It's already been done ... and well.

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Epinions seems to be one of the few web sites that hasn't been seriously affected by the dotcom bomb. And that's probably because it simply does what it does well, and doesn't bite off more than it can chew. Epinions' basic premise seems to be that people want to receive information from their peers about products that they are considering buying, and that they are happy to offer that information to others as well. All the web site has to do is make that information accessible and attractive, and then not get in the way of the people who use the site.

But there seems to be something else going on here as well. People can talk, after all, about just about any subject on earth (and many listservs prove that they frequently do so), but like it or not, most people want to talk about something, and that something usually has to do with buying things. And why not? We like things and surround ourselves with them. We are constantly in the process of acquiring more. Epinions merges our desire to talk with our desire to acquire, and offers us an opportunity to do both. I suppose that I should turn to this site before I buy something and get some opinions, but I admit that I've never done so. Instead, I like to browse the book reviews and enjoy the honest and heartfelt reviews (especially of children's books) that abound there.

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Go to: It's a special sort of talent, or
Go to: The Boidem goes shopping.