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Spread The Love (And Pay Us)
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Mar 30, 2004 10:30 AM
from the brilliantly-insipid dept.
from the brilliantly-insipid dept.
Digitus1337 writes "Wired has an article up about a new online service known as 'FunHi.' You sign up and join a community, and give your fellows gifts, but as Wired has reported, 'these are not ordinary gifts. They're purely digital: little flashing icons of cars, planes, diamond rings and other virtual representations of expensive items included in messages members send each other. And FunHi members don't seem to care that the real money they're spending on the gifts, at prices as high as $30 an item, is going straight into the company's coffers." This leaves just one question unanswered... why didn't I think of this?" It sounds like an April Fool's Joke, but then, so does online trading of Everquest loot.
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Spread The Love (And Pay Us)
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wow... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://imathis.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday February 12 2005, @05:44AM)
FunHI - yet another reason capitalism should come with a warning
Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:3, Funny)
Then $30 will seem quite inexpensive.
Re:Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday November 17 2003, @10:37PM)
Re:Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.twitchypup.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday October 02 2002, @11:22AM)
By comparison, the second most expensive item is a faux private jet, valued at $14.99
Re:Why would I pay for this? (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.dasmegabyte.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday June 22 2004, @11:41PM)
But somebody who didn't understand technology and didn't want to MIGHT pay for it because they thought it was a cute idea. These are the same people who buy new Sims add-ons for the additional wallpaper and landscaping. These are the people keeing Pier 1, Tuesday Morning and the Christmas Tree Shop in business. These are the same people who keep buying me candles, picture frames and other tchotchkes when what I really need is a new fucking laptop.
In short, women will pay for this, because it is useless but kind of cute and not too expensive.
Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
So too is throwing your money away with a virtual gift. let them who want to, do it.
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed. Buying a diamond is saying "here DeBeers, have some money" just so other people can see that you gave DeBeers lots of money. It's simply a more socially accepted method of throwing your money away.
Re:Status symbols (Score:4, Interesting)
The Royal Ontario Museum had a display on gemstones for a while, with a placard over the diamond display anwering the FAQ: "Why are diamonds so valuable?" with a simple "Scarcity and excellent marketing."
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah right. Diamonds look nice, but so do countless other less expensive gemstones. Diamonds do have status associated with them, and that status and "tradition" is due to being propped up by DeBeers. If people just wanted to buy something that looked nice, why do wedding rings always have to have diamonds in them? Surely a few people must think a ring looks just fine without having to be diamond-encrusted, or perhaps prefer emeralds, opals, or rubies.
The previous poster is quite right about the diamond cartel, your positive feelings about diamonds are in no small part due to their propoganda.
>Then again, you've probably never even spoken to a girl so you have no idea.
It's possible the previous poster has never spoken to a girl. It's also possible he talks to intelligent women instead of wasting his time on materialistic girls.
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
b) Even if you have specially trained eyes that can actually tell the difference, and you have some strange need for the diamonds, then modern industrially produced diamonds are actually more pure then mined ones. You need a microscope to tell the difference, and when you do, you rule out the man made one because it is too perfect. Yet the gemstones that DeBeer's has managed to manipulate you into buying are all mined - simply because they are about status rather than beauty.
Re:Status symbols (Score:4, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
And she's not only ethical, she's hot!
Re:Status symbols (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Funny)
Personally... (Score:5, Funny)
I'd love you more if you just gave me the money...
On the plus side... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On the plus side... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://haltingpoint.blogspot.com/)
"Buy an animated gif of a penis up to 3" longer than yours! Guaranteed! $50"
Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday March 30 2004, @02:23PM)
A fool and their money are soon parted.
Re:Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.jenkatgames.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday September 07 2003, @03:00AM)
Except for the people who are "selling" land on the moon, have no legal right to do so, and therefore you are just giving money to them as an example of your own stupidity.
Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday August 27 2003, @08:03PM)
I'm training myself on the internet. It's fascinating. I'm doing pornography. It's amazing how much these suckers will pay for photographs of chicks. And it doesn't matter if they're fat or ugly or what.
Paying for crappy porn.. that's bad. But paying 30 bucks for a stupid icon? These people are dumber than that guy that loves his spam. [slashdot.org]
It's kind of like having a real life tamagotchi (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It's kind of like having a real life tamagotchi (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.chessthecat.com/)
More proof that... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://nonservium.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday March 07 2007, @04:15AM)
Re:More proof that... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.no2id.co.uk/)
Suddenly, fake diamond-ring-icons will threaten the natural diamond-ring-icon cartel, and FunHi will have to spend millions researching and building devices for distinguishing between the natural and fake icons; millions more advertising that only "Natural Diamond-Ring-Icons" show real love.
