Or you can please none of the people at all of the times... (2 of 2)

@narfcake I’ll just keep this handy…

@brhfl What do you make all of these with? What program? How long does it take?

/giphy impressed

@juststephen I wish someone would look at me like that at least once in my life.

@juststephen Thanks! I do them all in Illustrator. As to how long, it depends… I’m using the same goat every time, and when I first made the goat, I intentionally made it very ‘poseable’ - the head and all four legs are individual objects; the legs are broken into foreground/background layers. So something like the above was very quick and simple, just throwing together some goofy hills. Obviously, I’ve gotten a bit carried away with some of them, though…

@narfcake
/giphy whining shall continue

@umbrellacorp - You look amazing!!!
/giphy appreciation

@AttyVette Instead of selling out in 40 seconds, each release would be sold out in like 15.

I dunno … this might have to be tested first to see how it’d work. Probably multiple times.

@narfcake exactly except they guarantee some at 8 am eastern time so… Oh well…

@AttyVette this is definitely not a solution with Fuko in mind. We’ll be lucky if we can handle the relaunch of the next Fuko at all

@snapster is it just me or did that last fuku under-sell and this fuku slightly over-sold a bit?

@snapster hey there hasnt been a fuku related oh-shit-report since January 14th 2015

@communist They usually oversell, it seems… I am curious about the undersell (and the potentially-related free, random bags…)

@AttyVette Yup. And since everyone and their momma will know that the fuko is for sale that day, the site will be totally pwned at 7am when the remaining lot opens up.

@medz
/giphy challenge accepted

@AttyVette yeh, fukuo bags too should be limited. Just so’s you know more people can be fozzled at having just missed them. Personally that is what I live for…the just-missing part.

@AmazingChicken become a robot and then you will have no problem always meeting your “just missed” goal. Be glad to gift you whatever the problem is that has made me a robot pretty much every single time for ages and ages - so this gift is pretty much guaranteed to work, unlike a lot of the fuku stuff LOL

@AttyVette That means I can miss the fuko three times more often!

@Ignorant Neither do i. So now i use a credit card.

@Ignorant

Then stay away from here:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/first-citywide-change-bank/n9701

@communist we will complain about all the gov’t funding that is bound to go into pulling the west coast out of the ocean after it falls in, or that wimbledon finals starts too early in the morning for us to finish brunch

@communist The East Coast will run out of diversions and finally have to start complaining about their real problem: living on the inferior coast.

@communist It will be the West Coast peeps turn to complain. Circuit breaker hit but 5:00 am is too early for them to wake up and try again.

@PurplePawprints yes, i sooooo look forward to hearing that first 5am PT gripe, it will make me almost as happy as when folkd don’t get a fuko and ‘threaten’ to drop VMP

 _________________________
( Meh. humor, weird bunch )
 -------------------------
        o   ^__^
         o  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

@christinewas No they will complain that 8am is too late because they are on their way to work or already at work.

@Barney It must be a purple thing. I don’t like this either. When you start complicating things, things begin to drastically change and it all goes downhill. Nothing will change for me in the buying sense, because this east-coaster will still be here to buy/pass at midnight, but I foresee a shift coming that I’m skeered of.

@Barney i hate purple now

@PurplePawprints accept change, it is the only constant, oh, except taxes and death…

@PurplePawprints I agree with you, but I guess there’s not much we can do. It’s Meh’s rules, so we have to play by them.

@Yoda_Daenerys You aren’t the first and probably not the last.

@Yoda_Daenerys Change-schmange. Get off my lawn!

@Barney, yep. This is their playground so they get to make this rules and cave to the pansy whiners if that’s what they want to do.

@Barney As an East Coaster, I feel like I have to printout the schedule, or maybe have it tattooed on my arm. I’m good with the midnight launch, but I’m not a morning person. So I’ll have to whine about getting up early if I miss the midnight launch.

Ugh, six minutes later and I notice my typo. Can we have a slightly longer edit window??? I mean, I know I was just criticizing you and all, but I still love you, Meh! Also, it should say that you get to make *the rules, not this.

@PurplePawprints @heartny I wonder what the codename is for this experiment?

@Barney Sounds like it’s time for another contest: name that experiment!

@Barney @heartny Codename: Project What-the-fuck?!

@narfcake @Barney At work we would call it “Project Cockamamie.”

Project invertebrate

@Ignorant Yep, otherwise known as Project Get-a-Backbone.

@heartny that’s actually a pretty good guess.

@PurplePawprints

yea, i vote for ‘re-do’ 2, more edit after the 5 minute goes off, by later than minutes, like folkd above should be ‘folks’, but …

/giphy too late

have you ever had a five minute egg? - i don’t recommend it.

@Barney You seem to think there is something “wrong” or “bad” or “wrongly bad” about complaining. ARPA built the teh InterNet so that I could complain.

@hallmike maybe it is more ‘fair’, i posted in an earlier thread that the item be made available at midnight local time in each time zone, would you be ok with that approach?

 ______________
< if not, why? >
 --------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

@Yoda_Daenerys I would say that a fuku/o is the epitome of ‘Missed it because…!’ posts, including of course ‘…I’m on the east coast, blargh!’ Assuming you’re on board with this line of thought…

…whenever the complainers would complain on fuku/o day, or other quick-sellout days, or any days really, I would look at the map. They did, of course, just change the map, but before it had no sense of per capita. And, surprise, surprise, it always lined up really, really well with a regular ol’ population map.

Even on a fuku/o day, a <1′ sellout — the distribution of sales did not seem to be influenced by this coastal timing phenomenon. Sales lined up with population.

I’m not horribly against this new… thing… but I’m certainly not for it. I don’t think it’s a real problem in need of a solution. I think it’s complicated and messy. I think it appeases a minority of whiners, while plenty of us Easties show up just fine without a complaint. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, I guess, but too much grease can lead to failure all the same.

