tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15119391904304553532024-03-18T21:40:57.627-07:00HowItSucksblog for howitsucks.comNirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-43174955015083306352008-01-10T11:09:00.000-08:002008-01-10T11:12:09.640-08:00GPS units: top sucky words<a href="http://techdirt.com/articles/20080104/141128.shtml">A recent article about people blaming GPS units for car accidents</a> caught my attention (summary: driver blames GPS unit for leading him onto a MetroNorth train track). Based on the 8000+ reviews for <a href="http://howitsucks.com/dept/GPS">GPS units</a> we have in the HiS database, the word "route" tops the list of words/phrases appearing in negative comments (617 times). Other top sucky words in GPS reviews: "turn", "screen", "maps", "street", "car", "software", "directions". "Railroad" did not<br />appear, however.<br /><br />Fun fact: "wife" appears in 40 <span style="font-weight: bold;">positive</span> comments about GPS units.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-13014848910744934142007-12-19T08:31:00.000-08:002007-12-19T08:59:02.195-08:00User reviews: too many, biased, funny...There have been a few recent blog posts about user product reviews: <a href="http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/12/18/customer_reviews/index.html">there are</a> <a href="http://techdirt.com/articles/20071218/014014.shtml">too many</a>, <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005676">they are biased</a>, <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/12/more-fun-with-amazon.html">they can even be entertaining</a>.<br /><br />Yes, there are too many user reviews. And yes, they are biased. <blockquote><span id="lblBody" class="grey_text2"><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005676">"Bazaarvoice trend analysis has shown that product and service reviews are very positive, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5," said Brett Hurt, CEO of Bazaarvoice, in a statement.</a><br /></span></blockquote><br />For example, the distribution of reviews collected for HiS resemble a "J":<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpdb-RkwQ75QVoI0UiAm3kLoEJhmaPQjmvorm7AASK0QW1uYrI8NqBD-OPqGtrKc3w9LoM1FGobjw4K902RT2WgdC6hJBdHUr4mkCFzeTvYUQzTyyYy5FgUuqluU1JLfNrSoTLv97lq8s/s1600-h/reviewDist.PNG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpdb-RkwQ75QVoI0UiAm3kLoEJhmaPQjmvorm7AASK0QW1uYrI8NqBD-OPqGtrKc3w9LoM1FGobjw4K902RT2WgdC6hJBdHUr4mkCFzeTvYUQzTyyYy5FgUuqluU1JLfNrSoTLv97lq8s/s400/reviewDist.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145726952364205938" border="0" /></a><br />There just can't be that many good products!<br /><br />This was one of the motivations for starting <a href="http://howitsucks.com/">HiS</a> - give consumers a way to easily view the negative user experiences of all products, <a href="http://howitsucks.com/product/Nikon_D40_6_1MP_Digital_SLR_Camera_Kit_with_18_55mm_f_3_5_5_6G_ED_II_AF_S_DX_Zoom_Nikkor_Lens--313">even</a> <a href="http://howitsucks.com/product/Samsung_LNT4065F_40_1080p_LCD_HDTV--667">the</a> <a href="http://howitsucks.com/product/Garmin_Forerunner_305_Wrist_Mounted_GPS_Navigator_and_Personal_Training_Device_with_Heart_Rate_Monitor--386">stellar</a> <a href="http://howitsucks.com/product/Nintendo_DS_Lite_Onyx_Black--4333">ones</a>.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-88753401172840596472007-12-12T10:12:00.001-08:002007-12-12T10:52:27.311-08:00details about how a product sucksVisitors to HiS can now click on a product and get more details about how it sucks!<br />For example, check out the product page of the <a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?product=TomTom_ONE_Portable_GPS_Vehicle_Navigator--387">TomTom One</a>:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEePc2cMw7JzUqKFtO73d5FBueT8UtPlUs7nvZ5OS2W1VD52vVBVvJD0J8HWrPkOa-ZI5k8N31k3Ygjq-BZm9cEwU_9hdlxuk7uHSaTi-TdCz_xJ39LRJvbd3MlCFmtmJXsfG6wL7pRdW/s1600-h/productPage.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; display: block; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnEePc2cMw7JzUqKFtO73d5FBueT8UtPlUs7nvZ5OS2W1VD52vVBVvJD0J8HWrPkOa-ZI5k8N31k3Ygjq-BZm9cEwU_9hdlxuk7uHSaTi-TdCz_xJ39LRJvbd3MlCFmtmJXsfG6wL7pRdW/s400/productPage.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5143151077507878978" border="0" /></a>As you can see, we've added the ratings history of the product over the last 12 months and a way to wade through the negative reviews using a term cloud of phrases that commonly appear.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-51451317170096720332007-12-01T16:24:00.000-08:002007-12-05T07:25:01.951-08:00added sortAs many have pointed out, the site needs sorting capability. It was an oversight to not have this in the prior release (ah, how I suck). Anyway, it's there now. You can sort by suckiness (<a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=DLP&sort=suckLess">least sucky first</a> or <a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=DLP&sort=suckMore">most sucky first</a>) or popularity (<a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=DLP&sort=reviewLess">least popular first</a> or <a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=DLP&sort=reviewMore">most popular first</a>).Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-66331372066495385672007-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:002007-11-30T08:23:55.975-08:00HiS: GeekSugar's Website of the day<a href="http://geeksugar.com/843915">"Do you ever find yourself sifting through the good reviews to find the bad? Let me guess . . . What you are really trying to find out is whether or not something sucks, right?"</a> <br /><br />I couldn't have said it better myself. I guess that's why <a href="http://howitsucks.com">HiS</a> was <a href="http://geeksugar.com">GeekSugar</a>'s website of the day yesterday.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-25138078390615802942007-11-29T10:28:00.000-08:002007-11-29T14:48:52.234-08:00GPS manufacturers - ratings over timeI've been searching for the right analogy to show ratings and number of reviews. Both variables are important - a few positive reviews shouldn't have anywhere near the impact of a large number of negative reviews.<br /><br />So I did a little experiment: For some major <a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?dept=GPS">GPS manufacturers</a>, I plotted both the number of reviews and HowItSucks (HiS) rating for Jan - Nov 2007. The results are pretty interesting:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=GPS&brand=Garmin">Garmin GPS units</a> really don't suck<br /></li><li><a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=GPS&brand=TomTom">TomTom</a>, <a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=GPS&brand=Magellan">Magellan</a>, and <a href="http://howitsucks.com/query.php?&dept=GPS&brand=Mio">Mio </a>units kind of suck</li><li>Mio's have risen in popularity in the 2nd half of 2007<br /></li></ul><br />Click for larger version of image.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPeSDnweRHJiH-QyH3HLFPrdS2bOswwwu1Knxej__e5b3Rh9-dO3SienjH2C2YeKwXTD0GoI2sxMez75rOHhD1omd5q_MEIedICz4XTq6k0DLj9xvpIraf7NhvXdzhmJtQW_Yjj6F2TQC/s1600-h/gps-manuf-20071129.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPeSDnweRHJiH-QyH3HLFPrdS2bOswwwu1Knxej__e5b3Rh9-dO3SienjH2C2YeKwXTD0GoI2sxMez75rOHhD1omd5q_MEIedICz4XTq6k0DLj9xvpIraf7NhvXdzhmJtQW_Yjj6F2TQC/s400/gps-manuf-20071129.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5138397552036872162" border="0" /></a>Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-27068199555809407752007-11-28T23:57:00.000-08:002007-11-28T23:59:59.450-08:00HiS in apartment therapy<a href="http://howitsucks.com">HowItSucks</a> <a href="http://hometech.apartmenttherapy.com/hometech/books-guides-resources/howitsuckscom-037353">was mentioned</a> in <a href="http://apartmenttherapy.com/">apartment therapy</a>. They even pointed to this blog!Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-38789213144498095922007-11-28T16:42:00.000-08:002007-11-28T16:45:23.295-08:00"Link of the Morning" on Blue's News<a href="http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/blammo.pl?mode=archive&display=20071128">HowItSucks named "Link of the Morning"</a> on <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>!Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-61977883414639919192007-11-27T21:32:00.000-08:002007-11-28T07:59:52.885-08:00More feedbackSome comments about the site (from <a href="http://del.icio.us/url/9c38f37ef004cb3e9fe5fd932f988d39">del.icio.us</a>):<br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/danno">danno</a> writes:<br /><blockquote>quickly tell you how a product sucks based on previous users' reviews</blockquote><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/christoph2005">christoph2005</a> writes:<blockquote>Collection of negative voices about lots and lots of products</blockquote><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/ekalvi">ekalvi</a> writes:<br /><blockquote>Funny idea. Aggregating only the "sucky" product reviews. Perhaps confusing, but refreshing.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/MelinaCross">MelinaCross</a> writes:<br /><blockquote>wow...better than consumer reports!</blockquote><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/tekniklr">tekniklr</a> writes:<br /><blockquote>Collects just the negative reviews for products on Amazon, and tells you how much (and why) they suck.</blockquote><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/archangel77">archangel77</a> writes:<br /><blockquote>This page generates suckage graphs from the ratings at amazon.com</blockquote><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/mohammadi">mohammadi</a> writes:<br /><blockquote>Seems useful whenever want to buy a new gadget/software/game ...</blockquote><br />And my personal favorite, by <a href="http://del.icio.us/adirondacks">adirondacks</a>:<br /><blockquote>Uh, oh. A negative review scraper. Things could get ugly. I can't wait to see a travel version.