posted on September 25, 2001 08:52:49 AM new
I read this little blurb and am thinking it may impact the "other online auctions" and other forums at some point down the road.
posted on September 25, 2001 09:43:10 AM new
There was a thread or two about this subject on the ebay outlook forum when the AW layoffs were announced a while back. The forums do generate a lot of traffic for AW at a low cost so that is a plus.
It is survival of the fitest in the real and cyberspace worlds and the auction services offered by AW are also offered by several other venues, some free and some not free. As the economy tightens many auction sellers may also tighten their auction services spending and that can not help AW's bottom line.
If AW fails to merge with a stronger business partner and ceases operations or just ceases the operation of it's Message Center then I believe another auction related web site will get the lion's share of these viewers/readers that they will have been forced to abandon.
Everyone is a creature of habit and it will take some time to adapt to a different message center and site but things should be back to a relative normal in a short time.
posted on September 25, 2001 09:48:23 AM new
In my opinion, forums are a commodity. It's the participants that create the value. Look at the ebay forum here, and you'll find a wealth of experience and backgrounds. It's not AW that creates the value there.
posted on September 25, 2001 10:03:04 AM new
AW does provide a fairly high traffic site and excellent message center with decent moderation ( sorry, highest praise that I could muster ). Sort of like a bar, the customers make the bar good or bad but the location of the bar is important to draw the customers ( and the bar enforces rules via bouncers ).
