| Great, you're going to save the internet, we get it. Can we go back to work now? |
What happens when one person gets fed up with the internet? Usually nothing. However, in this case one person got so fed up that he decided to create his own. After trying to place an employment ad and an ad for a wood chipper sitting in his garage, one CEO finally realized that the internet had simply gone crazy. Every where he went that was "free" he either was getting bombarded with adware, spyware and pop-ups or was placing an ad next to content that was either junk or in many cases straight out pornographic. When he tried some paid services, he found the costs were extremely high or the content quality very low.
After 2 hours of discussing the issue with some of his employees and continued frustration, he pulled out his famous dry erase marker and started to write on his office windows. "This is what I want to build." seemingly crazed over this dilemma. His employees humored him and said "Great, you're going to save the internet, we get it. Can we go back to work now?" At that point he felt kind of alone, but he simply wouldn't let it go.
Nearly 18 months later the project hits the US with a network of over 300 websites and what many are calling the right message. What was once ink on a window now has a place on the net.
When asked to describe the project everyone involved chuckles and says "get out a note pad". They say you have to take several things and websites such as your local newspaper, Craiglist, Ebay, CareerBuilder, and roll them into one. Then look at the good and the bad that they all bring. When you skim off what is really good about them all and try and figure out how to get rid of the bad, you end up with Cityeverything.
An apparent industry first, is the ability for regular consumers and businesses to add a link to a "videomercial" on sites such as YouTube and Google Video. They say their intent is not for entertainment value but that adding home made commercials about riding lawn mowers and used cars will inevitably have some funny moments. "What a great way for a person to gain trust or better show their product or service. Video your vacation home, car, lawn mower, furniture or what ever it is you're trying to sell. Then upload it to a video site and link to your ad. You will be amazed at the trust level that is built and how people warm up to it," said Vetter.
Here are a few of the issues and solutions they dealt with.
SPAM:
The sites are not located on one website. Each city has its own website and URL. A user in Boston would join BostonEverything.com, while a person in Atlanta would join AtlantaEverything.com. Trying to post messages to all 300 websites would take 300 signups, 300 verifications, and 300 email addresses. Even if they did this, the system doesn't allow hyperlinks or emails to be displayed making all this work pointless.
SCAMs:
According to CityEverything, they encourage all users ONLY to deal in their local market. Then contact the poster via a phone call prior to making any decisions. According to them, 85% of scammers will NOT give you a local phone number. (The first sign of a problem.) Removing hyperlinks and emails also deters a large percentage.
Business Opp's and MLM postings:
Simply not allowed. Any poster that tries to post one is removed and faces fines. They point out that even on the top employment sites this is still allowed and people are forced to surf through junk.
EMAIL theft and phishing scams:
Just remove hyperlinks and emails and you cure most of the problem. All contact is done through a private messaging system each user gets free or via phone numbers.
Adult content:
None allowed. If seen on a posting it is flagged by users and removed.
Using the sites for good:
Currently they are experimenting with the Red Cross and the Amber Alert system. They hope to one day have enough local reach power to help with things like missing children alerts and local emergency information.
The CityEverything staff did say they stress to all users the internet is a dangerous place. They know there will be many postings that violate the terms and scammers will still come. "We would love to have a perfect world, but that will just never happen. One of our biggest improvements with our site is the elimination of hyperlinks. If you remove the 'honey' the flies simply don't find it attractive any more. It sounds simple but no other site has done this that we know of. You can't trick the system with html or coding. The links simply won't appear. No link, no click," said Vetter.
When asked how they determined what would be considered 'appropriate content' or allowed, they said they came up with a simple guideline. They knew that minors will eventually find the sites. Why not simply restrict the content to that level. While they do not allow minors to post, they felt they had to be realistic and have some responsibility with an 'open airwaves project' such as this. "We built this project as a free posting and local community gathering place. It was built for the people of the local communities and this is what they said they wanted. We felt some obligation as to what we would allow. It would kind of be like buying land next to your friend's home and then opening a strip club if we didn't," said Vetter.
In a time when social media and fad sites make top news, many might find this "Plain Jane" project not headline material. However, if you talk to consumers and business owners about the project they all seem to think it should be.
The Cityeverything project looks like a winner in everyone's eyes except for the spammer / hyperlink hunter. While the sites might seem a little "content light" at this point, the developers say it will just be a matter time before they fill up quickly. They point out that this is still their testing phase and they are not really going for quantity, more for quality and feedback.
You can visit your local site by starting at Cityeverything and navigating to your local home page.
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