Actually, it's mostly just other people's content copied to the site without their permission. For instance, the #3 and #4 items on Scribd right now are taken straight from craigslist's best of section. A lot of the other items are from email forwards, but that's a use that I think Scribd is actually good for.
With that said, it seems like the whole point of scribd is to be digg fodder in the first place. It's difficult to build a community around text, because any user who gets that serious will probably outgrow Scribd and start their own blog. Youtube succeeded in creating a community because there's no way for most users to go off and create their own video sites. When YouTube first launched, if you wanted to post video online, using YouTube was pretty much your only option. People have plenty of options for text, most of which are more featureful for publishers than Scribd.
Without a real community, Scribd is basically just a glorified email forward hosting site for digg users. If you look at the issues all the Myspace-based companies are having, you'll probably agree that Scribd could have a difficult future. If digg decides to let users upload content directly using digg itself, Scribd is dead.
Simply not displaying who rated you up or down (just like on here) is the first step towards that.
That is definitely something that has been a consideration since day one though. Epinioins was widely disqualified as a reputable source because people formed such "cartels" to take advantage of their paid review model.
But still people can open multiple accounts or ask their friends to log in and hike up the karma? They can manipulate the reviews and swing it in their favour
Someone who's IQ is reasonably high will still say uninformed things. Also, IQ does not change with age... so a 14 year old with a high IQ would fit right into your "elite community" and immediately spoil the party due to their lack of maturity.
Why not just form a blacklist of "stupid IPs". Keep your input productive... or die.
:-) I'm glad this got posted on here. We are building a product review site & I was super tempted to leave a comment on techcrunch. Alas, our site isn't far enough along, nor is it prepared for that kind of attention.
PowerReviews/buzzillions has a pretty clever business model. Essentially its creating Sheep that $hit grass. It is a step beyond it's competition iNods, which is two steps beyond ViewScore, which are both only marginally more useful than just searching google to find reviews.
But what I (we) think would be a lot cooler, is building a community around and for this tech consumer market.
Our site ( http://revvu.com ) uses a user-driven model for centralizing consumer electronic reviews on the web. Users can submit reviews that they find, or blog, or want to share. Then the community can vote reviews up or down (based on value) per each individual product page. (sort of reddit style)
Votes on reviews effect the weight of ratings, forming a dynamic review score that reflects the opinion of the masses.
We just launched on Monday, so karma is not yet visible. Also, our social network aspect is not in place yet. That aspect will be the key to creating a strong community, creating an addicting user experience, and creating a way to share (read: show off) the things you own & are interested in.
I think PowerReviews is a cool concept, and will probably work for some retailers... but they (like everyone else in this space) don't get "it" yet. Aside from the arbitrary use of tagging, their site isn't really reflecting any of the advancements or evolutions of the way people use the internet today. They have found a business model that seems feasible and built an idea around it in a market that NEEDS improvement. What they lack is a carrot to attract users (those seeking reviews) to care, return, or get involved. Which might be fine for them, if thats not what they want. If thats the case though, suggesting that PowerReview (or buzzillions) "may get the market" doesn't sound very likely.
Anyway, we'd really appreciate feedback on our site. This is a very sharp community. We would certainly be interested to hear from, or chat with, anyone who has feedback/suggestions for us.
your sheep analogy is terrific. just... brilliant.
I think PowerReview has an interesting strategy in that, aside of your sheep analogy, they aim for corporate partnerships; they are closer to the "B" in B2C. revvu's strategy, if I'm not mistaken, is much closer to the "C." And in this aspect I would think the "it" for the B-approach and C-approach are different.
A more immediate competitor for you might be epinions.com?
Sure epinions would be a closer comparison to us, because we do allow user reviews.
Our approach though, is mostly to let people submit links to outside reviews. There will always be CNet & engadget (and these will be submitted), but what we're hoping for is a place to help people find reliable reviews from lesser known sites like audioholics, i4u, GSM arena, or the hundreds or thousands of tech blogs like digitalconsistency.com that pop up all the time.
Forming a user-driven centralized hub for consumer electronic reviews from all over the web.
Trying to provide a service that is of value?