I realize that the Web is all about innovation – or at least a good attempt at it while the VC dollars keep rolling – but when I read about something called The Whuffie Bank which was part of TechCrunch50 my first thought was that the Web had jumped the shark.
The Whuffie Bank?
Seriously?
While the idea of creating some sort of virtual currency based on our actions online is silly enough the name is downright stupid. Whuffie .. it sounds like I just spent the last half hour bent over the toilet losing my lunch.
The sad part is that I am sure the guru’s of social media and Web 2.0 will jump all over themselves saying how great of an idea this. At least I’m not alone in thinking this is a stupid idea. Roy Bragg has this to say about the whole thing
I’m prepared to break my e-foot off in the digital ass of the first username that tries to tell me its Whuffie value.
Thanks Roy, it’s nice to see that there is still some common sense out there.
Oh dear…I have no idea about these people or this TechCrunch thing, but I have agree with Bragg's comment. The name alone is horrendous, but currency based on what I do online it utterly asinine. That's only going to resonate with a handful of people, I think. They'd have to be supremely insecure people, but…whatever.
You're acting like the Web jumping the shark is something that didn't already happen years ago.
On FriendFeed, I saw Holden claiming that TechCrunch will lose its authority within the next year or so. I stated that I doubted that it would happen this quickly, but perhaps Holden is right.
I honestly thought it must be a joke. Now that we know (According to Calacanis) TC50 is over and there won't be another one we may look back one day and point to Whuffie Bank as the company that buried the event. What a freaking joke.
The name whuffie comes from Cory Doctorow's novel “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” and even if you do buy into the idea, trying to shoehorn it into the web is laughable.
Tara Hunt's been talking about this for a while. Even has a book about it: http://www.thewhuffiefactor.com/#