If you’re one of those who happen to have read the FixYa story, you will have in mind how quickly a class-leading digital platform can fall from grace and sink into the depths of obscurity.
Even if you’re familiar with the somewhat the topical and allegorical tale, please allow me to show you a little more.
If you are unfamiliar with the story, you can read it here.
Although not every consumer seems aware of it , “The customer is King/Queen” has always been true of commerce and even moreso of eCommerce.
So, please take this fresh, brief, illuminating peer under the hood at FixYa, to illustrate how pitilessly brutal the consequences can be for a class-leading, mass-participation, crowdsourced content platform ever losing sight of who the true principal contributors to its market value and brand image are.
Even a tiny extract from the ever-expanding list of now waning or obsolete Transatlantic brands toppled (for one reason or another) from dizzying heights of prominence and household name status in public consciousness, is a sobering sight to behold.
AOL
BHS
ING
C&A
MFI
TWA
Bebo
Sears
Flickr
Game
Netto
Enron
Excite
Sanyo
Trellis
Jaeger
Delphi
Comet
PanAm
Tumblr
Compaq
Maplin
Athena
Beales
Jessops
Habitat
Napster
Barkers
Barings
Barratts
Oddbins
The Link
Topshop
Tie Rack
City Link
Amstrad
La Senza
Best Buy
Myspace
Play.com
Peacocks
Mr Byrite
Toys R Us
Alta Vista
Netscape
Focus DIY
TJ Hughes
Osborne’s
99p Stores
Friendster
Phones 4U
Coffee Cup
Virgin Cola
Nicole Farhi
Debenhams
Radio Shack
Blockbuster
Austin Reed
Bear Stearns
Compuserve
Greenwoods
Theo Fennell
Jane Norman
Monster Jobs
Clinton Cards
Laker Airways
Northern Rock
Mail Boxes Etc
House of Fraser
FW Woolworths
Nortel Networks
Virgin Weddings
Arthur Andersen
Banana Republic
Lakeland Leather
Lehman Brothers
Inter City Express
Salomon Brothers
Friends Reunited
American Apparel
Albemarle & Bond
Allders of Croydon
Agent Provocateur
Berni’s Steak Houses
Long Term Capital Management
Bernard L. Madoff Securities LLC
http://www.retailresearch.org/whosegonebust.php
In our fickle digital era, the switch from relevance to insignificance can be flipped by uers at any moment, with no more than the deletion of a redundant app deemed outmoded, redundant or surplus to requirements.
Let us go back to FixYa and focus on how pitilessly brutal the consequences of a class-leading, mass-participation, crowdsourced content platform losing sight of who the true principal contributors to a platform’s market value and public standing really are.
FixYa Alexa User traffic Ranking: #500 US/#600 Global > #692 US/#1492 Global (2011-2012)
FixYa Alexa US-Global User Traffic Rank/ User Engagement: #4,949 [Global]/#1,938 [US]/ (2017-2018)
UPDATE: FixYa Alexa US-Global User Traffic Rank/ User Engagement: #5,719 [Global]/#1,629 [US] (April, 2021)
When former US #500 most visited consumer product Q&A platform FixYa was in its prime, its top 100 daily log in Power User Q&A Subject Matter Specialists fought tooth an nail for their user-rated solution-providing efforts to be reflected in pride of place in the Top Ten of FixYa’s weekly gamification-incentivized Leader Board.
By the time FixYa’s entirely unnecessary, self-inflicted implosion had begun in September of 2011 and fully played itself out about 6 short months later on from FixYa’s fateful miscalculation, almost all of those ultra-loyal top 100+ power users had stopped logging in.
At the last review, two days before this update was published (with a handful of notable exceptions), half of the former FixYa Power User Top 100 have deleted their accounts permanently. Almost half still retained [inactive] accounts but had not logged in for at least over a year, likely far longer. (the FixYa activity counter caps out at 365 days). For almost all, this will mean having completely turned their backs on the platform and moving on to pastures new, over the past 10-12 years
The most poignant testimony of how committed these former power users were to FixYa reveals itself in the tiny handful of this former Top 100+ who still log in from time to time. Presumably, they do this in the remote hope that things might have somehow reverted back to FixYa’s pre-September 2011 incarnation – only to meet with ever more bitter disappointment each time, leading to longer and longer intervals between such test log ins.
