collection of items that didn't sell out when they were offered because they're not that great anyway. Sure, Meh has thrown awesome stuff in with 1-5% of the bags now and then, but your chances of being that lucky aren't worth stressing over.
I'm here for the other, more legitimate deals instead of a bag filled with stuff I didn't want to buy the first time around.
@marvelljones sounds like your expectations have adjusted down to mediocre levels. Perfect!
@marvelljones Ok, now I can't delete a comment when I realize I somehow replied to an old thread? Dumber than whining over a Fuku...
@marvelljones I like how you're pretending the CA and TX fukus were not also dumb luck.
@marvelljones the thread had a proper bump, it's relevant again.
@marvelljones You have a short window to edit or delete comments. Once that window is gone, your comment stays with us.
im more upset that i paid vmp fees for a year and all u sold in that time was garbage and they only perk i got was a pair of cheap socks. i dropped vmp and nothing change still garbage and overpriced speakers
@msujp
@msujp
I missed it. I tried, but the connection on the touchpad was slow. I don't care. I still haven't unpacked the past couple of fukus I got. And the Mehrican exchange boxes.
I hope someone who hasn't ever gotten one got one this time.
They probably bought a load balancer off groupon...
It's really not fair that I didn't get a Fuku.
@JonT shouldn't have left ;) no more advance notice of Fukus
@JonT This is why we cant have nice things.
@JonT sorry to hear you left Texas and MEH... guess you are living now in California or just got married there?? Just curious :)
I was happy to finally get a Tshirt.