You see ... you cynics ... ripping off the gullible is not just the fast-track to the gravy train. Getting a sustainable revenue channel by scamming the soft-of-the-brain is harder than it looks.
Looks like they ripped their rating system... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.madanthony.net/)
Their buzz system [funhi.com] (scroll down) is a direct ripoff of eBay's feedback system [ebay.com]. Wonder how long they get sued for that?
Much ado about nothing... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.everyone-wins.net/)
"Selman says FunHi has banked about $10,000 in the month since FunHi launched. And given that Georgiades himself has paid about 10 percent of that, it's clear that not all of the service's 6,500 active members are doing the same thing."
If two people (the article mentions one other having spent $1000) account for 20% of the $10K that this company has made in a month, this seems more like silliness on the part of a very few people, and shouldn't really be considered "newsworthy".
Re:Much ado about nothing... (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Friday June 11 2004, @12:41PM)
1. Invent dumb idea
2. Have rich investor modify the stock price
3. Profit!
4. RUN!
People will pay a lot for esteem and attention (Score:4, Insightful)
Popularity (Score:5, Funny)
Seeing as this "buying nothing" idea is a capitalist's dream, I think it's only a matter of time before these attractive females rise up above their alleged vapidity to realize that they can control the world. As much as I hate to admit it, think about it: who would you vote for between George W. and Britney Spears?
Re:Popularity (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.slashdot.org/~lukewarmfusion/journal/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 02 2005, @02:49PM)
Deception [210west.com]. The Internet's full of it.
Not, brittany, (Score:4, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Thursday November 11 2004, @12:40PM)
Excellent! (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday January 11 2007, @06:30PM)
Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.solidstategroup.com/)
Oh, wait.
Not to worry (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, hush. (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed, if the people who spend money on this are the kind of people who aren't inclined to give money to feed the starving, then it's to the benefit of those who are starving that the money is now out of their hands and in someone else's.
What are you doing (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.icarusindie.com/)
Starvation isn't a money problem. It doesn't take money to plant a garden and grow food. The problem is the assholes in charge who prevent the food from going to people who need it that need to be overthrown.
There's plenty of food. And buying more of it isn't going to make the situation better for anyone but the assholes in charge who hoard it for themselves.
The poor will always be with you. If you feel so compelled, help the poor in far away places. I'd rather help those around me. And that involves buying crap that helps pay their wages so that they don't starve.
I don't suppose you stopped to think that if nobody bought anything they didn't need, 90%+ of the population would be out of work and unable to afford to eat. Our society functions based on the buying and selling of crap. Just like every other country.
If you go to the Mexican border at least, everybody is selling something. Buying a pot or a flower you don't need really equates to feeding the seller and his family.
Buying a stupid little icon helps keep this guy fed and with the extra money he buys more crap which puts money in a lot of people's pockets so they can eat and so on down the line.
To claim that we shouldn't buy anything frivilous is incredibly short sighted. I don't think you realize how many poor people survive selling frivilous crap working at fast food joints, restaurants and what not. You think corporations should just give people money? Where do you think their money comes from?
Ben
Test for them? (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://www.grub.net/blog/index.html | Last Journal: Wednesday June 27, @08:48AM)
a digital diamond ring for my gf (Score:5, Funny)
me: but it's the thought that counts, right?
no different from diamonds (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Monday April 12 2004, @04:18AM)
However, if you are going to do this, why not dispose of your resources in some socially valuable way? Demonstrate your boundless resources by making a "platinum circle" donation to your local opera house, either in your own name or in your sweetheart's name.
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:4, Funny)
(Last Journal: Monday October 11 2004, @09:43PM)
So are you saying that all the slashdot trolls are demonstrating their mating suitability?
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://blog.darwincentral.org/)
The "real value" of any good or service is whatever you can get in exchange for it - any notion of intrinsic worth is a specious concept, as is any valuation other than exchange value. If people didn't value diamonds as highly as DeBeers does, they simply wouldn't buy them.
The FunHI Corporation is a division... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Way too much. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://basharteg.com/)
Re:Before you go off on FunHi people being stupid. (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.jdkoftinoff.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday July 15, @06:44PM)
My new realization is: A fool and his money are best parted. The last thing you want are bunches of fools with effective personal or political power.
