Spread The Love (And Pay Us) 442
Digitus1337 writes "Wired has an article up about a new online service known as 'FunHi.' You sign up and join a community, and give your fellows gifts, but as Wired has reported, 'these are not ordinary gifts. They're purely digital: little flashing icons of cars, planes, diamond rings and other virtual representations of expensive items included in messages members send each other. And FunHi members don't seem to care that the real money they're spending on the gifts, at prices as high as $30 an item, is going straight into the company's coffers." This leaves just one question unanswered... why didn't I think of this?" It sounds like an April Fool's Joke, but then, so does online trading of Everquest loot.
wow... (Score:5, Insightful)
FunHI - yet another reason capitalism should come with a warning
Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:3, Funny)
Then $30 will seem quite inexpensive.
Re:Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Snobby Greedy Bitch... (Score:5, Informative)
By comparison, the second most expensive item is a faux private jet, valued at $14.99
Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
So too is throwing your money away with a virtual gift. let them who want to, do it.
Re:Status symbols (Score:2)
And there's the adage "It's the thought that counts." And many of the gifts mentioned aren't really functional anyway (excluding the car).
Of course, if your friend is the kind who turns around and sells your gifts for cash, they may not like these gifts as much.
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed. Buying a diamond is saying "here DeBeers, have some money" just so other people can see that you gave DeBeers lots of money. It's simply a more socially accepted method of throwing your money away.
Re:Status symbols (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Status symbols (Score:4, Interesting)
The Royal Ontario Museum had a display on gemstones for a while, with a placard over the diamond display anwering the FAQ: "Why are diamonds so valuable?" with a simple "Scarcity and excellent marketing."
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah right. Diamonds look nice, but so do countless other less expensive gemstones. Diamonds do have status associated with them, and that status and "tradition" is due to being propped up by DeBeers. If people just wanted to buy something that looked nice, why do wedding rings always have to have diamonds in them? Surely a few people must think a ring looks just fine without having to be diamond-encrusted, or perhaps prefer emeralds, opals, or rubies.
The previous poster is quite right about the diamond cartel, your positive feelings about diamonds are in no small part due to their propoganda.
>Then again, you've probably never even spoken to a girl so you have no idea.
It's possible the previous poster has never spoken to a girl. It's also possible he talks to intelligent women instead of wasting his time on materialistic girls.
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Insightful)
b) Even if you have specially trained eyes that can actually tell the difference, and you have some strange need for the diamonds, then modern industrially produced diamonds are actually more pure then mined ones. You need a microscope to tell the difference, and when you do, you rule out the man made one because it is too perfect. Yet the gemstones that DeBeer's has managed to manipulate you into buying are all mined - simply because they are about status rather than beauty.
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Try to explain that to a real-world, emotion-having, concerned-about-what-her-friends-think woman and see how far you get. "But honey, the Cubic zirconium is just as good as a diamond, plus we aren't supporting DeBeers! Hey wait, where are you going? Honey? Baby?"
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Interesting)
No, I don't. My wife doesn't care about diamonds or other gems. We have gold wedding bands with no decorations. Cost less than $100 for the pair. If I had wasted money on diamonds, she probably wouldn't have married me.
Re:Status symbols (Score:4, Funny)
And she's not only ethical, she's hot!
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry, but it's the truth. If the ring will never be subjected to a test that would prove the stone isn't a cz then it should be irrelevant if it is. If she's demanding real diamond it's merely for a status symbol.
Perhaps I'm unreasonably rational and ignoring the emotional aspects, but I feel that if someone throws away a house
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Interesting)
Shelby diamonds, in shelby michigan. they have to laser etch their logo into the edge of every gem to make identification easier for most experts.
They prefected a process that adds natural like imperfections into their gems, but they are chemically identical to the natural thing.
this is why I laugh at everyone that buy's gem's for their finger or neck. It makes me want to sell them a DVD rewinder.