Will be interesting to watch this play out. Kudos to the team for trying things, even if they aren’t things I can wrap my head around…

@brhfl yes this

I don’t think it’s a real problem in need of a solution. I think it’s complicated and messy. I think it appeases a minority of whiners, while plenty of us Easties show up just fine without a complaint.

@brhfl @ignorant if you ignore it, or never read the thread, how would it impact you negatively? you can continue with your same behavior, unchanged.

oh, but wait, this might mean you have less inventory to buy because someone who is sleeping might get a chance at some held in reserve?

/giphy reserve this

@medz

@medz I would buy vmp if I got to talk to my favorite CS every day.

@hallmike oh, you can do that by buying and canceling after the button is gone

@medz

@medz slow down there bezos

@communist I got this.

@medz

@medz
/giphy New Model Army

/image New Model Army

@medz this is 100% what was going through my head while reading the post. Besides, sometimes l like being half asleep when I hit that “meh” button at midnight. Makes me feel like I actually have a modicum of willpower.

@medz As far as I know, nothing should have to change with mehstalker, but I could be wrong. I won’t know for sure until something actually sells out.

Only think I can think of is adding two new “5 minute warning” alerts for those using the mobile app.

Also, MehStalker has been sending emails, with the product title in it, since it launched. So if you have FOMO, come on over!

@lichme I was thinking a countdown to the next offering. (11pm, 7am, 3pm) That way I don’t have to remember the times for my time zone. Maybe it’ll be on the meh site itself. Ex: “Sold Out, but next chance in 3hrs 2mins”

@medz That is an easy enough thing to do. I’ll look into something like that, possible with an option to send an email reminder.

@lichme I wouldn’t put too much work into it yet - I don’t see this new scheme lasting more than a week or two, tops. Any business that requires a “local time helper schedule” spreadsheet is bound to confuse more people than it helps.

@hallmike it’s complimentary to imagine that we engage this mode at all. maybe it fails from the code rusting

So @medz, what do you think of this new sales schedule? You shouldn’t be afraid to say how it makes you feel.

@PurplePawprints Hear! Hear! If you want to shop, make the effort and be here at midnight.

@PurplePawprints I forsee a whole new group of whiners who came to buy at midnight but the circuit breaker kicked in before they could buy, forcing them to try and come back in 8 hours. Why turn away one set of buyers just to appease another?

@hallmike and the first set that are turned away are probably the more loyal customers.

@hallmike Yup. I stayed up late and how am I rewarded? By meh “saving” some for people who are too lazy to check the site until they get an email or something the next day?
This is like everyone camping out at some retail store for the release of some amazing tech gadget only to find out the store won’t sell you one because they hit some imaginary threshold and they have to save some for other people who are less dedicated.
I stayed up, waited in line and I have to come back tomorrow?! Boooo! (throws brick through window)

@PurplePawprints how do you think the daily email will affect visitation patterns?

@shawn Honestly, I don’t think it will help much because most people don’t open promotional emails immediately, if they even open them at all. So, a few might open it in time to be reminded of the 8:O00 am est resale, but for a quick selling item, it might not be soon enough. Of course, in that scenario, you’re selling out either way, so you’re not likely to care.

ETA: Of course, the exception may be bringing back in people who shopped here a year ago and then forgot about the site. It may help with bringing those back into the fold.

@PurplePawprints @medz @hallmike
I agree with everything stated in this comment thread.

@PurplePawprints You don’t even have to “stay up late”. Set an alarm, wake up, roll over, refresh tab, buy/meh, roll back over and go to sleep. I can do it and I’m a barely-functioning depressive. Sacrificing <5 minutes of sleep a night has been worth it for the couple of amazing deals I’ve jumped on.

@PurplePawprints Eastie here. I’ve never complained about midnight launch because such is life. I don’t think this change is necessary. I’ve missed a few things I would have liked to buy, but if I really needed that item, I’m sure I could find it for sale somewhere.

Anyway, I have a weak bladder and get up a few times a night. Takes a few seconds to check Mehstalker and go back to sleep.
/image sleepwalker

@HemlockTea Waking up and going back to sleep is not easy for everyone. Furthermore, you have to read what it is. If i did that, i’d likely lose 20 minutes to an hour.

Furthermore, many people check from their phones, and the light from phones causes short term insomnia in many people.

@chacham I’d sacrifice a lot more sleep for these deals based on the money I’ve saved, going on what I earn an hour as a representation of what my time is worth (I’m lower income and working Meh into my schedule is easier than scrounging up extra cash for the “luxury” items and gifts I’ve picked up here). YMMV, but it’s why I shop at Meh. If the lost sleep isn’t worth the savings, stick to “normal” avenues of acquisition. Now this is turning into a Japanese game show in my head, were mehtizens compete for Fukobukuro based on how long they can stay up, sleep deprivation-induced brain damage is just a bonus prize!

@HemlockTea Heh, okay, to each their own.

It may become necessary to whine, though, if my phone wakes me with a 4 am email. I’d like to see it, so don’t want to opt out, and I don’t want to mute my phone in case of an urgent call, just leery of the West Coast timing. Haha, guess the tables are turned now!

(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

@curtise You want the hijinks without the emails? Check out a work in progress site that I rarely tend to because I’m lazy.

http://woottracker.com/

There is a Monkey Chat link at the top

@lichme Nicely done!
Interestingly, I see they have also started including the Monkey Chat in the official mobile app.

@curtise Kathleen has a separate blog set up on Tumblr for the Monkey Chats. Not that I read those silly comics or anything …

@cwolfpack3 Those tumblr posts are just the Weekend Monkey Adventures though - I just want the daily Monte and Mortimer back-and-forth that is afforded to me in the email with I then promptly delete.
Truth be told, I REALLY want the old Monte and Mortimer in the Break Room video series back…

…but considering a certain someone *cough* *cough* works here now (which makes me very happy too, to be clear), that seems unfeasible. So I make do with all my new @matthew faves, and when woot! does throw a woot-off, I just ignore the new song widget and put on the old one:

@curtise I miss those monkeys…great team, Hope and Crosby, Martin and Lewis, Mortimer and Monty…

@Thumperchick right. that’s the problem though. Super hot deals will be harder to get and staying up becomes more of a gamble with worse odds. Part of me hopes it backfires and nobody visits later in the day because it already showed as “sold out”. That’ll learn 'em.

