have everyone read the salon.com article that exposes what this 43things site is really all about

How many people have bought anything they weren’t already wanting or intending to buy because of 43? I certainly do not fall into this category, and I’m imagining most people do not though that could be a sweeping, unjustified generalization. ;-) But I think either you buy just what you need and truly desire and then good for you and whoever is not broke because of it… OR you buy crap you never intended and don’t need or want and then too bad for you and still good for whoever is not broke because of it. Either way, somebody wins. Let it be you. =)

OMG! A huge company funding a start up! Stop! Don’t post any more! It has to be a evil plot to make money!!

Err, why? I mean let say given the “evil possibility’ mentioned if I post on here “I want to get rich” then suddenly, up pops an advert in the side bar about how to get rich quick… I mean, why wouldn’t I want this? (And err, can any one say Google AdSense.. which I love, and is on this and many, many other sites.)

The whole point of targeting people with new and smarter technology is so that the consume gets more of what they want. I like that when I’m reading about cheese, I get ads for internet cheese sellers, or if I’m reading a book review I get easy and right there ready for me links to buy. Obviously people are out to make money, and they wont to make you spend more with them, and not else where.

But at the end of the day, your just a number, a cross referenced collection of indexed words matched across databases, linked by more fuzzy searching AI that makes a best guess based on nothing more then statistics. I think sometimes people take personalization just a little too personally.

Nothings free. From the beginning I noticed the little ads on the side. I thought it was nice how 1) they don’t pop up in my face while I’m trying to type and 2) they seemed relavent to what I’m doing.

I have to admit I was a little surprised too find out that Amazon is somewhat involved; but who cares. I come here to get and give advice and discuss my goals with people. To be honest after awhile, knowing Amazon was a financial backer made me feel better. I’d hate to log on and find the site has shut down.

Intrigue got the better of me so off I went to check out the article and my conclusion is … errr … hello … what is the big deal here ??

OK quick survey …

Hands up everyone who is being forced to contribute on 43things ?

Hands up everyone who is being forced to buy books from Amazon ?

Can’t see many hands !! The fact is that all of us have a choice in the same way we have a choice to visit any other site, and lets face it … there are a few sites out there that really could do some damage.

So Josh Petersen listed himself as a typist. Shock, horror and how much sleep are we gonna lose over that ??

As for Erik I can’t believe how outrageous his comment was ha ha.

OK OK nuff of this. If the guys are trying to make an honest living then that is OK by me. If Amazon have plugged some money in then so what. If it’s clever marketing then good for them. If every marketing campaign genuinely helped people like this site does then the world would be a better place.

I think 43things and the Robots rock … end of story.

PS Would have written more but need to go buy some books now he he !!!!!!!!!!!!

amazon will be sorely disappointed when:

a) they realize that most of my goals don’t match up to buying crap. ‘that is soooo 1980s’

b) they learn that i buy most of my books online from powells.com

That I am not the only one who tries to figure out why a website exists before posting massive amounts of content to it. The Robots are successful professionals in their field, and they do an awesome job maintaining this website. Did you really think they did it for free?

I am afraid of quite a few things; death, spiders, snakes, hate,my ex-husband, war, famine, natural disasters. I am not afraid of Amazon.com.

I don’t remember how I knew (or guessed) that this site was associated with Amazon. But I didn’t stop using it as a result. And it doesn’t make the support and inspiration I’ve found here any less valid.

I personally don’t care what Amazon.com wants to do about my wanting to save money, get married and have children. If they have something that I’ll actually buy from them concerning any of those things, then more power to them.

If a company uses a tool that will help them to know what kind of things I’m interested in so they can offer those things, good for me! I still like the way that 43 Things is helping me organize my goals. I still like finding other people who have similar goals in life. And since I’m not a Democrat (wait, before you pounce I’m not a Republican either) it doesn’t really matter to me.

I heard about this site through a link saying that the Robot Co-op was funded by Amazon. Everything in the article is obvious if you think about the relationship.

If Amazon can market better to me, good for them. I would be fine with that.

As for the issue about Republicans, well, then don’t shop at Walmart either. Heck, why pay taxes then?

What’s wrong with Amazon funding this? This is a company that is striving to give the American consumer what they want and this is the perfect venue for them to get valuable information. If you want to lose weight, Amazon now knows about it and can help you do it. Want to travel the world? Once again, a supplier (Amazon) can give you just what you want.

What’s wrong with someone knowing what your dreams and desires are and acting on a way to satisfy them? Perhaps if people focus less on material goods and more on internal satisfaction then places like Amazon wouldn’t have anything to go on…