The LTA just announced ways to revamp the transport industry. They have just released a transport masterplan, a copy of which was shown on National TV and I thought it’s a rather extravagant use of public funds.

The proposal involves many things, one being letting the grassroots take part in the discussion. Another is the possibility of giving more money to car owners when they scrap their cars. A move that is questionable and needs further study. Who in their right mind would not buy another car? It’s like the government giving you subsidies.

The problem, in my humble opinion, lies not so much on price problems. I don’t see the effectiveness in raising ERP prices or limiting the COE given out. There are other things to consider other than price problems. One of the more important factors, in my opinion, is the standard of our own PUBLIC TRANSPORT.

We have seen many fare increase over the past few years. Everytime the prices go up, we are promised a world class public transport system. But, is it truly world class? Fares have gone up, but standards have dropped. In fact, it is now easier to see a cockroach on a bus compared to a few years ago. Buses seem to be getting noisier and drivers seem to have this problem of stalling their engine.

A good public transport system is a determining factor on whether we choose to take public transport or private ones. The thing is not so much on the cost, whether it is expensive to own a car, for those who are in this equation are those who are able to afford a car anyway. The determining factor is whether the public transport is cheaper and as effective in bringing us to our desired destination.

If we have bus routes that are planned well to bring us to our desired destination in a comfortable and efficient manner, then why would we need cars? If we are able to get to places on time even on public transport, and not waste too much time, why would we need cars? If we can squeeze into the mrt during peak hours and have sufficient space to breathe so we won’t faint, why would we need cars?

Let’s not kid ourselves. Oil prices are rising (and falling sometimes), so it won’t be long before the public transport companies start to apply for fare increases. When that time comes, will they promise to be world class again? I think it is better to under-promise and over-deliver, than to over-promise and under-deliver, even though what you deliver may be the same.

Anyway, this forum letter (shown below) just shows us why public transport (including taxis) are not so appealing to us. Other than rude drivers, we have picky drivers, or drivers who cheat us by driving further to charge more. Is this efficient? No. If we truly want lesser cars, we should work and change our public transport system!

Cabby cheats take passengers for a ride
IT IS no doubt easier to get a cab nowadays during peak hours, because you can see long queues of empty taxis and zero passengers. This has led some cabbies to take desperate measures, bordering on the dishonest. As passengers are hard to come by, especially during expensive peak hours, drivers intentionally take a longer route, hoping to stretch and make more out of what may be the only fare they’ll pick up during this time.

I had suspicions a couple of times during recent rides but didn’t think much of them as I wasn’t 100 per cent sure of the shortest routes myself. However, my journey on March 21 was a familiar one from Marine Parade to home in Potong Pasir. Instead of turning into Lichi Avenue from Upper Aljunied Road, the driver drove past this well-known straight-road connection between Upper Aljunied Road and Potong Pasir and continued along Upper Aljunied Road before turning into Upper Serangoon Road and finally reaching Potong Pasir. I hadn’t paid close attention nearing the Lichi Avenue left turn and realised too late.

When I asked the driver, he said he didn’t like making many left and right turns along Lichi Avenue, and preferred the straight road. This was not true as taking Upper Aljunied Road and Upper Serangoon Road actually includes more turns and traffic lights. The cab company was Trans-

Cab. I am 100 per cent sure the driver was trying to lengthen the journey.

To substantiate my suspicions further, I must quote another driver who checked my destination before letting me in. After I got into the cab, he admitted if my journey had been a short one, he’d not have picked me up.

I hope all cab companies will remind drivers about integrity.

I would also like to remind passengers to stay alert during cab journeys and specify your preferred route – or else you may be taken for a longer ride.

Lee Li Cheng (Ms)

That’s not my opinion. That is what I thought is the message that is being sent to all Singaporean students who get rejected by Singapore Universities. It is a message that has been around for quite some time, but nobody at the upper deck believes that change is necessary.