KEY CODE:
[Sample: 114 Former Daily Active Power Users]
- (xx) Account Permanently Deleted [56 Former Users]
- (x) Has not logged in for at least over a year (almost certainly much longer) [49 Former Users]
- (???? days ago) Rare isolated Nostalgia-Driven Test Log In [7 Users/26 Test Sessions in Total]
- (? hours/? days ago) Still Partly Committed and Occasionally Active [2 Current Users]
Top 100+ (Pre-Sept 2011) FixYa Power Users [By Leader Board Prominence History]:
- http://www.fixya.com/users/heatman101 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/k_akima (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/caroldon (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/emissionwiz (1 test log 250 days ago/otherwise 1+ years ago)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/fordexpert (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/geekman (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/dttech (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/byteguy (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/sea_breeze (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/cansmo (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/zjlimited (7 test log over 9 days/otherwise 1+ years ago)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/ekse (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/gopakumarg43 (6 test sessions in 344 days/otherwise 1+ years ago)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/alicantecoli (29 sessions over 365 days)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/cindy_wells (still active once or twice a week)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/mc1bean (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/airjer995 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/freetek (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/themobilian (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/ironfist109 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/bendarden (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/joecoolvette (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/bronk50 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/jturcotte (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/myblkrat (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/philwalker78 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/the_experts (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/bargainbox (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/seeker5211 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/chrispolkele (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/azraelsrl (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/ikkenom (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/ninaE (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/oldtech2332 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/robertaji (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/ladywinn (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/toyota_ed (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/muebe (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/welcomejee (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/kel1guy2002 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/damneddle (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/hokuwho (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/sisadsl (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/marked (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/bob_computer (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/gort007 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/mpcheeseman1 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/budmrtn (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/bayyagg (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/justin_case327 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/elix0411 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/mr_brokrench (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/kevinwhite (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/virtual_a (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/raingamj (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/rickead1 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/techbuster (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/kiltylake (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/imbmetz1 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/jyackle5 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/mikemt (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/blueextc3221(xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/tripletauto (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/imjustavg (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/fredy2 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/timthegas (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/johnjnail (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/terrytown (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/belectric (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/localwonder (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/SDTech (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/sd_tech313 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/ginko (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/joeguest2 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/dageezer (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/tdisline (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/mrfixit_jerr (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/john_cross (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/puertobori (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/motor1258 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/jsrock516 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/macmarkus (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/edwin270 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/metalpoet (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/kathli (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/carmech97 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/jharvey572 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/chiplevel (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/carsandcomps (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/diary0901 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/damnor01 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/techman007 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/adw1 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/francisjoan7 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/rsbwales (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/molson02536 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/koronotoaja (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/oldgreasemon (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/news775 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/kevindanielk (8 test sessions in 181-328 days/otherwise 1+ years ago)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/rylai (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/techmecho (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/tbugger (2 test sessions in 202-257 days ago/otherwise 1+ years ago)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/kidlmo (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/maatmartin7 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/dorfod (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/w0zz (1 test session 239 days ago/otherwise 1+ years ago)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/milleraba (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/hotchevy1965 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/pctech1 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/johnjohn2 (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/silverdragon (x)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/eagle338 (xx)
- http://www.fixya.com/users/dorel_uk [Corporate HelpDesk Account] (x)
SovereignVision © April 14, 2018
OutCry 
Fixya dug their own grave with corporate greed. They took a great site and buried it in full view of the world. I ponder who the investing folks were that took such a financial loss as a result.
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I wrote the above comment. I am #40 on the fixya expert’s list. I departed fixya 10 Sep with a user satisfaction percentage of roughly 95% and never looked back.
True expert’s know what happens when someone tinkers with a product without the knowledge or skillsets needed to maintain that product. Right FixYa? A final note, the name help-u-fixit was my idea. I will never claim that as intellectual property. It was what expert’s do; that being generate positive ideas and solutions.
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Greetings, Kelly. It’s been a while, my friend. I hope you and yours are all well and staying safe.
I’m Gary, one of a small team of assorted technical analysts who used the log in at #54 on the fixya experts’ list (Virtual_A). It was our team which discovered the deficits of the still born FY Marketplace and initiated a series of alerts that continued to ricochet across the site until it had reached every expert.
I can vouch for everything Kelly says here. He and I haven’t spoken in a little while but what he says is undeniable.
FY shot itself in the foot in introducing the barren concept of the FY Marketplace without consulting experts. Then (as our then resident expert wit Mark Lockier famously once said), FY calmly reloaded and shot itself in the other foot, by ignoring the advice of experts to revert to what worked. FY remained stubborn until there was nothing left to save.
This insightful post by my colleague Samantha (who also used the log in Office_Angel on FY), perfectly illustrates the extent of the devastation FY’s poor judgement left behind.
I can also confirm that Kelly is quite correct on the other matter he raises. It was indeed he who first came up with the idea of an alternative service to fill in the gap that FY had vacated, branded Help-U-FiXiT, He first coined the name in conversation with me almost a decade ago. I’m only too happy to put that on the record.
I passed his suggestion on to other fellow investors behind SolutionCenters/SolutioCentres, whose implementation team has been cautiously and patiently building up to launching a new platform, where HUFI will be the centerpiece. I have no doubt whatsoever that Kelly’s contribution will not be overlooked and is likely be rewarded, in a number of different ways, when SC/HUFI completes a successful UK pilot and launches globally.
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