@medz er… I’d kinda sorta think that @snapster and @shawn and the meh crew are smart enough to change the button to say “SOLD OUT until 8:00 AM Eastern” instead of just plain “SOLD OUT” Thus I don’t think this will have much of a negative impact. It will give people a chance to research the item and decide if they want to come back at 8:00 AM or just say fuck it.

Not sure what the button should say if the 8:00 AM batch sells out… maybe it should say “SOLD OUT” unless you are logged in with an account eligible to buy at 4:00 PM Eastern (“SOLD OUT until 4:00 PM Eastern”), or maybe it should say “SOLD OUT unless you had VMP yesterday”

@medz super hot deals will be harder to get for who?

 ________________
< or is it whom? >
 ----------------
  \
   \
       ___  
     {~._.~}
      ( Y )
     ()~*~()   
     (_)-(_)   

@Yoda_Daenerys everyone? Smaller supply at the midnight launch = harder to get one. Smaller supply plus the extra possible extra people at the 8am relaunch = harder to get

@thismyusername they will never be happy.

/image east coast weenies

@medz haha!

@metageist To clarify, I don’t check the site more often mostly because I forget and have other things to do. You guys are interesting. But not more interesting than my own life
/giphy sorry not sorry

@fjp999 sorry, I have to…

@baqui63 Even at twice the cost, a 4pm opportinity for non-VMPs would effectively eliminate the VMP perk. VMP perks are a good thing.

@christinewas Perhaps. VMP costs $5 per month and (thus far) has saved me over $10/month, on average.

Also, note my suggestion is adding the item’s cost to the $5 VMP fee, not merely doubling the VMP fee (to $10). Thus, retroactive VMP for a $38 item would cost $43 and they’d still have to come back at 4:00 PM (and maybe not get the item if they aren’t fast enough).

Also, it is kinda stupid to trip the midnight circuit breaker for fuku|os, IMHO… Anyone not willing/able to be here at midnight already has more life than they need and doesn’t need a fuku|o to make it better.

@baqui63 Yes, I understood that. I thought it would be obvious, in context and as a reply to you, that I meant “at twice the cost [of the item], a 4pm opportunity [to buy the item]…” Sorry I wasn’t more clear.

My point is simply that opening up a perk meant to reward loyal, long-term VMPs (at any price) kind of defeats the purpose of installing the second circuit breaker to create that perk.

@christinewas No, it was me, sorry.

I see your point and agree that it is valid. I’m not sure how to optimize for it, or rather, whether or not it is something that should be optimized.

I really should be asleep, but am actually glad that I’m not, since I grabbed three prime day deals that just saved me $47ish on stuff I needed to buy anyway.

@baqui63 Nice. I have not had that kind of luck with prime day, thus far.

@christinewas actually, I lied. (I forgot that I’d used bing rewards on the first purchase as well.) I only saved $28ish due to Prime Day for those purchases.

With the others I’ve made, I’m up to $40ish, plus I got (or will get) four $5.99 prime pantry credits because I opted for the slowest shipping; all this, plus some more prime savings earlier this year and I’m ~3/4 of the way to breaking even on my prime membership.

@Starblind Perhaps I’m confused, but isn’t your example pretty much how ALL high demand restaurants work?

@Starblind if you follow your logic to its extreme… we have a big warehouse with hundreds of products that we’re not selling because otherwise we’d just be Amazon.

@baqui63 Except in this case, there aren’t actual reservations. They’re just holding tables in case other people want to come eat later.

@Starblind It’s more like you are welcome to come sit at a table but you can’t eat breakfast because they’re saving the food for those that want lunch instead.

@shawn But other items that happen to be in the warehouse aren’t being offered or advertised, so nobody feels they’re missing out on them.

@hallmike yeah, the gadget launch is a better example. People line up for the release, but are turned away empty-handed because they want to save some for others. Or Black Friday deals. “Hey thanks for standing in the rain all night, but we’re going to save these for people who will roll in after a good night’s sleep.”

@Starblind agreed. Meh has product, I have money, I’m here now, but Meh doesn’t want my business ‘now’ even though they are open and have product. They’d rather hold on to it ‘in case’ someone else wants to buy it later, when I’m at work or otherwise prevented from checking in…

Kinda meh there (note the lower case 'm’eh). But hey, your business, my money, this may just increase the number of times it stays my money and your product.

@baqui63 Maybe, and I don’t doubt other industries create false scarcity too (such as the mysterious parts shortages when something like the Wii comes out). But for that to work it needs to be at least plausable that they really aren’t available. “Sorry, we’re all out” is a mild bummer, while “Sorry, we have plenty more but you can’t have them because we’re withholding them for another few hours just because we can” is rage-inducing.

@shawn As an aside, a big warehouse full of hundreds of products sounds like an excellent reason to hold a Meh-off (or whatever it’s called). Take my moneys, please!

@Starblind, @PurplePawprints, Hmmm…

maybe… except recall that this whole scheme only applies if the circuit breaker trips. All of your arguments against it for fiscal reason dopnt’ really apply, because I seriously doubt that demand at 8AM (especially knowing what the item is ahead of time) will be any less than demand at midnight and remember, once meh sells out, they are happy.

The idea is a bit complicated and convoluted… but quirky isn’t necessarily bad; frequently it is better than good. Plus, we are all just lab rats and if being a rat in a maze is a problem for anyone, they are welcome to leave… based on experience, there will be others to take their place and if the idea really sucks, things will go back to what they were.

