Market Closed: Epinions

Back in July 2002 I started writing reviews on Epinions. In fact, I started posting reviews there before I started this blog. Over the years, I slowly built a following while making a lot of social connections. Over many months I started making a few dollars here and there as the site went through some ups and downs.

Over the years I was told by publishers, authors, agents, and others in the industry not to waste my time putting my reviews of works they were involved with up on Epinions because the site was so difficult to search. Books were the forgotten bastard child of the site and it showed. When Google changed their systems to lower the ratings of content mills, such as Associated Content (now Yahoo Voices) and Demand Studios, among others, Epinions took a real hit though it was not a content mill. It was collateral damage.

Awhile back Epinions was bought by eBay and things began to change. Just last fall before the holiday season they disabled the functionality needed for me to request to add books that were not already in their system. I always had to request titles be added over the years, but it got way worse last year. About 90 percent of the books I reviewed, whether they were self published or New York Times bestsellers, were not in the system and had to be added for me to be able to write about them there.

One never has that issue at Amazon.

Not only did they remove that functionality, they also changed things so that no one could add content if it was not tied into the eBay catalog. If the eBay catalog did not list the item it could be be added by any one for any reason. Millions of additional products that were promised for those of us still hanging in at the site to write on never materialized. Because of the actions by management the critical holiday season was totally missed. Instead of fixing glaringly obvious problems there seemed to be a management down attitude of blaming the membership--especially those of us who had been around a very long time and had standards in terms of review quality and expectations regarding site issues.

As the new year dawned they made additional changes which diminished the quality of the reviews. Despite repeated promises by those in charge to fix the search capability for the site, they did  absolutely nothing. The result was a steadily worsening problem as so much new and old did not exist in the database. While I could have written on about ant toothpaste, I could not write on Thuglit: Issue Nine, Baby Sharks Grass Widow Legacy, Archie Solves The Case and many, many other books.

Reviewing books is what I do. I don't review baking mix, toothpaste, deodorant, or shampoo.

Management has finally made their gross incompetence publicly and without question known tonight as they have officially killed the site. I received the below in my e-mail a little while ago and it is also now posted on the site. Epinions is dead and as often the case its demise was solely caused by ongoing managerial stupidity.




Dear Epinions Member,

After a challenging 2013, Epinions will no longer maintain community related operations of its website. We are proud that we were able to serve as a facilitator of shared experiences and thoughtful dialogue over the past 15 years. However, several obstacles, such as declining participation, have deeply affected our business and forced us to make this difficult decision.

We would like to thank each of you for your time and dedication. You have supported us through the good times and the bad. Our community's passion and uniqueness has made our website truly special.

As of February 25, 2014, we will begin to disable the Epinions community features.

Here's what it means for the Epinions community:

• No new content will be added to the Epinions website as of February 25, 2014.

• The ability to write a review, comment, and rate will be disabled on February 25, 2014.

• The last Income Share payment will be issued on March 6, 2014 via PayPal.

• The option to export all of your Epinions reviews will be made available to you.

• You will still be able to login to your Epinions account to check your balance and use the Epinions message boards until March 25, 2014.

After March 25, 2014, all Epinions community features will be removed and/or disabled from the Epinions website.

This was not an easy decision to make and we thank you all for your contributions to Epinions. While we must change, we truly hope your desire to connect, write reviews and share experiences with one another stays alive and well.

If you have additional questions, please feel free to reference our FAQ or contact us.

Sincerely,

The Epinions Team

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Important Dates:
• March 6, 2014 - February Income Share Payout, Sweepstakes Payouts, and an additional Bonus Payout.
• March 25, 2014 - All Epinions community features removed and login to Epinions site disabled.