R.I.P. MySpace

[Renegade]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F01%2F11%2FBU591H7E1Q.DTL

MySpace Inc. said Tuesday that the company has fired 47 percent of its workforce - about 500 employees - as the deposed social-networking king continues trying to mount a comeback as an online entertainment hub.

Facebook has taken over. That was MySpace's second round of reductions.

[f0dder]

Their own fault, MySpace always sucked majorly - horrible, horrible horrible design, for one.

[nudone]

Completely. MySpace may have been a pioneer of social sites but it was positively prehistoric in terms of appearance and feel. It deserves to die for its ugliness alone.

[MerleOne]

I would regret Myspace if it were to disappear, it has helped me discover several singers/artists that only released a CD 2 or years after some of their production was on Myspace (for instance Peppermoon).

[TucknDar]

Their own fault, MySpace always sucked majorly - horrible, horrible horrible design, for one.

Spot on! Couldn't stand the MySpace sites, looked like something GeoCities ditched ten years earlier.

[40hz]

Like the guy who won and lost $100K in a poker game, it must be incredibly depressing to live with the certain knowledge you HAD it -and totally blew it.

Very sad...

Then again, considering how much they let the kiddies run riot over there, it probably serves them right.

[f0dder]

But then again, considering how they let the kiddies run riot over there, it probably serves them right.

Yeah, they allowed people to use arbitrary HTML in their profiles, didn't they? That, or they had massive security vulnerabilities, but with the same end result: drive-by exploit heaven.

[Bamse]

They have also been used for a CDN by website admins here and there. Typically those with cheap hosts. You could hotlink/embed MySpace pics. Don't know if they stopped that last few years but hints about their level of interest/competence regarding security and stuff. People lose respect for sites like that, technical aware laugh. Those in charge probably got too much money too fast and have been drunk and high ever since

True about many good bands popping up there but not really difficult to find alternatives or set up own site. Not a major loss for alternative music business.

[40hz]

But then again, considering how they let the kiddies run riot over there, it probably serves them right.

Yeah, they allowed people to use arbitrary HTML in their profiles, didn't they? That, or they had massive security vulnerabilities, but with the same end result: drive-by exploit heaven.

Absolutely.  

I can't begin to describe the amount of grief I had to deal with at one point, cleaning up client PCs that got pooched courtesy of people cruising MySpace on their lunch hour.

Can't wait to see where some of the idiots who were still hanging in there end up roosting once they shut it down completely...

[attach]

[app103]

The only thing Myspace really has going for it is music and they are in the process of destroying that, too. They did buy iLike.com, which came with garageband.com, and one of the first things they did was shut down garageband.com, driving most of those bands to the competition...last.fm.

Can't wait to see where some of the idiots who were still hanging in there end up roosting once they shut it down completely...

Regular users will probably move to Facebook, and bands will probably move to Last.fm and those with CC licensed works to Jamendo, unless something even better comes along.

[Dormouse]

Like the guy who won and lost $100K in a poker game, it must be incredibly depressing to live with the certain knowledge you HAD it -and totally blew it.

I don't know. They had it - and they sold it (for a pretty good price, given that they were already losing out to Facebook).

It's Murdoch taking the loss (& the responsibility for its decline). 

[40hz]

Like the guy who won and lost $100K in a poker game, it must be incredibly depressing to live with the certain knowledge you HAD it -and totally blew it.

I don't know. They had it - and they sold it (for a pretty good price, given that they were already losing out to Facebook).

It's Murdoch taking the loss (& the responsibility for its decline).  

Oh no doubt about it. The money they got for it was definitely good. Maybe even too good.

But what I meant (and obviously expressed badly) was more that they were sui generis; and how frustrating it must be to own an entire concept - and later realize you just gave it away.

That part happened long before Murdoch crawled out from under his rock and approached them.

If Murdoch wasn't out to pwn MTV at the time of the offer - and Elliot Spitzer wasn't breathing so heavily down Intermix Media's neck - I wonder if the deal would have been consummated just then.

Ah well...we can speculate endlessly about what that deal was really all about.

Either way, like the Admiral Greer character said in Patriot Games; It's over.  

[sunlitlaz]

In the beginning, I actually liked MySpace.  I remember hearing about it from friends and fellow musicians as a place to hang a shingle, post some stuff and maybe get some good feedback and exposure.  Not to mention being able to make contact with already famous artists and heroes alike (which I have been able to do, and was wonderful).  However, MySpace got way too big, bloated, insecure and downright dangerous to a lot of folk that didn't know enough to defend against the basics.  By the time it had been taken over by the kiddies as mentioned above, I had lost all interest in what it had become versus what it started out as.

What was the guys name that started it?  The one that was everyone's first friend by default?  Tom I think it was.  If I remember correctly, he wrote the original site and later sold it to ol' Rupert for (from the article) $580 million!  He made out like a bandit as far as I am concerned! 

It might be interesting to see what it morphs into next ...

[40hz]

Can't wait to see where some of the idiots who were still hanging in there end up roosting once they shut it down completely...

Regular users will probably move to Facebook, and bands will probably move to Last.fm and those with CC licensed works to Jamendo, unless something even better comes along.

That's fine.

But I was really more wondering where the idiots would end up.

I want to make it a point never to go there.

[app103]

Can't wait to see where some of the idiots who were still hanging in there end up roosting once they shut it down completely...

Regular users will probably move to Facebook, and bands will probably move to Last.fm and those with CC licensed works to Jamendo, unless something even better comes along.

That's fine.

But I was really more wondering where the idiots would end up.

I want to make it a point never to go there.

ok...allow me to clarify:

Regular users idiots will go to facebook.....etc.