@baqui63 I don’t think either @Starblind or I are talking about it from a fiscal standpoint. Of course, certain deals will sell out either way and net them the same amount of sales that day. But, for those deals that sell out, they’re risking pissing off their most loyal base by cutting them off after an arbitrary amount in favor of selling to different people at a different time.

@PurplePawprints I would have to think that “they” have analyzed it to death though. There are a certain amount of us that show up predictably at midnight (yup, east coaster here) and purchase - or not. I can’t imagine that the average number of sales on original release hasn’t been accounted for in this new model…meaning that they are not (I hope) going to undersell to the “original” crowd of us in order to hold some for the rest of the masses.

The way that I am reading this - very. long. post. - is that in essence, things should not change for the original midnight crowd, and that this is an opportunity to capture new customers who, crazily enough, value sleep over consumerism. At least I hope that is what I am reading, and that this doesn’t just turn into a no-fun clusterfuck of a place.

TL;DR - Let’s reserve judgement and hang on for the ride. WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!

@dolphinone I get that, and I’m not going anywhere and am still loyal to Meh and all that. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

@dolphinone Except it will effect the midnight crowd when there are 500 of an item and the 250 of them for midnight sell out. Half the people that would have bought one at midnight, now if they want to buy the item, have to come back and 8 and try and snag one of the 200 available then, or come back at 4 and try to get one of the 50 for VMP.
This really is only going to effect the high demand items, that would sell out regardless of when they are listed. Somebody is going to miss out the item and now more of those somebodies are going to be late night people instead of early morning people.

@PurplePawprints Yup. But, sadistically, I have to admit that it’s been kind of entertaining to read all of the complaints originating from the other side of the country. Tables turned and all that.

Like I said, I hope that it really has been thought out and that the horrible taste - for me anyway - is the change itself, due to the awesomeness that we have all come to know and love and the desire to not have that messed with.

@dolphinone I think quite a few of us who are complaining (me included) are East Coasters who have been loyally showing up at midnight for two years without complaint, but yeah, I feel ya.

@metaphore I agree. I see more like since I don’t know the quantity of anything that is for sale on any night anyway, if I really want it, I better not sit here and think about it - I need to be hitting the buy button right then and there. Kind of the same premise, but with fewer available, so I better not think about it at all now, just buy, buy, buy. Reminiscent of BOC’s. Obviously, I have no idea if this change will be a good thing or not, but since I really enjoy this site, and I am able to snag some really cool things for great prices, I am willing to reserve judgement for now. The first time I get “screwed” out of being able to buy something my tune might change, but I am willing to be part of the experiment for now and who knows, maybe this will bring more cool people in.

@PurplePawprints YES! And as someone who has never complained either, it bothers me more than it should that the whiners “win”, but it might turn out to be ok. And I have faith (misplaced?) that if it is a horrible mess, that it will quickly be fixed.

@dolphinone I don’t know if more pressure to buy quickly is a good thing. But then on the other hand, if it is something I might want, I know I have time to think about it since I can come back at 8 and it will be in stock if it sold out before then.
I’m more worried that giving into the people that bitched now is going to make more people throw a fit to get their way later.

The item didn’t sell out until 1am for the midnight sale, but sold out by 8:20 at the later sale, (of course it will sell out faster, everyone that came to the site between 1 and 8 and wanted it is gonna come back at 8 to buy it now) we need more stock saved for the morning.

I checked the site at 9 and you were already sold out. A bunch of people from California bought all the stuff at my East Coast sale time. People in pacific time zones shouldn’t be allowed to purchase at the East Coast time.

@metaphore Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that. My first inclination is not to complain so I didn’t go that far. I hope that you are wrong though. I would hate to think that a few (more than a few?) would take it to that level and make this whole wonderfully irritating experiment no longer worth it and force the whole crew to just say “fuck it, you guys make life too difficult, we’re done.”

I also don’t know if pressure to buy is a good thing, and it certainly has forced me to regret some purchases, but I would rather feel the self-induced pressure, than to potentially “miss out”…after all, the whole idea is to sell out.

@PurplePawprints I believe that you’re implying that “is at the site at midnight launch” = “most loyal customers” and I would argue that just isn’t true. Just because someone has the means to click “buy” at midnight doesn’t make them any more loyal or dedicated (although it doesn’t rule it out, either). It simply means they have a personal schedule and internet access which allows them to be at a certain place doing a thing at a certain time.

Midnight clickers aren’t some master race of Meh. Sure, they’ve had a good thing on lock for awhile now and I understand the grumbling of change, but there is still a midnight release…geez@ the whining and moaning and gnashing of teeth in here!

@revamp I’m sure the ratio of loyal customers to those that just happened to find meh at midnight is higher than the rest of the day. But I agree that there are loyal customers that check at all hours of the day.

@Starblind I think its Obama. He’s mostly east coast. Obama got pissed because he missed that one special item that he just had to have when it sold out. Guy’s gotta sleep sometime. So he calls his guys, and they call @Snapster, and, well… here we are.

Obama wants that breakfast roomba or speaker dock…

@PurplePawprints I need to re-read @snapster’s posts, but I got the impression that the circuit breakers trip based not on a specific number of sales but rather on the rate at which those sales are occurring. (This would be in keeping with the way circuit breakers work in electric panels, and how the term is normally used in automated trading, etc.)

Or, @snapster might be willing to address this directly. (In fact, it may have already been addressed in this thread… I’ve not had any time to read here for the last 12+ hours.)

@metaphore yea, first they cave and give an unpatriotic aMeh.rican complaining about slow shipping $5 off shipping, now they are introducing something to allow morning people a better shot at cool stuff, what’ll it be next, free fuko’s?

 _____________________________
< oops, they already did that >
 -----------------------------
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

/image 7/11 never forget

@thismyusername

@RiotDemon But then the East Coasters would whine that it’s interrupting their evening news.