--jeff++
Pimp (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.jwz.org/images/omgwtf.jpg)
Of course, being a young good-looking female doesn't hurt, as the members with the most fans are all women whose pictures show them in sexy, alluring poses.
&
The service aims, according to what might be called its bylaws, to foster purely positive and friendly interactions.
Sheesh. Why not just call it "FunHo" and be done with it?
US$30 != FunHi$30, and why its brilliant (Score:5, Interesting)
(Last Journal: Thursday February 27 2003, @02:26AM)
The thing is that they're tapping an already existing culture- racing and souping up import cars. It serves as a fan-club kind of thing for these import models, and then expands from there.
I really have to hand it to the guys who started it. They tapped a culture well, provided a means for them to play on the internet together and found a way to make a tidy profit off of it. Besides, you don't even need to pay to use it. You don't have to buy "gifts" for people. It's just a nice way to say "I like you" or whatever that backed up by a little bit more.
I'll admit, I accidently ran into this early on in its development and started playing along for mostly 2 reasons: 1) I was newly single so having cute asian girls give me compliments boosted my ego 2) I'm horrible with internet culture (IMing and other sorts of things where you speak with abbreviations and smileys) so I thought it would be funny to see how well I do (and how well "they" do) with my paragraphs and thinking.
It was fun for a while, but now it's getting really dull. Next!
Goes to show how braindead consumers are. (Score:3, Interesting)
You pay me $$, I will do a simple "INSERT INTO" statement and associate the diamond ring record with the recipient's user ID. You will feel good because you sent them a "gift", they will feel happy because they think they will have received a real gift.
You will think it's fun, I will think it's funny. I will be rich, you will be paying me to alter my data in my database.
At least this gives hope to people trying to make money out there.
I have an idea. I have a website filled with members and their email addresses. When you want to send a gift, YOU draw the gift using MS Paint. Upload the picture, I will email it to the recipient of your choice, and I will only charge $1.99. See, because YOU drew it and it would be from YOU! (The sad thing is, people would probably go for it)
Golden Rule? Shieat? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Golden Rule? Shieat? (Score:4, Funny)
(http://www.everything2.com/)
This place is a horrific written image of pain.
I quote:
My eyes, they bleed!
My brain, it bleeds!
teen entertainment (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, there are tons of tv programs where you can pay for having your sms shown on the screen for a brief moment. Sort of like using IRC, but spending $1-2 each time you press enter.
My point, I guess, is that the way young people spend their money doesn't really amaze me anymore...
A double standard? (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.anotherblogger.com/)
Yet there's quite a bit of the
Free love? (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://pobox.com/~bitman)
Outdoing each other in generosity? (Score:3, Interesting)
FunHi, using symbols, tapped into that part of us, probably to their own surprise. It's symbols, though silly, have value - in dollars. So you can "measure" how much someone spent on you (or someone else) and ignore, thank, reciprocate, or compete appropriately.
Do I think it'll last? No. But it's worth studying.
Just my 2 cents. Or, in the future, 1/50 of a Slashdollar!
(And yes, I expect FunHi's idea to be imitated to death).
They've got a great thing going on here. (Score:3, Interesting)
It seems to me they're a bunch of slashdot-style geeks blatantly milking a huge group of retards - the hint is the "Dominatrix Sub Whip +2" - I don't expect the idiots who actually use that site to have any idea what a +2 is.
I also doubt that anyone who really wrote the way they do would be able to set up a complicated website.
Tim
Horrible (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.everything2.com/)
FunHi seems to be an extreme manifestation of the overly materialistic culture it has emanated from (people who call themselves a "gangsta" or a "playa" or a "hunie", modern popular culture basically), it's just... too horrible for words.
People judging how popular and loved they are on the basis of how much other people have spent on them *puke*.
I guess they could all be doing it in an ironic and political fashion to show all members of capitalist societies to be whores. I'm sorta doubting that's the case, personally.
Deep discount here! (Score:3, Funny)
Here I just saved those people a ton of cash:
http://www.funhi.com//images/gifts/46.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/20.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/33.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/1.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/3.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/30.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/35.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/39.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/22.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/17.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/11.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/23.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/14.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/49.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/25.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/41.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/27.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/51.gif [funhi.com]
d
Irony (Score:3, Insightful)
Ultimately, you have to respect a venture like this, that can make a person alternate between thoughts of "WTF This is sick" and "Wow, this is genius". It's both interesting & entertaining, and profoudly sad and pathetic as well. What an eloquent microcosm of capitalism, superficiality and materialism.