</blockquote>Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-40494659572324610942007-11-27T09:13:00.000-08:002007-11-27T21:24:14.474-08:00HiS in Consumerist<a href="http://consumerist.com/consumer/amazon/find-out-how-it-sucks-326873.php">HiS was featured in The Consumerist today</a>! Lots of good comments too (including a few people who couldn't see the mouseovers... hm, sounds like a cross-browser compatibility issue that needs to be investigated).Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-67153310406421021852007-11-27T07:27:00.000-08:002007-11-27T08:44:05.886-08:00What kind of products get reviewed?Before I started HiS, I figured that reviews were mostly limited to:<br /><ul><li>products with lots of features - consumer electronics, gadgets<br /></li><li>popular products - with so many people buying, some will be compelled to review<br /></li></ul>But consider the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004S7V8?ie=UTF8&tag=howitsucks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00004S7V8">Microplane Grater/Zester</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=howitsucks-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00004S7V8" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />. It has 219 reviews! 213 are positive! Of course, these reviews were made over a 7+ year period, but still, the product only costs $6. I'm just pleasantly surprised with the consumer's willingness to review. It helps us all.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-916083324376556562007-11-16T08:38:00.000-08:002007-11-16T11:23:32.995-08:00Most reviewed products - last 4 weeksjust for curiosity's sake, I wanted to know the most reviewed products (this includes all reviews, positive and negative):<br /><table><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000BKJZ9Q%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000BKJZ9Q%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Garmin nuvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:100%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000FK88JK%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000FK88JK%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Apple Mac OS X Version 10.5 Leopard</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:73%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000NK8EWI%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000NK8EWI%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Canon PowerShot SD1000 7.1MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:65%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000H0QDCC%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000H0QDCC%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Brown)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:50%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000IG66VS%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000IG66VS%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">JBuds Hi-Fi Noise-Reducing Ear Buds (Black)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:48%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000JO1MU4%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000JO1MU4%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Apple 8 GB iPod Nano AAC/MP3 Player Silver (3rd Generation)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:44%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000OK0CIQ%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000OK0CIQ%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Pink)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:44%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000JO3N3S%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000JO3N3S%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Black (3rd Generation)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:43%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000A5TAT2%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000A5TAT2%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Garmin StreetPilot c340 Traffic-Ready Vehicle GPS Navigator</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:43%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000H866BM%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000H866BM%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">TomTom ONE Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:40%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000IJV4BC%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000IJV4BC%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:40%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000JLKIHA%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000JLKIHA%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Apple 80 GB iPod classic (Black)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:38%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000JO1380%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000JO1380%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Apple 80 GB iPod classic Silver (6th Generation)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:38%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000JO7T7E%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000JO7T7E%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Apple 