@Barney I’m on the east coast and don’t watch the news.

This whole thing is weird. Yeah it kinda sucks on the days I have to work early and the item sells out before I wake up, but I just figure that’s the way it works unless I want to move.

It just seems moving it one hour would be more reasonable than this three different times thing.

@RiotDemon Pretty much every time something sells out quickly someone starts a thread about how everyone hates the east coast and how the time needs to be changed. The idea of moving the time an hour, or 3, or 5, or 12, has been discussed a dozen times, but no time is going to be prefect for everyone. Making a change that now excludes some people that were perfectly happy with how things were, and possible confuse and inconvenience all your customers that have no problem with the current setup, just to try and appease a handful of people that like to bitch, doesn’t seem like a very good call.

@Barney And the west coast will start whining about interupting dinner or something.

@RiotDemon I’m not sure what time zone this would be midnight in but it’d be 8pm Pacific. 9pm is already a bit lame for a party to start - the cool kids aren’t out until later.

@snapster The confused time zone.

@snapster Atlantic Daylight Time Zone.

My friends all must be lame because they start their parties around 7.

Either way, as you say, you can’t please everyone all the time.

@metaphore has it been written somewhere by the Snapster, Mr. CEO or something, that this strategy is aimed at appeasement?

@Yoda_Daenerys My comment above is not about this strategy at all. It was the hypothetical change of the launch time to be only at 9pm est or 8am or another time and no longer at midnight. If something like that had happened it would be hard not to think of the change as “Fuck the midnight people, we care more about the people that said they want deals in the morning instead.”

@metaphore ok, i mis-reddit then

*Potentially. I blame swype spelled @brhfl.

@christinewas By releasing this plan early for the 12am crowd feedback, I expected to hear negative feedback. It’s very nice to have the balanced replies like yours! I do think the first time a very early circuit breaker blows we’ll really hear the full extent of dislike. If I had to pick things to fail at, not having enough quantity of a great deal is probably what I’d pick.

To answer your question, it’s going to be difficult to balance the loyalty and passion of the midnight crowd with the headroom for growth of the 8am—there will indeed be ongoing adjustment. As to high level strategy, I would say that by more quantity will be released per visitor in the midnight release but if conversion rate is far higher then the absolute amount of inventory could appear to favor the 8am release. At this point we are only speculating and are along for the ride with you.

@snapster two comments.

1. Wouldn’t that be picking things to succeed at?

2. Suggest coming up with an effective means of communicating that a circuit breaker has been tripped with an ETA to next availability on the front page.

I said two but here’s a bonus: After VMP session at 4PM, assuming it hasn’t sold out to the VMPs who tend to be your most frequent flyers anyhow, maybe an open last-call at 10 PM? The thinking being that VMP is probably fairly well weighted towards the people who’d show up at midnight or promptly at 8 AM anyhow.

@jbartus

1. I’d see it as responding to growth opportunities, not leading them. If average traffic grows more in one segment than the other, it’ll get a shift in goods.
2. Yes, this will be tricky but we’ve worked on some early mock ups and it looks possible.

As far as the VMP batch, I’d say that will be more of a token reserve for a bit of fun at the end of the day. Presumably if the sale was exciting enough to flip the breaker twice, there will be far less here than people want even citing your logic. There are actually a lot of VMPs to please.

edit: Oh yes sure I suppose it’s picking other things to succeed at. I thought you were on another track with my above answer

@snapster actually what I mean is that as a business dealing in closeouts/unwanted merchandise selling out is the goal so not having enough quantity to satisfy demand would be a success, not a failure, n’est pas?

I mean it’s a completely relative thing, for the person seeking to buy I suppose it would be a failure, but for you guys it would seem to be a huge success if you sell out.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

/youtube huge success

@jbartus But if they sell out, then less for fuku’s… (grin)

@Kidsandliz there is that… but are the fuku/fukos born of necessity or desire? The correct answer might very well be ‘yes’ in which case we probably need not fear them being unable to fill fuku/fukos, especially considering the interesting retro stuff the last couple have included. I think they must have bought all the shit off of the walls when Chili’s or The 99 or someone was renovating. (I forget which chains had shit on the walls, you know the ones I’m talking about I’m sure)

@DaveInSoCal

@sligett Ok, not much more time to think. I haven’t whined about the 12 midnight thing (I’m the person who lights up the Orange County VT part of your map). I usually wake up in the night between 1am and 3am and check the site. Now I can also check it as I’m driving to work at 8am, and driving home at 4pm. Sounds wonderful.
/giphy wonderful

But frankly, I check the forums several times most days. To me, meh.com is a social networking site with clear and simple monetization. There’s none of that “how are they going to make money with that idea?” I like it. (In fact, I’d put some of my retirement into your stock, if you were selling it.)

So,
/giphy have fun

@jimmyd103 I know I shouldn’t be laughing at your giphy, but my God I can’t help myself.

@metaphore hard to disagree with that request. I’d propose putting any additional content at something like meh․com/fuckemail

@capguncowboy Star for that giphy

@juststephen Sure thing. Just imagine that Meh was kept exactly the same and we launched a new site called HAHAITS5AM․com that you hated and never went to because of it’s horrible launch time.

@snapster wow, that super obvious thought had not even dawned on me. the west left coasters, and other haters, can just ignore this change and Meh. will appear to operate the way it always has been.

the fact that some others may enjoy the deal, with reasonable sleep, should make everyone happy right?

this is just like when you have one child and wonder how your love will be able to increase to encompass the second child on the way, somehow your capacity to love just doubles magically, or maybe it’s by magnets.

 ___________________
( moo, kids <> Meh. )
 -------------------
        o   ^__^
         o  (@@)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

@snapster That’s the most memorable domain name ever.

@hems79 I’m sure I could not have made the long form introduction to this any more confusing. It’ll all feel imaginary when it’s up and running and no one still wants to buy our crap.

