rendezvous353.com

skelliser

I know there was a thread on this recently and it was deleted due to obvious reason and after discussing it with shoutman he has agreed to sanction this thread.
www.rendezvous353.com

Im eager to hear what people make of this? Is it viable? They are looking for investment also, is it worth the risk?

I'm very skeptical, what does this offer that linkedin doesnt?

blue4ever

Before they kick off they would really want to do a ‘usability study’. The site is frighteningly like a pyramid selling site I hadn’t a clue as to what the site did or want the site wanted – and still feel confused!

In terms of events they are really struggling. We run a site that currently lists 2,500 events, mainly in the in the next 4 months, 600 different ones in the next 30 days alone and that’s only in Dublin!

Personally – I ‘wouldn’t go near it.

ronanduffy

My concern is that they have set up a platform and are relying on the users to create the content. I know what they are getting at - linking Irish people in the hope of doing some good - but I don't see a clear message either. Does anyone know if 285 users in the first week is a good or bad performance?

TMcloughlin

Before any of the conspiracy theorists loose the run of themselves, and generate pyramids out of nothing

The promoters of Rendezvous 353 are trying in a meaningful way to connect Irish people globally to help themselves and our people at home, in the worst economic period ever in Ireland and where Emigration is unfortunately with us again.

The promoters are beyond reproach bringing integrity, honesty and many years of experience to this project.

Our site is currently in Beta. The support, comments, suggestions have been very constructive and the degree of negativity has been nonexistent.
This Social network concept is quite new to a large number of people, particularly the older generation and there will be a degree of educating in this to attain the full benefit.
We received more than 17,500 visits in the first week without any PR whatsoever so the Irish interest story is there.
The Irish are far and wide, we have members now from Sudan Taiwan, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan, in fact I was chatting on line to an Irish person in Sudan the other night surely that is the “Irish connection”.
Our market has always been those at home and abroad, the message is quite clear, simple and easily understood by broadminded people.
Surely the country is being suffocated by enough negativity, let your decency come out and support something positive for a change, count yourself lucky that you are not one of the unfortunate ones that has had to go abroad and try and operate in an environment unfamiliar to you, where it is great to find another Irish person in the same situation, there is comfort in numbers.
The myriad of good wishes and positive feedback from all over the world is encouraging
We would welcome any constructive and positive feedback on the site

calahans

I wouldnt invest - social networking is a tough market to crack.

Also the name of the site is not very relevant to ireland is it? Rendezvous365 might be more suitable to french diaspora.

The home page is underwhelming given that the site is quite good when you get into it.

The guys want to have an irish diapora facebook/linked in. Dont see where it will fit in. People use linked in for business and facebook/twitter/buzz (?) for social. The problem for social networking is to get the user base up.

onemorechance

It is not clear what the site is about. It is badly designed. It is possibly a good idea, but I think the layout has not been done well.

ronanduffy

Actually, I think it's very nicely designed, and works quite slickly. The post from TMcloughlin answers a lot of my questions; the developer's intentions are to be admired, and I wish them well.

skelliser

TMcloughlin, i take it you are involved?

I have a few questions:
What is your strategy over the next 6 months?
How are you going to reach this diaspora?
Do ye have a widget like you see on some sites that link to your facebook, twitter, you know those little f and t icons.

tricky D

ronanduffy wrote: »

Actually, I think it's very nicely designed, and works quite slickly. The post from TMcloughlin answers a lot of my questions; the developer's intentions are to be admired, and I wish them well.

Please don't do that pretendng you don't know him type of stuff. It insults the intelligence. You live down the road from him in Oranmore.


There's plenty bits of the design which could be improved:
Header is too big at 35% of vertical screen real estate.
Header logos don't link to homepage.
Grey on grey isn't great for readability.
A bit too much padding on lhs and heading elements.
Typography needs work.
Lhs has unused space after sign in stuff.
Home has preferred partners content.
SEO needs a lot of work.
Email addresses are not linked.
Feedback page needs reworking.

The AJAX next page search functions at the bottom dump me at the bottom of the next search 'page'. I.e. when I scroll down a search result page and click on page 2, I'm left at the bottom of 2nd set of search results when I should be left at the top.

Logo's visual element could suggest meeting and connection more. The arrow and globe don't do that.