8 GB iPod nano AAC/MP3 Player Green (3rd Generation)</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:33%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000HCZ8EO%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000HCZ8EO%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:33%"></div></span> </td></tr> <tr><td><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=B000U9ZCS6%26tag=howitsucks-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/B000U9ZCS6%253FSubscriptionId=1ZWATPXMXWW6Y4TGE882" target="_blank">Samsung LNT4671F 46" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV</a></td><td><span class="bar"><div class="slate" style="width:31%"></div></span> </td></tr> </tbody></table><br /><br />Of course, this is just for products HiS covers (which isn't all Amazon products... yet :)).Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-76603559114851816662007-11-14T19:21:00.000-08:002007-11-14T19:29:34.929-08:00FAQ - Part I1. What is <a href="http://howitsucks.com/">HowItSucks.com</a> all about?<br />HowItSucks (HiS) teaches you how products suck based on the experiences of other consumers.<br /><br />2. Why call out bad things about products? What about the good things?<br />Many comparison shopping sites and product reviews will tell you what's good about a product. The point of HiS is to highlight the poor experiences other users have had with that product. If you decide to buy the product anyway, well, that's your choice. At least you know what you're getting into.<br /><br />3. Where do the reviews come from?<br />Currently, we are getting reviews from Amazon. We plan to add other sources of reviews.<br /><br />4. What is the HiS rating?<br />The HiS rating is a proprietary rating system that includes all reviews in our database and is based on <span style="font-weight: bold;">recent </span>product reviews (i.e. not two year old reviews that are completely outdated now).Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-61652196025078478982007-11-13T08:25:00.000-08:002007-11-14T10:50:17.922-08:00Google Apps: Not For Your DomainI tried signing up for a free <a href="http://google.com/a">Google Apps</a> account for HowItSucks.com recently. Here's the message I got:<br /><blockquote>"Google Apps does not currently support this domain name"</blockquote>Not being sure what that meant, I tried to register for Premier version. Same message. I searched some news groups and found a few <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/hosted-the-basics/browse_thread/thread/80b8815785ffd395">relevant</a> <a href="http://blogoscoped.com/forum/109096.html">posts</a>.<br /><br />I contacted <a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/request.py">support</a>. Here's what I got back:<br /><blockquote>Thanks for your message. Please note that we review a variety of factors for each new Google Apps signup. Based on our review process, we feel that your domain does not meet our current requirements.<br /><br />For more information, please visit<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=52166" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/support<wbr>/a/bin/answer.py?answer=52166</a>.</blockquote>When I asked for clarification about what requirement my site didn't meet, I got the following response:<br /><blockquote>Thanks for your message and for your interest in Google Apps. Please note that we cannot disclose any details of our policies. However, please know that we review a variety of factors for each new Google Apps signup. Based on our review process, we feel that your domain does not meet our current requirements.<br /><br />For more information, please visit<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=52166" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/support<wbr>/a/bin/answer.py?answer=52166</a>.<br /></blockquote>In summary, my domain doesn't meet the current requirements, but they won't tell me which requirements.<br />ARGH. Anybody else having this problem?<br /><br /><br />UPDATE (11.14.2007): Just got the final answer from Google:<br /><blockquote>Because your domain name contains the word 'sucks' it cannot be accepted.</blockquote><br /><br />Thankfully, this hasn't prevented me from using other Google services like <a href="http://blogger.com">Blogger</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a>, or <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/">Google Webmaster Tools</a>.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1511939190430455353.post-2307865532283832462007-11-12T21:10:00.000-08:002007-11-12T21:19:08.716-08:00woohoo! it's up and running<a href="http://howitsucks.com/">HowItSucks.com</a> is up and running. No doubt the <del>version 0.01 alpha</del> Veterans Day 2007 release (version numbers are passe, as are alpha, beta, gamma, delta...). Still a lot of testing left and features to add, but it's a start.<br /><br />Stay tuned for a brief explanation of the site and more updates.Nirajhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13199744121360317752noreply@blogger.com0