/giphy hold your horses

@snapster I don’t know if I speak for all Amehricans, but you have WAY too much faith in some mehmbers of this community. At least, I know I’m speaking for myself.

@BillLehecka

@TheAlmighty1

Reminds me of a joke from the short lived but classic early Comedy Central show, The Critic.

Sales are up 50% … from squat, to squat and a half!

@MehnofLaMehncha no disagreement in principle - we’ll make sure avoidance is a fully supported option. see above comment: https://meh.com/forum/topics/or-you-can-please-none-of-the-people-at-all-of-the-times----2-of-2#5784bb191a9a9c100766b284

@chacham I think you’re doing it wrong. Instead of the price decreasing which would cause everyone to wait until the very last moment before buying to get the lowest price.

I think the idea would be to slowly increase the price. This would have people make quick decisions to buy before the price goes up again.

@cengland0 Two different things. Before i start, let me say that your idea is a good idea, if that’s what you want.

Raising the price tries to get people to order early, makes them anxious about the price going up, and discourages saving the decision until later. I would be somewhat perturbed by that policy, especially i look at meh when i get the chance, usually a bit later rather than a bit earlier.

Lowering the price gives people the chance to gamble by waiting, will it still be there if they wait, adding excitement to the decision. It somewhat encourages the wait, as other people might be waiting too, and would have no penalty for waiting to make the decision at a later time.

I like the latter approach.

@JoseBandito

Here in northeast Ohio
Back in eighteen-o-three
James and Dan Heaton
Found the ore that was linin’ Yellow Creek

@Kevin I like it the way it is.

@Skylord123 nope - read above (search on snapster to find it)

@beachhead They do care who they sell the products to. This is why they have a quantity limit. They could easily sell these products to a wholesaler that wants to put them up for sale on eBay or something but they want individual people like you and me to get the products at a decent price. A single person cannot buy the entire inventory and that is good for the rest of us.

@beachhead I enjoyed your criticisms. There are several good discussions about effect of this change and I’m excited to see it play out. I wouldn’t be overly concerned with the cause I’m using to drive it.

@beachhead I would say this is more about the community than who it is sold to or how much is sold. This gives more people more opportunity to participate. The post mentions how daily e-mail was good for sales but bad for the community. I think that’s an important part of making the job fun. There’s no need for silly videos or forums but it’s all for fun and community.

@snapster Don’t worry, we’ll still love you guys. I for one can’t wait to say “I told you so.”

@snapster Wow, the big guy took the time to read what little old “me” had to say. I am honored. And truly that is part of the magic that you bring to this crazy enterprise.

It is your business, and you’ve done a whole lot more of it than I have, so, I’ll be along for the ride. But you did ask for my opinion (for those who know me, that is not always a good thing!) I hope for you, your employees, and your loyal customers, I hope these changes work as you wish, because that keeps meh just about average, right where you are aiming…;)

Just don’t sell to Amazon, google, or anyone else this time…LOL.

@cengland0 I agree, the daily limit does spread the junk around to others. But, if they were truly trying to “limit” it, why not 3 per address for example. You constantly read about people who bought multiple fuku’s on my “husbands”, “sons”, “daughters”, “dogs”, “hamsters”, whatever’s account. Where’s the policing effort there?

And taking it even further, why would Meh care if all of their products ended up being re-sold on ebay? Other than the fact they left money on the table, they chose the selling price and location, so they should be “happy” with their ROI, right?

And let’s face it, does anyone really “need” any of the stuff on meh? I mean like if you didn’t get it, your life would be ruined, and they’ll spend the rest of their life as homeless beggars because they didn’t get the 50th version of the speaker dock or set of headphones offered this week? I sure hope not!

The only thing worth “whining” about not getting on Meh, is one or two fuku’s out of 500 or so, but that’s also against the rules. That’s the golden goose egg, and ones chance of getting it is very slim. The fuku’s are truly much more fun to “hunt” than to make the kill. Actually kind of a metaphor for real life.

@beachhead we have stepped up policing what we determine to be “runners” buying multiple items for purpose of resale on Amazon marketplace or others. Ironically, if we were larger and sold out more consistently we could be more lax but we find ourselves competing with our own inventory when subsequent sales are necessary.

@OldCatLady amazing giphy match - I can see them all running away!

@cwillbwill5 that opportunity is not being removed, carry on…

@daggar The VMP crew can’t agree on what to wear even when dressing themselves. It’s why most of them don’t post images; they sit around unclothed. The idea of getting them to agree on ANYTHING boggles the mind.

@OldCatLady i did not need that picture in my head

/giphy sit around unclothed

@daggar for this scenario to occur it would be most naturally paired with long durations of availability in the previous two periods. I like showing appreciation for VMP in those conditions and I wouldn’t weaken their benefit with a later release.

@Yoda_Daenerys hint: it’s an experiment

@katylava i’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the objective of the experiment is to make the map, presented as per capita sales, be one uniform color.

 __________________________________
/ did i guess right? sinister      \
\ laugh                            /
 ----------------------------------
     \
      \  (__)  
         (\/)  
  /-------\/    
 / | 666 ||    
*  ||----||      
   ~~    ~~      

@Pantheist this would make a great office plaque.

@snapster

@mikey that was ixnayed above by the snapster, but can’t figure out how to hyerlink to it

@Yoda_Daenerys actually my wording wasn’t precise. There is no plan to exclude Fuko from the new site function. My meaning is that this change wasn’t designed for Fuko and in fact it’s going to be very challenging to design the website to handle it. We made this decision in spite of how hard it appears that will be.

@Yoda_Daenerys @mikey Here ya go

@snapster playing the old ambiguity card - keeps your options open :

@oppodude

hmmm, that’s what i did too - but my browser won’t jump to it - maybe it’s this toshiba chromebook i bought on Meh., or maybe it is the fault of @brhfl

@Yoda_Daenerys well it seems the Bossman already replied with a better reply than my reply. So I am all replied out. Reply.

