Express yourself! Let us know what we can do better and applaud what you love
I see entries that deal with safety and other important things which get no traction but totally frivolous things like umbrellas (lets face it, the World would survive without improved umbrellas) of various varieties create a "feeding frenzy" of comments and votes. Is it because the majority of folk here are simply not qualified to assess more complex projects?
@Pensive, You have to think through the Quirky process. They are in the business of 'making inventions come true for the average person.' The 'average person' is not a rocket scientist. Combine that with a $10 entry fee and you would have a lot of average ideas at a tune of ~5000 a month. There will be a few gems in the mix, but those would be the exceptions.
Combine that with Quirky's MO of pushing two to four ideas a week through the process (which is a necessity if it is going to fulfill its stated goal), and the average time that it takes to develop one idea from start to production, and you do not have room for much. Any idea that would take considerable time for development (e.g., 12 weeks or more) is an idea that must have a considerable amount of marketing potential, or Quirky self-promotion, to be pursued.
Any idea that does not jive within those basic constraints, would be better off elsewhere.
And I forgot to add, to answer your specific question.
The system as it is set-up is basic a lottery for gaining influence. People are rewarded for guessing what Quirky will pick. With that set definition of rewards, the most interest will gear towards ideas that are perceived as most likely to be picked.
Thus the 'flocking.'
Well, after two weeks I am already feeling the boredom set in. There is only so much amusement I can derive from thinking about umbrellas. I need "red meat." If the whole process, ScubaEd, is set up as a contest to be the most average, the most mediocre suck up to Quirky's sense of the "greater good" I need to go back to my project of trying to set up on on-line investment bank.
I bet people that live in Seattle, WA want a better umbrella! Rains there a lot! In FL too (afternoon showers)!
Umbrellas are practical and could use an update. However, I have not seen any ideas with a wow factor.
@PensiveIntrovert:
I love ya man! I thought the exact same thing. This site is definitely aimed at the couch lifestyle/infomercial community. I've seen some amazing ideas too that solve some critical problems, but it's as if they don't even exist. Don't get me wrong this system serves it's purpose to this particular environment, but there's has to be a place where 'inventors' who aren't worried about automatically slicing their brownies can go.
What would be the opposite of "Rainbows and Unicorns"?
But that is Quirky's market niche. Products that are innovative, interesting, useful, inexpensive, and "quirky". They make it clear in the guidelines that the product should be designed to sell for less than $150...
That guideline is out of date. There is no limit now, and devices that need run apps are admissable, but not just "apps". Does not stop people from submitting them, though.
Quirky makes inventors do desperate things. Trying to figure out how or why or if Quirky works is difficult, but trying to change Quirky is impossible! So don't get mad if you decide to play their game and they don't let you change it!
Getting mad? No, no. It takes too much energy to do that. My question was more about why the nut population here is so willing to waste their time on trivial things. Quirky as a corporate beast will do what is best for it, and that is just fine. ScubaEd, I think, has the best insight into this. Most people here are so desperate to be heard and be taken seriously that they are willingly providing their labor for free. The members here are essentially slave labor, they get no compensation, except perhaps some measure of amusement. Yeah, there is that .00001%, even people in desperate poverty in the third World would refuse to work for that.
Please re-read my last post then, and change the word 'mad' to 'discouraged'.
It isn't free labor, it's a community of people with similar goals that interact with one another to develop interesting ideas. Depending upon how much you contribute to an idea that becomes successful, you can make some money.
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I enjoy coming to this website a few times a day to look at ideas, comment, and participate in the forum. Sometimes I submit an idea too...The possibility of making some money is an incentive to participate, but it isn't the primary reason I visit the website.
Neil, did you bother computing the amount of time you spend providing free marketing data and what the possible expected value to you could ever be? It is so tiny that it's laughable. You, I think, proved my point. You are here for the entertainment value, because "you enjoy it," not to make money. Quirky is in this to make money. Others believe, however, that they are actually doing something here.
I think we both agree. If you participate in the Quirky community and your sole objective is to make a lot of money, you will very likely be disappointed. But the website isn't promoted that way. They make it clear that this is a good way to have your inventions and ideas noticed and to learn what other creative people think of their potential (with the possibility of eventually being produced), and also to participate in the development of other people's good ideas with the possibility of financial compensation (for the portion of which you contributed) if and when the ideas become a reality and begin selling.
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Developing, patenting, manufacturing, distributing, and marketing of a new idea will cost the inventor many thousands of dollars, and he or she will be compensated only if the new product sells. Most individuals simply don't have that kind of money and thus, never pursue their good ideas. Quirky provides an affordable and fun alternative.