I recently read the post by DK about the NTU Triple Sharing Hostel plan, which eventually got scrapped. The solution DK suggested is a simple one, which is to reduce the number of foreign students in NTU. It is very logical because the reason why there is a huge demand for halls is largely because of more foreign students entering our universities today. Local students do not create such a huge demand because we are fine with not getting halls. We still have a home to go to isn’t it?

The problem with all these is that here in Singapore, we have double standards. If you have been a student long enough, you should know by now that we take an active stance in recruiting students from places in Asia, including China, and we give them an education here in Singapore, sponsored by the Singapore Government. They will probably need to serve a few years of bond, and can go anywhere after that.

What does this mean? We feel that such foreigners are talents and classify them as foreign talents. They will eventually power our science and technology sectors and bring forth recognition and wealth to Singapore. However, this begs the question: Can’t we find suitable talents in Singapore?

After all, Singaporeans who have lived in Singapore all these year should be our first class citizens isn’t it? We are more loyal to our country, and we will probably live and die here. Foreigners, on the other hand, do not feel the same loyalty to our nation. They see Singapore as a stepping stone to greater heights. After all, who will say no to a free education + expenses in Singapore, touted as a good place for education, especially in South East Asia?

Let’s talk about cost in algebraic sums. Let the cost of the university education be $U. For local students, we pay $S, a subsidised rate. Thus, the government pays $(U-S) in subsidies for Singapore students. For foreign student without government support, they pay $U in full. For foreign students supported by a government scholarship, the government pays $U in subsidies.

Surely $U > $(U-S). This means that it is better to invest more on foreign talents, than invest money in nurturing local peasants for higher education. So if you can’t get into a university, it means that you are not worthy enough to qualify for even $(U-S) in subsidy, and they would rather pay someone else with no loyalty to Singapore $U (excluding expenses!!!) to study here.

Now I think that is sad. Is our country going to be a country with Singapore citizens or foreign ones? In fact, are some talents, talents? Or are they people with a mask on them, showing their good side whilst their hidden intentions show that they are going to leave after getting all the benefits?

Let’s not forget my current University-mate in the same course as me, a PRC student who recently got convicted for hacking into RJC’s servers. Well, he is still in school, and is probably on a scholarship. What does this mean to me? It mean that there are double standards. You can get expelled for copying a lab report, but you will not be expelled for hacking, which, in my opinion, is a worse offence.

And we talk about building a fourth varsity. A liberal arts college. Look, this new college is not to cater to Singapore students. It is going to be filled partially (how partially I do not know. 70% is also partial) with foreign students. That I am willing to bet on.

Now since we have a problem with getting enough Singaporeans into university, why not we take the better and cost effective approach? We can jolly well lessen the number of foreign talents we take in, and give them to our peasants! We pay less in subsidies, and we can get more peasants into university! A good deal I would say.

Let’s not forget that Singaporean students who go to other universities pay the full fare. They do not have the chance of getting sponsored by the host government. Singaporean students are also ending up in Australian universities anyway. Why not let them benefit from staying in Singapore? Why force them to go overseas for an education that may be seen as substandard compared to our local universities?

I don’t understand, and I probably never will. All I know is that there is talk about brain drains due to top brains leaving Singapore, but nobody looks at the reasons. The reason is simple: A Singaporean citizenship means nothing. You are but less worthy than foreigners who have the right to leave Singapore after leeching the benefits. You know what’s the irony? All these years of brain washing in our education system, it’s supposed to be forging a national identity, but I guess the actual thing that is happening is that we are showing that our identity is to be foreign.

Facebook is the popular social networking site online today and it wins Friendster hands down anytime. Friendster’s popularity took such a hit that it has resorted to copying one major component of Facebook – the applications idea.

There are tons of applications on Facebook. Useful applications like Event Management, or the Wall application, which allows you to post a comment on another user’s facebook profile. Facebook is also host to many games like BattleStations or Warbook, two of the more famous games so far. There are even games like FluffFriends, where you adopt a pet and you feed it things so they can race faster, and you compete with your friends.

Applications face stiff competition from other applications. They have to fight each other for traffic, so that they can earn more money through the ads served on their pages. However, there is one type of application I think is the worst, and only fools will use them to generate revenue.