@Yoda_Daenerys It’s because the comment you linked to is under the collapsed comments list. Going to the anchor tag after the page is already loaded doesn’t automatically expand out the comments, so your browser has no idea where comment #5784469b1a9a9c100766a053 is. If you click the link and then refresh the page, it navigates to the comment as expected.

I read @snapster’s comment as it sounds like he intended. Relaunch of a Fuko will probably overload the servers and accidentally launch the nukes or something. Relaunch of Fuko at 8am greatly increases my odds of getting one, but that makes it less fun for me. I hope they decide to keep Fuko the mad-grab insanity it currently is and to hell with the whiners.

@snapster Out of curiosity, what is it specifically about Fukos vs any other fast-selling item that makes it especially hard to trip the circuit breaker? Concurrency?

@mikey a fast selling item is when 1000 people try to buy in 5 minutes. A Fuko is maybe 5000 people in 1 minute.

At 200 attempts a minute the transactional system is 100% accurate in matching available inventory to qualified buyers without undersell or oversell. At 5000 attempts a minute our latest code version was 99.958% accurate.

I have no data to predict it but I’d wild guess that a first 8am Fuko relaunch would have about 20000 attempts a minute. In addition to inventory matching accuracy the site also has to avoid other types of DDOS style overload.

@snapster I retract my previous desire to not have Fukos trip the circuit breaker because that sounds like a hard but fun problem to try to solve.

@snapster It might be secret sauce, but I would love to see a writeup of how that system works. Or even jsut an overview of the data points. As an engineer I find your resilience astounding.

@MrGlass It works because @shawn is actually a fucking wizard.

@snapster hmmm goal setting theory says use challenging but achievable goals… guess you are attempting to go for the stretch goal (eg making it work for fuku’s) instead. LOL Interesting to see that. Guess I’ll get to be a robot 3 times for one product instead of the usual once. (grin)

@2many2no thank you. I definitely aim to prolong having fun. We need to get the most out of future decisions to sell stuff cheap.

@jaybird and likely meh would include money.meh

@Ignorant ha - love it

attempt:
Now:
What’s meh?
Well it’s a site that sells one item a day starting at midnight Eastern… if that’s too early for you, they hold some back for a second release at 8am at the same price until it sells out.

(I anticipate the VMP release not needing to be explained unless you join VMP - regular site might even still say sold out)

@snapster they walked away in the middle of that.

@snapster oh, so there will be a regular site and a VMP site, or the site will change magically (or magnets) based on who is signed in?

@Bingo Cheer up lolipop? I don’t get it

@jaybird Cheer up swirly thing!

@jaybird Cheer up, Sucker!

Cheer up hardened high fructose corn syrup on a stick!

@DrunkCat July Fools! Gotcha!

@RedOak ugh, typo I’d fixed, but then sent the old version. “If you were a VMP member prior to the launch” is what it’s supposed to say.

@dave Thanks - so the point is, you can’t turn on VMP after Midnight for a deal-day and expect the 4pm benefit for that deal. No two day earlier requirement either.

@conandlibrarian I think /buy just tries to click the buy & confirm buttons. If its active when you run it, it works. Otherwise, your out of luck. If theres an additional step like captcha, your also hosed.

@ekw
/image labratory mice

@narfcake
/giphy pinky and the brain

@ekw Seriously though WHO MOVED MY CHEESE???

@MrMark I live in the Eastern Time zone, and I don’t care what time stuff sells. Just as long that its not a shit load of speaker docs

@sammydog01 if you are VMP and ever need to buy something at 4pm, let me know, I’ll be your purchase bot, don’t want you watching that smart phone with the little ones in tow…

if you check at 7am and want it at 8am, let me know that too, i’m here to serve your stay at home mom needs.

wait, that didn’t come out the way i meant it too

/giphy ewe

@compunaut there are multiple factors but this is brilliant analysis

@compunaut I don’t think they’re missing the intent (I certainly didn’t), I personally think it won’t have any effect. The “roll-over” or “new sale” event is already a niche crowd drawer; you won’t net any new members by adding more of them. I’m sure others think it should remind semi-exclusive.

I certainly didn’t participate more in the forums because of them. It was just the opposite in-fact, I first became part of the community (because woot and dumb videos) and then made an alarm on my phone for the “roll-over” as per someones suggestion.

@DrunkCat I have to agree with you. I generally try and check meh once per day. Sometimes that’s at initial roll over, sometimes it’s right before roll over, but more often than not, it’s somewhere in the middle.

Sometimes things are sold out, and I missed 'em. No big deal. Nothing meh sells would cause me any misery if I don’t buy it. While I’d feel special if I got one of those special fuku’s, even those aren’t the end of the world.

This circuit breaker will not change my shopping habits in any real way, other than the first time or two just out of curiosity to see how it works.

But, it is the snapsters business, and his call, so I do wish him well.

@jsh139 Watch the Animaniacs video in my post above.

@jsh139 that’s what the indians do (not native aMeh.ricans), although I bet they didn’t have time zones either

@mrallen1 i think you are stupid
there i said it

/giphy no offense intended

@Yoda_Daenerys Most likely true.

@Odi nice one, i like it

@snapster i give both options a solid 10 recommendation, let them decide if they want to stupidly stay up until midnight waiting/hoping for a fuku/fuko and ruin their life like i have

/giphy ruined

/captionbot

I am not really confident, but I think it’s a close up of a tooth brush.

/image rotten bananna

 ___________________
( sheez, drama mama )
 -------------------
        o   ^__^
         o  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

@snapster 1. 10 (Because outside the fuku, even the greatest deals lasted till morning for me PST side. I still wear that blue Citizen watch!)

2. 5 (Because I still love Mediocore but I don’t think it would be as much fun without the gimmick that made it unique in the first place.)

@snapster I’d recommend at either time…the issue comes when having to explain the multiple start times of the new system.

