Re: Guides. In case you guys don't already know, The Internet Fund (WWWFX) has this as one of its newest (well, maybe 3 months) holdings. And the stock has performed absolutely horrible! How unfortunate. USA Networks/CBS buyout rumors are the only things that give this stock an uptick lately.
OK, here's my thought on that human aspect of the business model. They need to effectively implement a feedback channel monitoring the performance of the guides. Are you a guide forever until you do something egregiously bad? Or are you under "yearly contracts" where you are periodically re-evaluated.
Just because you became the first guide for a About.com channel doesn't make you the best forever. For example, I think the guide for the Mutual Funds forum SUCKS. Really really bad. And that's one of my favorite topics. Actually, I haven't visited that particular forum in months, but I'm sure I could do better.
On the other hand, I think Chris Sherman of the websearch forum is absolutely brilliant. Really, I'm amazed that he doesn't do this for a living, he's so good. Also, I've made great friends with Marco @ the Canada Investing forum. It's really funny, because I don't live in Canada. But he's written so much great stuff (and apparently he was the first entity to start a Canadian Internet Index) that I really feel that "human bond" with him that About.com emphasizes. But in general humans suck. Ha ha, just kidding. I mean the algorithmic brute power of search engines are so scalable, humans can't keep up with that. But a distributed human touch makes this site great.
But what should the stock be valued at? That's another question...
- netconductor.com Internet Fund + Softbank Sites |
