What's up with the weird digitalized Miles Davis tune in the background?
The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
41–50 of 53 posts
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#42What did Yahoo! originally pay for Upcoming? I'd guess it was significant. The reason I ask is why the Kickstarter campaign?
Acquisitions were much much smaller in those days.
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#43What's up with the weird digitalized Miles Davis tune in the background?
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#44I liked Upcoming and generally am a fan of Andy's work, but doesn't kickstarter frown on these types of projects? Are they making an exception because of Andy's contribution to the site as a prominent leader in the community?
From the Kickstarter guide:
"Kickstarter cannot be used to fund websites or apps focused on e-commerce, business, and social networking." [1]
From the project:
"Most importantly, it surfaced what your friends were interested in attending. Upcoming was among the first generation of web apps to use the social network for anything beyond Friendster-like connections, helping to define Web 2.0." [2]
[1] https://www.kickstarter.com/help/guidelines
[2] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/waxpancake/the-return-o...
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#45I liked Upcoming and generally am a fan of Andy's work, but doesn't kickstarter frown on these types of projects? Are they making an exception because of Andy's contribution to the site as a prominent leader in the community? From the Kickstarter guide: "Kickstarter cannot be used to fund websites or apps focused on e-commerce, business, and social networking." [1] From the project: "Most importantly, it surfaced wha…
Solid question, and I don't blame you for being skeptical. I went through the normal submission process, and was reviewed by a moderator I don't know and have never met. I very explicitly didn't want any special treatment. I was told it met their guidelines.
My understanding, looking at the recent projects in the Technology and Web categories, is that they've loosened their enforcement of that guideline over the last year. Take a look at a search for "Social" in Technology, and you'll see a bunch of sites/apps that push that guideline: https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/advanced?term=social&ca...
I think the fact that Upcoming is, first and foremost, an arts/technology event calendar weighed in its favor over, say, a social network for cats.
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since you use the phrase "magical unicorns" -- I know 10-15 people (and not just 'tech' people; they work in different fields like art, writing, etc.) who refuse to use Facebook because it erodes privacy and atrophies your brain (which I personally think is a very sensible position, even though I use Facebook). Every time there is some event, other people chide them for not having a Facebook, "Oh, you are too snobbis…
I remember Upcoming.org from 2003, back then it was a problem needing a solution but within a few years it was already pointless like plancast or the variety of other event listings and invitation systems. There are events your friends want you to show up. Whether that message is sent via Facebook, email, text, paper, or face to face is irrelevant. If you are wanted there, you will be there. There are events you want…
The scenario where Upcoming excelled, or at least the one that that seemed to "convert" users and why I think 10yrs later it's still so fondly remembered (looking at the response on Twitter has been nice) is when Upcoming told you about that event that you didn't know about and would have kicked yourself for missing ("if only I had known this thing I would have loved to go to was happening last night!").
Over the years I experienced this first hand many times (regrettably, also a lot of "can't go, too busy working on Upcoming"), but I haven't seen anything since that's provided the sort of social+interest-based serendipity that Upcoming did in its heyday. A lot of times in the past few years when I've been traveling I've wish there was something like Upcoming that could recommend the most interesting things to do in a city that night (like 4SQ or Yelp for events).
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#47I liked Upcoming and generally am a fan of Andy's work, but doesn't kickstarter frown on these types of projects? Are they making an exception because of Andy's contribution to the site as a prominent leader in the community? From the Kickstarter guide: "Kickstarter cannot be used to fund websites or apps focused on e-commerce, business, and social networking." [1] From the project: "Most importantly, it surfaced wha…
Solid question, and I don't blame you for being skeptical. I went through the normal submission process, and was reviewed by a moderator I don't know and have never met. I very explicitly didn't want any special treatment. I was told it met their guidelines. My understanding, looking at the recent projects in the Technology and Web categories, is that they've loosened their enforcement of that guideline over the last…
My understanding is that web sites shouldn't be crowd-funded because they have no end, given the need for ongoing hosting, as opposed to products that are a discreet "thing".
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#48This is the first project I've backed on kickstarter - I often miss events, mostly concerts, that come through and would love to see what other, like-minded people are doing/thinking of doing.
I also like the idea of having a development blog to follow, hopefully similar to what Chris Granger did with Light Table though perhaps with more technical posts. Are there other examples of good development blogs to follow? Ideally, I'd like blogs where the writer explained choices that s/he had to make.
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#49Do you think we will see web app projects being backed like this on kickstarter more often? Imagine geocities or some other site being resucitated using 2014 tech.
Re: The Return of Upcoming.org by Andy Baio
#50Reminds me of when I worked at Yahoo, and in 2009 I had to track down someone who worked on Upcoming. I found someone who had Upcoming listed in their Backyard profile, but "Oh, I don't work on that anymore. Last I heard {other person} was working on it." So I tracked down that person, only to hear the same response. Following the chain, four or five people and half a day later I finally found the one person in the e…
Why the hell did they bother acquiring it, then? I don't get it.
I have know knowledge of this incident. But often corporations don't make sense from the outside because it's really about some hidden state.
E.g., maybe the person who argued for the acquisition left the company, so nobody was around to advocate for it anymore. Or the company's strategy changed, either for sensible reasons or just because there's a new fashion. Or the person in charge of the acquisition is mainly rewarded for buying things, but the people needed to make the integration work are rewarded for something that the acquisition would hinder, so they ignore or sabotage it. Or everybody really meant well, but it was nobody's highest priority, so it just dies a slow death.