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, but they should buy them at the market price, not at the DeBeers artificial price. Just try to sell a diamond to a store for a fraction of the price they've got on a similar diamond. The moment you leave a retail store with a shiny new diamond, it loses 50-80% of it's value as a saleable good.
People who like diamonds should buy diamonds at estate sales and keep the DeBeers markup in their pocket. There are small
Re:Status symbols (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Status symbols-Mac Cube (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Funny)
Polished hard coal and diamonds look nice together, btw.
--
Evan
Re:Status symbols (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Status symbols - $6k piece of rock (Score:3, Informative)
Excellent article about DeBeers scumbags
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82feb / 8202diamon d1.htm
Wired had an article about artificial/cultured diamonds; decent read.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/di amond.h tml
Also, if you care about exploited children in Africa, watch Child Soldiers. It's really depressing; Congo, Angola, Sierra Leone, etc. use diamond money to buy weapons and send kids to war.
I guess DeBeers' would defend themselves by saying that those kids would otherwise have too
Re:Status symbols (Score:3, Insightful)
Really, most of what we in the developed world spend money on is status symbols. The value in a Mercedes or a Rolex isn't in the actual car, it's in the status they provide. Why do people buy new cars? Status. Lights inside your case, to wow your friends at the LAN party? Status. A neatly mowed front lawn? Status. (Seriously! Read Thorstein Veblen's seminal _Theory of the Leisure Class_.) Martha Stewart housewares? Status.
The key to value and status is scarcity. Period. If something is useful, bea
Personally... (Score:5, Funny)
I'd love you more if you just gave me the money...
Re:Personally... (Score:2, Funny)
On the plus side... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On the plus side... (Score:2, Funny)
Result: The base level of stupidity is removed from the gene pool. Rejoice!
Re:On the plus side... (Score:5, Funny)
"Buy an animated gif of a penis up to 3" longer than yours! Guaranteed! $50"
Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
A fool and their money are soon parted.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Like.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Except for the people who are "selling" land on the moon, have no legal right to do so, and therefore you are just giving money to them as an example of your own stupidity.
Amazing (Score:5, Funny)
I'm training myself on the internet. It's fascinating. I'm doing pornography. It's amazing how much these suckers will pay for photographs of chicks. And it doesn't matter if they're fat or ugly or what.
Paying for crappy porn.. that's bad. But paying 30 bucks for a stupid icon? These people are dumber than that guy that loves his spam. [slashdot.org]
Re:Amazing (Score:2)
It's kind of like having a real life tamagotchi (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It's kind of like having a real life tamagotchi (Score:5, Funny)
Re:It's kind of like having a real life tamagotchi (Score:3, Funny)
What do you mean "like"? (Score:3, Interesting)
More proof that... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More proof that... (Score:5, Funny)
Suddenly, fake diamond-ring-icons will threaten the natural diamond-ring-icon cartel, and FunHi will have to spend millions researching and building devices for distinguishing between the natural and fake icons; millions more advertising that only "Natural Diamond-Ring-Icons" show real love.
You see ... you cynics ... ripping off the gullible is not just the fast-track to the gravy train. Getting a sustainable revenue channel by scamming the soft-of-the-brain is harder than it looks.
Charm Bracelets? (Score:2, Insightful)
Cool! (Score:2)
Next thing you know AIM will be charging for the use of emoticons in their IMs...
Looks like they ripped their rating system... (Score:5, Funny)
Their buzz system [funhi.com] (scroll down) is a direct ripoff of eBay's feedback system [ebay.com]. Wonder how long they get sued for that?
Re:Looks like they ripped their rating system... (Score:2, Funny)
Ebay didn't think of it first.
Much ado about nothing... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Selman says FunHi has banked about $10,000 in the month since FunHi launched. And given that Georgiades himself has paid about 10 percent of that, it's clear that not all of the service's 6,500 active members are doing the same thing."