Destinations has no content. Under construction shouldn't be used. You could put embassy info there as a starter.

Sign Up Now! button needs a link to reasons to sign up.
Why should people sign up to this as opposed to FB and Linkedin? Put those reasons on the site.
You mention payments in the terms but without registering users don't get info about what they might be paying for and why it would be worthwhile.
The investor relations stuff has little or no value proposition especially given the FB/Linkedin issues. It's also a bit too up front at this stage. Looking for sponsorship/advertising is fine but IR just seems 'off'. There's also other issues of who you are, RBN info and very likely legal requirements for issuing shares which are not addressed.
Don't leave such gaps in information, it doesn't help trust.

You're not utilising the Irish Diaspora character/identity in your branding enough (not a pint of Guinness in sight!). From my travels back in the day working on PaddyNet, we stressed and exploited that kind of Irish identity in the branding. You need to do something similar but with the Web2.0 bits that we didn't have in those days.

hth and good luck

PWR

join it and see how it evolves, that's what I'm doing!

Kent Brockman

ronanduffy wrote: »

Actually, I think it's very nicely designed, and works quite slickly. The post from TMcloughlin answers a lot of my questions; the developer's intentions are to be admired, and I wish them well.

:rolleyes:

I think it looks like a good Idea and good luck to all involved.
What is the 'investment' for and how would potential investors expect to make profit? (cant see an reason to invest personally)

FusionNet

Am I right in thinking this is trying to be an Irish facebook or something?????? I mean in any one world theres always the first guy, for example the guy that came up with facebook in his college dorm, and yes he is now a millionaire, is this an attempt at an irish copy and similar success??

My opinion from a boards user, a forum user, a facebook user and an IT guy. The sites rubbish, sends no message across and is in its existance confused and unguided. All they seem to have been able to do is link youtube videos wooohoo...

Wouldnt touch it with even 10c.. If they cant make me even want to join up not to mind invest then none of my mates will, nor theres nor theres... Failure within 12 months I bet....

FusionNet

Just noticed this:

on the t&c's

The laws of England (excluding its conflicts of law rules) shall govern the interpretation and enforcement of the Service Terms (as may be modified and otherwise amended by the Network Owner from time to time) and your access to and/or use of (or any inability to use) the Service.

and in the Privacy section:

You have the following rights:

the right to ask us to provide you with copies of personal data that we hold about you at any time, subject to a fee specified by law (currently £10);
I thought this was an Irish site, Irish this Irish that and UK terms and conditions.. Im sorry I really am finding this unbelievable..

wazzoo

skelliser wrote: »

I know there was a thread on this recently and it was deleted due to obvious reason and after discussing it with shoutman he has agreed to sanction this thread.
www.rendezvous353.com

Im eager to hear what people make of this? Is it viable? They are looking for investment also, is it worth the risk?

I'm very skeptical, what does this offer that linkedin doesnt?

This site puzzles me as I have no idea who it is for as there is so little content and is not that easy to use.

flash harry

best of luck with it, hope it works out and fcuk the begrudgers here

Also OP why did you post this are you involved?

To be fair to guy who came on about it he didn't ask for it to be in shop window now (Beta) - as for the obviously connected person whose first post was so supportive, we're not idiots!

Fusionnet - your site wasn't even working or you don't have one linked to your email domain but you get on your high horse? and your an IT guy as you say?

UK T&C's are a no no though - hope thats a beta problem

FH

W!zard

skelliser wrote: »

Im eager to hear what people make of this? Is it viable? They are looking for investment also, is it worth the risk?

I'm very skeptical, what does this offer that linkedin doesnt?

First its made with SocialGo.com - which anyone else here can quickly recreate the same thing so on that fact its a risk as they can not expand it much, unless they create a brand new site with custom features / functions that don't come out of the box with SocialGo. Comparing to LinkedIn - SocialGo does not have the ability as a system do that and so the site can not exceed that far until the developers of SocialGo add in extra features over time.

Since the site is a beta, I am taking a guess that the site using SocialGo is an example of what they want to do by showing it working before injection of investment to create fully developed own IP site.

I hope it does work for them but they got a mountain to climb :cool:

EKRIUQ

TMcloughlin wrote: »

We received more than 17,500 visits in the first week without any PR whatsoever so the Irish interest story is there.
We would welcome any constructive and positive feedback on the site

Bull