The worst kind of application on Facebook is quizes. There are so many quizes applications on Facebook, and you have to add all of them separately to do them, not that they are accurate anyway. They clutter up your facebook profile, and you either relegate it to the Extended Profile section (where it is hidden), or you delete them after you have done. Of the quizes, the worst kinds are those that force you to invite your friends before you can get your results. Those are trashed by me immediately because it would involve spamming my friends and I have no idea whether there would really be a quiz there or not.

Let’s see why they are fools to think they can generate revenue on Facebook using quizes:

Firstly, most of the time, quizes are only accessed once in the user’s life, and nobody will go to the quiz page anymore if the questions do not change. If nobody is accessing, it would mean no one is looking at the ads, and also, the number of unique visitors drops. In a graphical sense, it is like an equation involving an exponential to a variable of -t, where t is time. Visitors tend to 0 after some time, and it is not long enough to get advertisers interested.

Secondly, they pissed the hell out of the users. It is extremely irritating to begin a quiz needing to invite many people at the start. It is worst, when you invite the many people and you don’t see the supposed results (the quiz, in this instance).

Lastly, quizes are boring. They don’t attract as many people as games do, because after you do a certain number of quizes, you get sick of doing quizes, and you know that the standard of quizes on Facebook is lousy, done up by some weird geek with a computer, and not really planned well.

I went to watch the “webcast” of the Singapore PHP User group, on a topic about suitable apps design for social network. I think it is a great clip to see if you are interested in programming an application for facebook. Before you start, however, promise me to do up useful applications, not quizzes. You want people coming back, not vowing never to come back.

For the Singapore PHP User group video, click here.

I read a letter on the ST Forum today about another person complaining. Yeah, Singaporean’s are first class complainers. Anyway, this person is appalled (I think this is too strong a word) that there is differential pricing for tickets to a soccer match. He does not understand why it cost $8 to buy a ticket before the match day and then it cost $10 on the actual day itself.

If we look around, we are living in a world based on economics. Every company in this world wants profit maximisation. In this instance, I think it’s all about demand and supply. The match is held in National Stadium, and it makes sense to sell the tickets at the stadium. On that day, people who have not gotten tickets yet will purchase them directly at the National Stadium. There will be a greater demand for tickets since most people can’t be too bothered to get tickets in advanced. It makes sense then to charge a higher price since consumers are willing to pay more.

Or perhaps we can think of it this way. They are trying to separate the two markets by selling at different locations. In a tongue in cheek manner, perhaps they are trying to separate the cheapos and the true fans. Anyone heard of price discrimination? To sell the same thing at different prices in different markets. That is happening all the time.

Why does SMRT and SBS provide 45cents travel to young students in JC level and below? Because they are charitable and compassionate? I doubt so. It’s about price discrimination and filling up seats that would otherwise be empty. Same goes with student prices at cinemas and preferred credit cards having discounts. It is to attract people to come when they would otherwise have not.

Look around you. There are examples of differential pricing everywhere today. Student meals at fast food chains? Do you even know that student pay $4.50 for a extra value meal at McDonalds? Safra members having $8 weekend tickets at all Golden Village cinemas? NUS students having discounts at various shops when they flash their matric cards?

He says “Do the $2 more earned per ticket sold on match day make such a difference?”, and that he doesn’t understand the rationale.

I don’t understand his rationale too. It is very obvious that the $2 matters much to him. So much so as to write a letter to the ST Forum. Does it make a difference? I think it’s a rhetoric question.

Why two prices for the same match?

I AM appalled that there is differential pricing for tickets to the Fifa World Cup soccer qualifying match between Singapore and Lebanon tonight.

Before match day, it costs $8 and you have to buy a ticket at Jalan Besar Stadium.

On match day, it costs $10 per ticket when you buy it at the National Stadium.

As much as I would like to show my support, does the Football Association of Singapore expect me to go to Jalan Besar Stadium to buy tickets earlier to enjoy the $2-discount and travel to National Stadium on match day to watch the match?

Do the $2 more earned per ticket sold on match day make such a difference?