If two people (the article mentions one other having spent $1000) account for 20% of the $10K that this company has made in a month, this seems more like silliness on the part of a very few people, and shouldn't really be considered "newsworthy".
Re:Much ado about nothing... (Score:5, Funny)
1. Invent dumb idea
2. Have rich investor modify the stock price
3. Profit!
4. RUN!
People will pay a lot for esteem and attention (Score:4, Insightful)
Popularity (Score:5, Funny)
Seeing as this "buying nothing" idea is a capitalist's dream, I think it's only a matter of time before these attractive females rise up above their alleged vapidity to realize that they can control the world. As much as I hate to admit it, think about it: who would you vote for between George W. and Britney Spears?
Re:Popularity (Score:5, Insightful)
Deception [210west.com]. The Internet's full of it.
Not, brittany, (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Popularity (Score:3, Insightful)
But that doesn't mean these things don't have value. If you think that poster will look good on the wall, you'll pay for it. If you're hungry, you'll buy the salad. And if you need to process something, you'l
Excellent! (Score:5, Funny)
Brilliant! Slashdot could make money this way... (Score:2, Insightful)
Hmmm (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, wait.
Not to worry (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, hush. (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed, if the people who spend money on this are the kind of people who aren't inclined to give money to feed the starving, then it's to the benefit of those who are starving that the money is now out of their hands and in someone else's.
Wealth is wealth (Score:3, Insightful)
What are you doing (Score:5, Insightful)
Starvation isn't a money problem. It doesn't take money to plant a garden and grow food. The problem is the assholes in charge who prevent the food from going to people who need it that need to be overthrown.
There's plenty of food. And buying more of it isn't going to make the situation better for anyone but the assholes in charge who hoard it for themselves.
The poor will always be with you. If you feel so compelled, help the poor in far away places. I'd rather help those around me. And that involves buying crap that helps pay their wages so that they don't starve.
I don't suppose you stopped to think that if nobody bought anything they didn't need, 90%+ of the population would be out of work and unable to afford to eat. Our society functions based on the buying and selling of crap. Just like every other country.
If you go to the Mexican border at least, everybody is selling something. Buying a pot or a flower you don't need really equates to feeding the seller and his family.
Buying a stupid little icon helps keep this guy fed and with the extra money he buys more crap which puts money in a lot of people's pockets so they can eat and so on down the line.
To claim that we shouldn't buy anything frivilous is incredibly short sighted. I don't think you realize how many poor people survive selling frivilous crap working at fast food joints, restaurants and what not. You think corporations should just give people money? Where do you think their money comes from?
Ben
So do these people meet up in real life? (Score:2)
BANG!
Test for them? (Score:3, Interesting)
a digital diamond ring for my gf (Score:5, Funny)
me: but it's the thought that counts, right?
no different from diamonds (Score:5, Insightful)
However, if you are going to do this, why not dispose of your resources in some socially valuable way? Demonstrate your boundless resources by making a "platinum circle" donation to your local opera house, either in your own name or in your sweetheart's name.
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:4, Funny)
So are you saying that all the slashdot trolls are demonstrating their mating suitability?
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:3, Informative)
Donate here [perlfoundation.org] or here [eff.org]
Or buy them some music from here [magnatune.com] where the artist gets 50% of the proceeds. BTW, don't be fooled into thinking that iTunes or whatever gives money to artists. It's just as bad as buying a CD. Unfortunately, there's no way to buy music you hear on popular music stations and actually have a reasonable portion of that music get to the artist </rant>
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:4, Interesting)
The "real value" of any good or service is whatever you can get in exchange for it - any notion of intrinsic worth is a specious concept, as is any valuation other than exchange value. If people didn't value diamonds as highly as DeBeers does, they simply wouldn't buy them.
Maybe Changing Though (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:3, Insightful)
So, what's the "real value" of an opera house? In what way is the intrinsic value of listening to music greater than the intrinsic value of looking at a sparkling stone?
