not only has insp mgmt destroyed the stock price but they are destroying the si site here. Stock screener is gone now. and i liked using that , now it's gone
I'm noticing that. I can't personally get too critical of them over removal of some of these features aside from the general thing of worrying when it looks like a dismantling process.
As far as the specific features go, they're not ones I'm planning to add soon, if ever. I prefer to focus on doing just one thing and doing it well. Too many other companies out there that do the other things and also do them well. The easiest example is quotes. If I'm a message board and all about people communicating with each other, and there are many excellent quotes providers out there, there's simply no reason for me to include quotes. Not unless I do something frame-based that's provided by a company that has quotes as its core competency.
So, for the most part, features are going away that I considered unnecessary and dilutive to what the site's core competency should be. Doing away with them after having them is definitely "uglier" than simply never having had those features, though.
If it's resulting in substantial cost savings, then they may be backed into a corner in which they have no choice but to do these things so SI will be cheaper to keep going for a lot longer. If that's the reason it's being done, I applaud the decision.
If it's being done because some upstart site is doing well by *only* being a message board and they think the best way to battle the perceived threat is to use the same approach, then it's a foolish decision. It's always going to look bad when you "trim down" to what perhaps is all you should've been to begin with, IMO.
Brad, Jeff, Jill, and I were all very aware of the RB threat long before it happened. We knew to the week, several months in advance, when RB would have a higher daily posting volume that SI did. GNET's approach, if memory serves, was inaction or in some cases too-slow reaction.
I wonder if perhaps INSP's upper management is more aware of the situation than we could ever make GNET's management, and is being active about addressing it. If so, kudos for at least caring enough to react. However, also if so, wrong reaction, dudes.
SI's biggest strengths, and ones that I or no other site can ever hope to match or challenge if SI handles things right are:
1. Sheer depth of history.
2. Size and devotion of community.
They can still capitalize on these strengths, but I don't think they will. Nobody in a decision-making capacity at the company understands message board communities well enough to know what to do. So the bean-counters make the decisions and cross their fingers hoping the cost cuts don't result in even greater unintended revenue cuts.
But if they can get the cost of running it slimmed way down, then perhaps it can either be run forever, or be made more attractive for sale to someone who will run it forever.
That's what I hope is the reason for the cuts anyway. |