I cannot understand the rationale.

Heng Lian Meng

Yesterday I went for some talk by organized by Great Eastern at the Great Eastern Building @ Chinatown area. Actually I went there because there is a free talk by Adam Khoo, and since there has been so much buzz around this guy, I went to check him out. For the uninitiated, this guy probably earned about two thousand dollars just talking for one hour yesterday night.

The main draw is about the entrepreneur internship program organized by Great Eastern, so mainly Adam Khoo is also trying to sell the idea of being a financial adviser. In the internship program, one gets to go for 3 different examinations for 3 separate licenses which are good if you intend to go into the financial sector.

Adam Khoo said a couple of interesting things, especially on how he started earning money whilst he was still studying in NUS. He did make it seem profitable to become a financial adviser, but personally I think you got to put in plenty of effort to earn money, so I wasn’t too interested in that aspect of his talk. I think one has to have some passion in the thing that they are doing.

He made a great point about how important it is to learn how to sell. We have to sell constantly to succeed in life. Maybe not selling products, but selling ideas and selling yourself. We sell ourselves to our bosses so that we have a greater chance of securing the next promotion, and we sell ideas so that our bosses will approve of them. Or perhaps we sell a business idea to a fellow friend and then get down to work. We can’t seem to escape selling.

However, perhaps his talk is quite predictable. I could complete most of his sentences, which perhaps just showed that he planned his speech very well such that the audience can understand it easily. The main things are those that you probably have read from people like Robert Kiyosaki. We should set goals for ourselves and have the belief that we will succeed.

For myself, I think my main obstacle is perhaps the lack of sufficient discipline. I mean, I have left my projects hanging around. So many people are working on something whilst studying, but I am actually not putting in much effort. Perhaps I should set some goal for my NextTutor website.

He also mentioned how mentalities and situations have changed. In our parents generation, if you study hard, get good grades, get a good degree with a good job and you have your future set. However as of now, we have more risks because there is no such thing as an iron rice bowl. We have to prepare ourselves for the possibility of getting retrenched or fired. I think that is quite true.

He talked too about active and passive income, something which I am familiar with now. I have built a small stream of passive income on my site, just enough to cover domain + hosting costs, not even a small meal in a nice restaurant. Perhaps I should start making more active income whilst I study too.

As DK mentioned, he is going to learn php and maybe some other programming language. So, what should I be doing? I think I should get my lazy ass cracking!

The general story is that the President of the United States has been shot, and there are many witnesses with many points of view, including one with the mastermind of the terrorist plot. The movie will show you each witness’s viewpoint, and up till a certain moment in time, they will backtrack like reversing a VCR. Then another point of view will begin at the same time as everyone elses’ begin, at 12pm. This goes on for quite a number of time, so you may either be sick of the way the story goes, or you can find it refreshing. I found it refreshing and a nice way to show everything.

In the last point of view, everything will be shown from each of the witnesses last point of view, and you will see what they saw before the movie stopped showing from their point of view. You can see that some people are just being made use of and they die in the end. Some people are really bad.

Spoilers!!!

Well, one of the secret service dudes is part of the terrorist organization. The shot that hit the “president” came from a window and is operated by a machine getting commands from a PDA phone. Same goes with the bombs. I say “President” because it’s fake one. A double. Anyway the real president still gets kidnapped.

The day is saved when a lost child stands in the middle of the road. The rogue ambulance carrying the terrorist and the President had to break and do a drift (ok maybe not intentionally) and the ambulance got overturned. The hero, Thomas managed to check the situation out and save the president again. I say “again” because he saved the president once. Maybe they should give him a hero’s retirement with a great pension.

Spoilers end!!

Anyway I think it’s a pretty great movie to catch. I rate it 4/5 stars. I think that’s high because I don’t rate 5/5. There is no such thing as a perfect movie.

Other links
Vantage Point Movie Official Site
IMDB
Wikipedia
Apple Trailers

Movie Information

Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker
Director: Pete Travis
Genre:Action/ Adventure
Language: English
Release Date:20 March 2008
Running Time:86 minutes

I read a blog through The Online Citizen just now, and the blog is talking about National Service and how it stands for slavery. For more details, here’s a link to the blog.