Although so many people deride money, it's in the end one of the greatest and most important inventions ever made. Money is what allows one to make comparisons between the value of wildly different things, as judged by society as a whole,
Re:no different from diamonds (Score:3, Insightful)
For a good laugh, search eBay for "diamonds". Or worse, Google, for "we buy diamonds". You'll see some of the slimiest ads around. "Diamond buyers" with Hotmail addresses. Cubic zircons advertised as diamonds. The same photo appearing in multiple eBay ads for different items.
The FunHI Corporation is a division... (Score:4, Funny)
Should make for some interesting lawsuits/cases (Score:2)
meh (Score:2, Interesting)
but really, this does go to show something about how we attach value to even worthless things. way back when in britain there was a fad involving flower bulbs; way back when in america there was a fad involving beanie babies. when you really think about it, does the negligible manufacturing cost of a beanie baby really make it signifigantly more valuable than a magnetic charge on a hard drive?
Theft ? (Score:2)
Ok, so what happens the first time someone 'steals' a 'virtual' diamond ring on this service... I mean, do you call out the virtual police, perform a virtual investigation, put virtual handcuffs on the virtual criminal, call the virtual judge... you get the idea.
You just *know* it's going to happen. What sort of crazy conversion laws do you think they'll try to apply ?
Man, I would really hate to have to tell the inmate next to me that I'm in for "stealing a bunch of diamond icons for my cyber-girlfri
This seems fine to me, basic economics (Score:2)
So, they create a community that has a percieved value in virtual items. There is a demand (that they created) for these items (that they created.) They supply falsely "limited" virtual items at a price.
Well, if people are willing and happy to pay it, they can supply it. Seems fine to me. Hopefully people are happy with their purchases. I wouldnt buy into it, personally. But, then again, Im the type that thinks MMORPGS are fairly fool
But is it a conn? (Score:2)
Almost... (Score:2)
Everquest Humer eh? (Score:2)
In fact, EQ item sales have caused the rise of sweatshops of players to farm cashworthy loot as mentioned on
http://games.slashdot.org/games/03/11/24/014124
-chitlenz
Pimp (Score:5, Funny)
Of course, being a young good-looking female doesn't hurt, as the members with the most fans are all women whose pictures show them in sexy, alluring poses.
&
The service aims, according to what might be called its bylaws, to foster purely positive and friendly interactions.
Sheesh. Why not just call it "FunHo" and be done with it?
US$30 != FunHi$30, and why its brilliant (Score:5, Interesting)
The thing is that they're tapping an already existing culture- racing and souping up import cars. It serves as a fan-club kind of thing for these import models, and then expands from there.
I really have to hand it to the guys who started it. They tapped a culture well, provided a means for them to play on the internet together and found a way to make a tidy profit off of it. Besides, you don't even need to pay to use it. You don't have to buy "gifts" for people. It's just a nice way to say "I like you" or whatever that backed up by a little bit more.
I'll admit, I accidently ran into this early on in its development and started playing along for mostly 2 reasons: 1) I was newly single so having cute asian girls give me compliments boosted my ego 2) I'm horrible with internet culture (IMing and other sorts of things where you speak with abbreviations and smileys) so I thought it would be funny to see how well I do (and how well "they" do) with my paragraphs and thinking.
It was fun for a while, but now it's getting really dull. Next!
Goes to show how braindead consumers are. (Score:3, Interesting)
You pay me $$, I will do a simple "INSERT INTO" statement and associate the diamond ring record with the recipient's user ID. You will feel good because you sent them a "gift", they will feel happy because they think they will have received a real gift.
You will think it's fun, I will think it's funny. I will be rich, you will be paying me to alter my data in my database.
At least this gives hope to people trying to make money out there.
