CNET Relaunches Consumating

June 7th, 2006 at 12:54 am

I dont like it ….

June 7th, 2006 at 1:12 am

This is very true. There is such a fascination for Google, that we do not see the facts anymore.
I think that one big problem they have is that they want to be everywhere, tempting to block every positions. But, can you be good everywhere, even Google ?
Google looks a little like a big bazar now.
They are also little by little losing their supremacy on their core business : search engine, which is less and less clear. The quantity of information is here, but the quality, and especially the organization/presentation of the information is not optimized anymore.
An excellent search engine, shouldn’t it be like an excellent website : giving the customer the accurate information in 2 or 3 clicks maximum ?
Do we find the accurate information in 2 or 3 clicks anymore on Google ?

Hughes

June 7th, 2006 at 1:50 am

Adam Mathes actually works at Google.

June 7th, 2006 at 6:18 am

Armin,

How did you come to that conclusion? Consumating is nothing like MySpace. Consumating isn’t even a social network at the basic fundamental level. Consumating is best described as a “casual dating site.”

June 7th, 2006 at 7:02 am

I like the tagging aspect, but I’m not so sure I like the redesign. It’s a bit too cluttered.

June 7th, 2006 at 8:50 am

Fact Check:

The site was actually released as Consumating in early 2005, not August.

Adam and I started it together, but he did not come to work for CNET and is no longer involved in the day to day running or development of the site.

And we didn’t release the conversations with this release - they’ve been around for a bit more about a month, and we’ve had something like 11,000 threads posted with 150,000+ responses. Pretty cool!

June 7th, 2006 at 9:27 am

“My Peeps!”

I feel like any site that uses the term “peeps” (and isn’t talking about marshmallow chickens) should also take the next step in contrived hipness and suffix every header with “, word!”

“Sign up now, word!”
“What’s your take, word!”
“Find people who don’t suck, word!”

Maybe, “word, g!”

June 7th, 2006 at 9:41 am

I like the “just overheard” feature. It shows you a glimpse of the wacky conversations had on Consumating.

June 7th, 2006 at 10:21 am

I’ve used Consumating for around 4-5 months. It definately shows more personality than the average profiles, and it is at the beginning a game to learn how to “work the system” (and thumb other people to get thumbs’ up, etc), it does seem to reward overly people who have a lot of time on their hands’ to use the site all the time.

It seems like it could be a great space for group games/experiments in tagging (there’s already a consumating tagging vocabularly of sorts), or for writers, or photographers (that really shine in the questions space).

It’s hard to tag yourself at times if you choose good keywords (books, a list of bands, favorite bars, etc), as a list it doesn’t always show your personality. It definately has some potential. Oddly, since the conversations, it’s been less fun to convo-tag someone (+how_are_you_qm).

As a dating site, it’s much less sleazy than almost all I’ve seen, although it’s doesn’t have any “introduce someone to” social networking features. Actually, I like the lack of a “degrees of seperation” theme, because if you’re trying to meet someone, knowing x # of people shouldn’t be a barrier to entry. A “recommend someone” might be nice, though.

June 7th, 2006 at 10:54 am

You should see my big nose ring.

June 7th, 2006 at 3:42 pm

i hear his medium nose has a diamond stud. btw, michael, i think your demeanor has really changed since breakfast.

June 7th, 2006 at 5:34 pm

“People who are into… music.” Well gee, that narrows it down

Using the “doesn’t suck” tag is funny / edgy when you are talking about products, but just mean when you are talking about people.

June 7th, 2006 at 5:56 pm

As a regular user of consumating.com… I find a lot of these comments absurd.. Consumating.com is indeed a “social” site and much less of a “dating” site.

Consumating does not attempt to copy “MySpace” in anyway. In fact, they’re doing a lot of thing much better than MySpace.

As far as the site’s ability to function as a dating site… it can and has. Many people I know have found, not only a large group of like-minded friends, but also romances within. Why would consumating work where others fail? The key lies in the openess of the site and the bulk of “free” features that must be paid for on many other such “dating” sites.. Such as actually contacting someone you’re interested in. The site allows 10 free notes per month. These 10 notes are only the “initial” conversation with someone… after that “initial” note, you can pass as many notes back and forth as you wish.. all free. The “tagging” features make the site incredibly fun. Create an account, answer some of the various “Questions of the Week” and watch the tags come flying in. Many users actually converse through tags.

The site is incredibly addictive and has grown a lot in the 3 months I’ve been a member.. Not only does the site keep my attention longer than MySpace or Digg.. It also has a much friendlier atmosphere and community.

June 8th, 2006 at 9:46 am

My favorite part: the name.

I’m having a hard time not smiling when I think of it.

Consumating. hahahaha. Such a smart name.

January 25th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

Nice..nice post.