Basically I disagree with the author. Why do we call National Service slavery? In a skewed way, yes perhaps it does seem like slavery. You spend 2 years of your life having sweat and tears grinded out of you and you get paid miserably for each hour spent in camp. But however, if we recognize the basic intention of national service, perhaps it is a sacrifice that is worth it?

The purpose of National Service cannot be summarized in a single sentence. National Service, primarily, is for conscripting soldiers for the citizen army, in such a way that when there is a time of need, we are able to fight and defend ourselves. Critics argue that a bomb can destroy Singapore and there is no hope in defending. But I ask, should you ever give up without a fight? Or give up totally because you feel the odds are against you? Or are we a nation of sissies that are so cynical that we assume the worst will happen?

The author seems to hint that National Service is slavery, but titled in a nice way called “National Defence”. He asks “How is buying coffee and breakfast for the Company Sergeant Major or Regimental Sergeant Major considered national purpose or even national security. How is being called names like cheese pie and kuniang and f**ers considered good for defence?”. However, let’s not kid ourselves. How many of us actually bought coffee and breakfast for the CSM / RSM? Most of the people who end up doing the job are those who have medical problems. They are either those that truly have some problems, or those asshole keng-sters who want an easy life out of NS. The rest of us toil and sweat in our training for purposes that are intended for defence.

What i’m trying to say is that we should not generalize. Perhaps it is the way in one unit, but it isn’t in the other units.

I think the author of that post is seriously bias. He fails to consider alternative viewpoints, but launch into attacks of the system with no strong support. He only talks about parts like area cleaning and gardening (???) as if that is all we do in National Service. I believe even at home, we do our own area cleaning. How can we live in a place that is dirty? Without area cleaning, can we have a better and more hygenic place to live in? If we don’t even take care of our own camp, can we blame mosquitos from biting us?

The truth about National Service is that there are many different people inside holding different jobs with different viewpoints. National Service is intended to be for the defense of the nation and the author fails to show how it has not succeeded in its aim.

The author laments about the possibility of getting charged within one day, but how many people actually get charged within one day? Unless the offense is serious enough, most of the time we just end up with extras. Anyway, what is the point of bringing up Mas Selamat anyway? Appeal to fear?

I don’t deny that there are some parts of the SAF that is screwed up. The recent incident of a blog post about this guy who is ending up half blind because of the SAF. Assuming it is authentic and true in all his words, then the SAF has to revise its own system on how they treat their manpower.

However, from the 2 years that I have served in the Army, I think that it is not so bad after all, at least in my camp.

The author says “I believe conscription is increasingly a tool for the State to emasculate the male citizenry, to impose its will to develop a compliant male population who is ever so quick to kowtow to authority figures all in the name of duty, honour and country.”

But is it? It seems to be more of an assumption. The SAF now is different from the SAF in the past. There is less vulgarities. I do admit, there are vulgarities, and I am at fault for spewing them out of my mouth when I was angry with my men, but those are just part and parcel of army life. Am I compliant? I don’t seem to have changed. I think by myself and I know when something seems wrong or right. Just note that we do not kowtow to authority figures in the name of duty, honour and country. In the name of duty, honour and country, we fight, but not to kowtow as if worshipping a God. If National Service is intended to force our citizens to be compliant to that extend, I must say it is a total failure. Why then, is an ex NSman so un-compliant?

Let’s just remind ourselves that Singapore is not the only country that conscripts its own male citizens. South Korea is another such country. Why do we keep whining about losing out to the females of our own age? Certainly we wouldn’t be competing everything based on age are we? Besides, many of us have gone through this process and I am going through it now. My female classmates are two years younger than me, but is that such a big deal?

If we consider the possibility that we may end up subject to another country’s rule, then perhaps these two years spent is time worth spending if we could prevent that possibility from happening. Whatever happened to a sense of feeling to our country, regardless of the political party that is governing it? I am asking you to love Singapore, not the PAP.

