I'm worried too. I envision popup ads plastering the site, the removal of free accounts, paying to send any messages, and overall removing of anything cool about the site.
On the plus side, there will soon be a hole in the market for someone making another non-match dating site.
In my mind, this is like if Priceline/Orbitz/Travelocity bought Hipmunk. The first thing they'd do is 'fix' the UI, then they'd add a ton more ads, 20 more steps to buying tickets, remind you that you can get a hotel/car/haircut/fries with that and get a cheesy salesman to parade it on TV. Then, I'd stop using it.
We've just got to hope for the best - there aren't many acquisition stories that end with "at least they didn't fuck it up." But I hope this is one of them. Grats to the OKCupid team. And don't worry, if reddit-post-acquisition is any indication, no one on the team would let hipmunk be sullied with obnoxious advertisements.
Steve was saying that you guys aren't looking for a small exit; is the idea with Hipmunk to stay in it for the long haul? I seem to recall both of you hinting that, while you don't regret selling reddit, you do kind of still wish you owned it. Is the idea with Hipmunk to make it a profitable business and just grow it holistically, without an eye to acquisition?
Thanks Alexis. You're right, major congrats to the OkCupid team, and there are certainly precedents for large companies not screwing up too much with things they've bought. I have confidence that no one at hipmunk would allow such to happen. :)
Given my experiences using the web over the past couplefew months while everybody's been freaked out about the economy and avoiding layoffs or just being opportunists, I've noticed a huge uptick in the number of popunder ads and autoplay video ads. Not to mention that modal overlays have caused me to stop visiting certain sites (Ramit Sethi's iwillteachyoutoberich.com, for example), we can look forward to an Orwellian advertising future for OKC.
That is, I don't think your complaints (or mine) will ever be resolved. For every person complaining about user-hostile site design, there are three calling it good business sense.
On the plus side, there will soon be a hole in the market for someone making another non-match dating site.
In my mind, this is like if Priceline/Orbitz/Travelocity bought Hipmunk. The first thing they'd do is 'fix' the UI, then they'd add a ton more ads, 20 more steps to buying tickets, remind you that you can get a hotel/car/haircut/fries with that and get a cheesy salesman to parade it on TV. Then, I'd stop using it.