I have an idea. I have a website filled with members and their email addresses. When you want to send a gift, YOU draw the gift using MS Paint. Upload the picture, I will email it to the recipient of your choice, and I will only charge $1.99. See, because YOU drew it and it would be from YOU! (The sad thing is, people would probably go for it)
Golden Rule? Shieat? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Golden Rule? Shieat? (Score:4, Funny)
This place is a horrific written image of pain.
I quote:
My eyes, they bleed!
My brain, it bleeds!
teen entertainment (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, there are tons of tv programs where you can pay for having your sms shown on the screen for a brief moment. Sort of like using IRC, but spending $1-2 each time you press enter.
My point, I guess, is that the way young people spend their money doesn't really amaze me anymore...
A double standard? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yet there's quite a bit of the
Re:A double standard? (Score:3, Interesting)
However, a number of Slashdot posters are critical of EverQuest items, as well. Furthermore, the EverQuest items at least have a use, even if that use is constrained to virtual progress in a virtual world. In contrast, the FunHi items are purely ornamental -- you can't even use them within the virtual world.
On the other hand, there's one thing that I think does
It's all about re-sellability (Score:3, Interesting)
It's makes all the difference in the world. It's why people will buy 'shares' in a company which are esentially vitual property too -- because they're resellable.
Re:A double standard? (Score:3, Insightful)
Free love? (Score:3, Interesting)
Outdoing each other in generosity? (Score:3, Interesting)
FunHi, using symbols, tapped into that part of us, probably to their own surprise. It's symbols, though silly, have value - in dollars. So you can "measure" how much someone spent on you (or someone else) and ignore, thank, reciprocate, or compete appropriately.
Do I think it'll last? No. But it's worth studying.
Just my 2 cents. Or, in the future, 1/50 of a Slashdollar!
(And yes, I expect FunHi's idea to be imitated to death).
They've got a great thing going on here. (Score:3, Interesting)
It seems to me they're a bunch of slashdot-style geeks blatantly milking a huge group of retards - the hint is the "Dominatrix Sub Whip +2" - I don't expect the idiots who actually use that site to have any idea what a +2 is.
I also doubt that anyone who really wrote the way they do would be able to set up a complicated website.
Tim
Horrible (Score:4, Insightful)
FunHi seems to be an extreme manifestation of the overly materialistic culture it has emanated from (people who call themselves a "gangsta" or a "playa" or a "hunie", modern popular culture basically), it's just... too horrible for words.
People judging how popular and loved they are on the basis of how much other people have spent on them *puke*.
I guess they could all be doing it in an ironic and political fashion to show all members of capitalist societies to be whores. I'm sorta doubting that's the case, personally.
Deep discount here! (Score:3, Funny)
Here I just saved those people a ton of cash:
http://www.funhi.com//images/gifts/46.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/20.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/33.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/1.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/3.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/30.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/35.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/39.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/22.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/17.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/11.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/23.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/14.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/49.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/25.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/41.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/27.gif [funhi.com]
http://www.funhi.com/images/gifts/51.gif [funhi.com]
d
Irony (Score:3, Insightful)
Ultimately, you have to respect a venture like this, that can make a person alternate between thoughts of "WTF This is sick" and "Wow, this is genius". It's both interesting & entertaining, and profoudly sad and pathetic as well. What an eloquent microcosm of capitalism, superficiality and materialism.
Re:Way too much. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why is this a troll? (Score:2)
Re:Before you go off on FunHi people being stupid. (Score:4, Insightful)
My new realization is: A fool and his money are best parted. The last thing you want are bunches of fools with effective personal or political power.
--jeff++
Re:Why would I pay for this? (Score:4, Funny)
But somebody who didn't understand technology and didn't want to MIGHT pay for it because they thought it was a cute idea. These are the same people who buy new Sims add-ons for the additional wallpaper and landscaping. These are the people keeing Pier 1, Tuesday Morning and the Christmas Tree Shop in business. These are the same people who keep buying me candles, picture frames and other tchotchkes when what I really need is a new fucking laptop.
In short, women will pay for this, because it is useless but kind of cute and not too expensive.