@snapster I recommend based on products found and the persons interest. I am likely to show someone a current sale or talk about potential recurring items. I also advertise where I got the things I buy.

For reference, I am eastern time zone. I check in anywhere between launch and say 6am. I work weird hours and check in the same way.

The new 8am release of sell out stuff gives me a better shot at the hot low inventory items. Most days I will be at work at that time and need to remember to peek at my phone at the proper moment.

I think it is an interesting change. I do think there could be an overload at the 8am time if the circuit shuts off the early crowd. The VMP perk is cool.

TL:DR I recommend meh. I like the coming changes.

@snapster 10 either way, but then I’ve already recommended Meh to everyone I know. That said, I’ve never seen 12E/9W as a big issue, most people I know are still awake then. 8E/5W isn’t quite as good because most people are either asleep or commuting or just getting ready to commute, I wouldn’t see that as big lets-shop-online time for most folks. The one big advantage I could see for an early-morning start time is that people may be more likely to share stuff socially in the morning than at bedtime.

@snapster Honestly, I would absolutely tell my friends the first thing, but never the second. Why? Because the second is really, really boring. The first is like ‘hey here’s this kind of ridiculous thing I do, maybe you should do it too!’ The second is like ‘hey you want to talk about the time of day that you’re headed to work? hahaha right nm let’s have a drink.’

For the record, I’m not horribly opposed to this New Thing, but when you pose the question like that… I honestly can’t imagine telling someone ‘oh, yeah, so you do this thing at 8am every day…’

@snapster I recommend the midnight sale website to tons of people - mostly by telling them its like woot when woot was good.

@no1 it will still be urgent for those in PT that don’t fancy getting up at 5am, right?

@no1 I agree that sense of urgency is part of the magic. Fear of missing out is the driver. Perhaps I assume incorrectly that someone missing out at say 12:30am is done. I mean I welcome them to come back and try but I wouldn’t say the system is timed to cater to that. Mostly the expectation is that person picked their single time to visit and either bought or missed out.

@snapster @Yoda_Daenerys the system isn’t timed to cater to that in practise, but even the existence of another window of opportunity, no matter how impractical, mite weigh down the system. perception.

meh. don’t mind me, just imagining dragons.

@Thumperchick I don’t think it’ll bring more people than normal but I agree with you. You never know until you try!

@Thumperchick that was darker than your usual cheerful self, but the giphy was weird at least

/giphy dancing gorilla

@MrMark it seems the jury is out on how/if this will apply to the elusive fuko/fuko, unless i’m not up to date on the last 95 posts

ask this crowd for there opinion, and boy do you get it!

@Collin1000 while there is no argument whatsoever against your statement that it makes it more complicated, I also don’t think it’s so complicated as it’s being made to seem.

Products still launch at midnight. Missed it? Come back in 8 hours. Missed it again? VMP? Come back in another 8 hours! Even including the email in the schedule is just making it out to be more complicated than it is.

@Collin1000 @jbartus it’s not that complicated, and if the complexity bothers anyone, they should just ignore it, just come at midnight ET each day, i am beating this dead horse

/giphy beating a dead horse to death

@bub78 convert your time to any neighboring time zone and use the corresponding chart.

@awk you must be west coast LOL

@jaybird lolololololol!!!

@jaybird
/image octopus for goat

@narfcake now that is amazing

@snapster I’ll take that as an acceptance of nomination. Since it’s not August yet, thanks, @brhfl!

@jaybird skipped acound a bunch too. As an East Coaster I’m not against it but it seems like an overly complicated solution. Has anyone mentioned something like just changing the launch to 9pm EST?
/giphy shrug

@Einherjar13 I suggested changing it to 11pm eastern, but then the west coast would start way too early, so that was shot down.

@reidtait you’ll need a freight forwarder

@katylava oops. All good. I’m in Canada and using one anyway.

@Lotsofgoats please see helpful riot schedule for your time zone

@Lotsofgoats if you are VMP please come back at 4pm EST for the scheduled riot and table flip.

@Lotsofgoats The riot circuit breaker tripped. Try again in 8 hours.

@kirbrand I’m starring this in hopes you are making a joke here- otherwise as a suggestion or (threat), it’s never, ever going to happen.
Also, the supply chain is quite good now- things get shipped out timely, and there’s real notifications + shipping numbers (plus delivery estimates at the top of every product thread).

@kirbrand Wait, you’ll withhold up to $60 per year from Meh if they don’t swap out their shipper? And potentially pay them more if you order more than 12x per year?

I’m sure they’ll get right on that cost benefit analysis.

@djslack Surepost has a completely different network than Smartpost. And almost 30% of Surepost packages are now delivered by UPS which means you get the same time in transit as UPS Ground. Smartpost is absolutely terrible and it’ll only get worse when we get closer to peak.

@kirbrand I get the reference!

@Warshade They haven’t started the new model yet as far as I am aware. However, that is a good question. When there are multiple options, will a number of each option be set aside, or will it just be some amount of the total of all options available?

@Warshade @PurplePawprints We’re still working out some details, and we may make changes after the launch, but right now we’re just guaranteeing availability of the product in general, but not availability of every option.

@LaVikinga So I know my comments usually have deeper meaning, built on past comments, with built in snarkyness for a lame attempt to be on the inside and clever.
I got to know where did the PS part came from? Is this one of the things that I missed or is it new?

@caffeine_dude Bezos shaved his head & lost his damned mind. Woot went to hell.
Yeah, I know. “Correlation does not imply causation.” But still…

@LaVikinga I knew it was great! (He got all DR Evil.)
Thanks!

@OldCatLady still seems on to me - grey for “type over this word” was always the ui?

@snapster …oh. Ne’mind. Thanks. Please sell coffee.
/giphy need coffee

@OldCatLady

http://www.teeturtle.com/products/need-more-coffee

@OldCatLady slippery slope theory at play?