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ASK YC: What do you think of rewardpick.com?
5 points by henryw on Jan 26, 2008 | hide | past | favorite | 26 comments
The idea is to create an Amazon-like community for credit cards. All the card details (names, details, urls, etc) are user submitted. There is an admin approval system to make sure no spam or duplicate card get listed. Feel free to add some. Thanks.

http://rewardpick.com



I like the layout of the site, but you have an uphill battle. Most sites I've seen that go this way are all ad and scam-- it's very hard for people to push past that. Your site doesn't feel like that now, but you might want to tone it down a little on the graphics. I think being as subtle and simple as possible might help people take the site a little seriously-- you're fighting against some difficult stereotypes and every little bit helps.

Best of luck!


Why would someone get involved with this site instead of doing a Google search for "credit card best ..."? No one needs a "community" for a credit card selection decision.

Failing that, Consumer Reports has the information at the library.


who goes to the library anymore?

[update] I forgot to mention: with constantly changing credit card terms, you would think that even articles about the best credit cards would get stale (then again I could be wrong)


There was a time in this country, a long time ago, when reading wasn't just for fags.


people still read a lot - they just don't read books at the library anymore.

the only ppl I know that go to the library only go to rent video games and movies; or use the internet (in big cities)

when ppl want books they typically read at BarnesNobles or Borders (since they have more locations and they have coffee/food)

o yeah - no need to be a jerk


I read some library books recently. yeah amazon delivers, but there are a lot of books not worth paying to own.


Calling illiterate people fags isn't actually ironic and witty.


I'm really curious why the downmod. Think I'm overreacting and it's good to use "fags" as slur with no context? Problem with my phrasing? Hate homosexuals? Thought "illiterate" wasn't precise enough a paraphrase? Annoyed with faint echoes of xkcd? I don't understand.

Edit: Can one of the downmodders write an explanation? Or is wanting to understand something bad here?


http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html


I wasn't complaining about being downmodded. I don't care about my karma. I do care about why people downmod anti-homophobic comments, and want to understand their reasoning.

(It got at least 2 downmods. If people hadn't upmodded it, that would be more clear. I would prefer if it was still -1 (or less) so that it'd more more obvious there is some explaining to do.).


I don't know if you read that through or not, but...

There was no reason to mention anything about "fags" in your original comment -- it added nothing to the discussion and only detracted from it.


I did read it. And there was a reason to mention that word: so people know what I'm referring to.

But, you think people didn't like quoting that word? (and w/ the quotes not even written, but clearly there) umm that sort of makes sense. thanks.


I was explaining why falsephrophet was downmodded. Up until right now, I was confused and thought your original question was asking why he was being downmodded, but apparently you were referring to your own first post in this thread. Oh well. :)


After watching that movie... So much of it is happening now...

READING IS FOR FAGS. HEY THIS GUY IS A FAG!


I think people want this information but, like with many UGC sites, there really isn't any reason for me to either submit or rank it.


[deleted]


My other comments were edited since I sort of feel bad about jumping all over it... Theres normally so much sleaze associated with credit card marketing in general that it is hard not to jump on it sometimes... For starters, your plesk login page is indexed by Google. Probably not the best idea for site security.

After that if the site is to work you need to make sure you keep it really pure and unbiased. Don't allow users to submit affiliate links, put strict controls on user ratings and don't allow small groups to drastically affect the site. Inherently the site sets itself up to be abused by marketers but if you can put strict enough controls in place to keep it relatively unbiased you have the potential to create a decent resource.


thanks for the input. currently, i'm allowing users to use affiliate link only as an incentive for them to add more cards. i want to make sure all the details that they add are objective and no spamming occurs. in order to rate cards, you have to be registered, and can only rate once per card. i'll add a captcha to the registration to make sure no fake accounts are made.

do you think it's really important to not allow affiliate links?


Yes I would say its really important. If a person has the potential to earn money from a card submission they also have the incentive to start gaming the system (groups of people even) by rating their card highly even though it may not be the best card.

Also you really need to limit the voting by ip address, what prevents me from adding an affiliate link and then creating accounts with my 50 different email addresses and boosting that card to the top all for my personal gain...


yeah, i guess a lot of the work in trying to keep it unbiased can be saved if no affiliate links are allowed. i have updated the new card submission page to reflect that. thanks for your feedback.


good point


[deleted]


I don't think it's that bad - to me it seems clear as to what it's about.

It's not like a spammer or pr0n site which I feel is what you're making it sound like

Why not let ppl bitch or say something good about their cards?

it's like saying who needs another blog about startups and business?


Its not spammy but the lack of disclosure that it is basically an affiliate site sort of gets to me. There are too many sites like this on the internet designed for google and thrown together to make a quick buck. The kid seems like he has at least some ability to code, why not put that towards something with a little more value-added.


to me if there's no misleading information or favored affiliates due to better affiliate terms (without making it public/obvious ala 'sponsored results') and not based on community feedback - I still fail to see what's wrong

I don't see anything deceptive


it is not using affiliate links. the links out are that way so i can count the clicks. plus all links are user submitted.


Cool man, I like it. That's an area where Google searches fail consumers.


mint.com is featuring better checking accounts and credit cards than the users currently have. Check them out.




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