If we ourselves cannot put in our part to defend the nation, then who can? Our country is already flooded with foreign “talents”. Can we trust them in times of need? If we can’t even put in our own effort, then this country is doomed.

After my two years of National Service, I emerged a much better person overall. I made friends and gained many brothers. I have brothers that gone through thick and thin with me, something that I can never gain if I had not gone in for the two years. I must say I have gotten plenty of work experience, just that my work experience is in terms of building relationships with my own men. I also emerged physically fitter. The gains are there, but it is up to us to face it. We can always deny and shrug it off, but the truth remains.

Whether we end up as good men or not, it is up to us. National Service is merely a process where we all grow up. It is Singapore’s identity and culture and should not be abolished. It is also not slavery. If we criticize National Service, then can we give a viable and better alternative? After all, criticism is just talk and no action. What’s the difference between this and calling someone a f***er in the army? It’s just talk.

My ex PS is a regular. Now I have his MSN and I keep in contact with him. His latest nick says that “There is no greater honour than serving the nation”. He has his beliefs, we have ours. But let us respect him for the path he chosen. The SAF may have its faults, but it has its uses.

Basically, I am supportive of National Service and I think it should continue. Perhaps it should be improved upon, but it should continue. I had some of the better times in life in there, with my friends at 1 Guards. 1 Guards taught me never to give up, to challenge myself and give my best. My brothers also supported me through my NS. NS is a great chance, and it depends on how you make use of it.

On a lighter note, I find it ironic that the author is so angry with the army, but uses it to maintain a blog about the army.

I didn’t watch Evangelion the Anime, and thus I went with no information and zero interest because I have no idea what Evangelion is actually about. The movie entertains right from the beginning, and I could understand most of the things that were inside even though I have no prior experience at watching Evangelion. From Wiki articles, I realized that this movie is actually more or less the same as the first few episodes of the anime on TV. Hence, Evangelion fans would probably be very familiar with everything.

The story begins with a boy named Shinji Ikari who is going to meet his father whom he has not seen for 3 years. An angle (the bad monster) attacks the city and Shinji is rescued by a pretty lady who turns out to be a colonel. Anyway, Shinji is asked to pilot the Eva Unit 01, which he refuses. When he sees the primary pilot Rei stuggling because of an old injury, he agrees to pilot the unit.

The story shows 3 battles between 3 angles, of which the last is super strong and is the bulk of the story and action. For more information, read wikipedia (link below).

There are a few questions which I had after I read the movie. There seems to be a pact with another company SEELE which was left unanswered (but anime fans will definitely know since its in the anime). Similarly, the last part shows this naked guy who wants to meet with Shinji. Reading Wiki allows me to understand that he is actually the last and 17th Angel who will eventually take over the piloting of one of the eva units. He will then allow Shinji to kill him.

Thus, the movie isn’t all that good because as a non-evangelion-anime-tv-fan, I get confused by many new things popping up here and there, but due to a lack of screen time, they went unanswered.

Anyway, the story ends with To Be Continued, so I would expect Evangelion: 2.0 to come out sooner or later, and I would have to watch it for completion’s sake.

I rate it 3/5 stars because of the questions I had, but it is a very entertaining show nonetheless.

Have you been noticing that there are many blogs that seem rather special these days when you comment on them? Somehow one way or another they always leave a link to the last blog post you have written. That is by no way magical, but by a truly magical plugin called CommentLuv.

Now, we can reward our commenters by automatically adding a link to their most recent post. Hopefully it will generate more incoming visits!

The CommentLuv plugin is especially userfriendly. Just download the php file and upload it to your wordpress plugin’s directory and activate it via your wordpress! It’s just so easy. No codes!

To download CommentLuv, go to: http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/commentluv-wordpress-plugin/

The past year saw advertising as a big new thing. Nuffnang and Advertlets, both companies from Malaysia, came into the market offering bloggers an alternative source of income (or for some of us, the first source of income), from our blogs. Both Nuffnang and Advertlets offer advertisements that can be displayed on our blogs, just that they differ on the method. Nuffnang, for one, allocates you an advertisement, and you display it for a week or so and you get paid for that. Advertlets works on a impressions model and anyone can earn money. You need not wait for them to allocate it to you.

There are many interesting things Start Ups can learn from these two companies, as in the past year both companies have had their fair share of hiccups that upset bloggers and undermined their position. I shall go on to give the background on a specific problem and talk about lessons that we can all learn for our own start ups.

Bloggers started being upset with Nuffnang when the bloggers waited for a very long time without serving advertisements, and hence not getting paid. Instead, bloggers served advertisements on Nuffnang for free. The problem with this is that all bloggers with a daily average of 20 readers will be able to register with Nuffnang and place the advertisement code in their blogs. Nuffnang should have known that they cannot deliver, and perhaps should have chosen a more realistic target. Perhaps Nuffnang should have only allowed bloggers with a daily average of 50 to go in? It will reduce the pool of bloggers, making it easier to maintain and arrange for ads.

Nuffnang also used the slogan of “It’s not what one blogger can do, but what many can”. Sadly to say, bloggers failed to see how many of them can help matters, and Nuffnang has clarified that ads are allocated to the bloggers whom the advertisers chose. Hence, it is not so much of what many bloggers with limited visits can do, but in actual fact, about how your own blog does in terms of traffic. The more traffic you get, the more appealing you are to potential advertisers. The lesson here is that start ups should be able to deliver what they say, and not use the wrong tagline and give the wrong impression. In such a case, people feel cheated because they did not get what was seemed to be “promised” to them.

Advertlets too, got their fair share of criticisms when they failed to renew their domain name. For a web-based start up company, this was a great mistake. It is akin to not renewing the lease for your factory! Bloggers with Advertlets’ ad codes found themselves in a fix when readers got forwarded to a parking site instead of the correct blogs. Readership was aversely affected and bloggers have to take the additional step to take out the ad code. For blogs with many different ad codes on them, it is a tedious task. The lesson here is not to forget to do basic things like renewing a domain name.

Both companies got the same bad reputation when bloggers discovered that cheques either got lost in the mail, or took months to process. As an advertising company where their main source of clients are bloggers, bloggers should be placed as a higher priority. It makes no sense to deny bloggers their fair share of income when they rented out their space to the advertising companies. Hence, if a group of customers form the basis of your company, do try to make their life easier and smoother. Administration can be simplified so that they can get their money fast.

Nuffnang further took a hit when people started complaining of slow customer service. Consumers are becoming more picky nowadays and they are now focusing on better customer service. They do not like to wait for an email to be replied and they even if they are patient, they can only wait a maximum of 3 days. Anything more than that shows inefficiency and a total disregard for the customer. It becomes worst when emails ended up not being replied at all. When the customer forms such a big part of your revenue base, I think its time to think about how to please the customer. So start ups, the main mantra of the day is the customer should be served fast!

Both companies started their exclusive clubs. Nuffnang has Glitterati and Advertlets has Titan. However, bloggers question their validity. How exclusive is exclusive when everyone can enter? Glitterati promises extra chance of ads, but when there are so many bloggers going exclusive, how much ads can everyone get? It turned out that any increased chance multiplied by zero is still zero, and most bloggers still do not get ads, despite being promised that there were more chances. This is another case of failing to live up to promises. The golden rule is that if you promise something, you deliver. If not, don’t promise.

Actually, sometimes all it takes is to figure out what you are trying to offer and think about whether you can offer it to everyone. If you can only offer it to a select few, then do not try to offer it to every man or woman in the streets of the blogosphere. It is important to know your limits and be humble about it.

Another point to note is, don’t lie. When you grossly inflate figures, it’s obvious and your company will gain a shady reputation.

On a more personal note, I have removed the Nuffnang ads because I didn’t go exclusive and thus have not been getting ads. I don’t see a point in putting the ads already. I have also removed my blog from the account, but Nuffnang still keeps sending me news. Hmm… Perhaps the lesson here is that you should stop the emails. Or allow us to disable announcements.