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[–]magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Thanks for the ideas but I really am not sure anyone will want to buy this stuff, even to support the website. Most people don't want to give their name and address to a site that deals in information like this. I really don't think it would work unless you can figure out a specific 3d printed object that actually somehow relates to the site. I am unconvinced a product offering would be anything other than a huge waste of time and effort.

I like your ideas about collaborating with other established groups in the same circles is good though, I'll have to think about it some more. Thanks for taking the time to write up all these ideas!

[–]JasonCarswell[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Maybe you're right. I don't think so though.

First, you made a great point. Commerce with "the enemy". It's a real issue. I don't know of any good solutions. Free-markets on the Dark Net are watched by the po-po anyway, besides being a huge hassle unless you're already there, in which case it's great. There are new decentralized systems being developed all the time and crypto (hassle) currencies. OpenBazzar is on IPFS though I've not visited it yet. And "collecting" addresses is problematic for all involved.

Second, yes there will be people who won't want the stigma of SaidIt, but they won't likely come here anyway. Presently there's not near enough folks here but this could change with persistence. With numbers grow trolls and devotees. The latter will support you if they can and it all remains authentic, whatever that means or grow to mean. This support won't be easily earned, especially in this era. But it's worth the fight for this site and all else besides. Maybe merch isn't the answer. Maybe it is.

Third, I wonder if you're trying to reinvent the wheel. Before we even get into campaigns, a sticker, patch or t-shirt doesn't have to be "desirable". It most definitely helps. Lots of things help. Nice quality, price, nice design, humour, whatever. People wear brands for all sorts of reasons, including by default or because its clean. Your logo is not profound, but what it stands for is. For some it's worth supporting, for some it's worth bragging about, for some it's a conversation starter, etc. Your product doesn't have to be "new" or super unique. But it should be authentic to some degree. SaidIt Cereal, SaidIt Tampons, and SaidIt Flamethrowers are not your brand.

"A product offering" makes it sound like you're rolling out 20,000 automobiles. I'm talking about starting with one at a time. Assuming SaidIt actually gets a crowd, sooner or later, then you can openly develop this with them. One way to force a conversation, whether it's about product development, donation options, or asking for fund raising ideas, is to prominently place it. Maybe add a tab or few in the header or rig it so the topic is pinned to the top or whatever. (Not in the footer.)

So best for last. Your logo is a proto-logo. It's good but not great. I like the modern font but it says nothing about this site. It's not even a real logo, it's just word in a font with nothing more. That can be addressed by tweaking it, redesigning it, or placing it as is within a context. For example, if you put that proto-logo in a word bubble suddenly you have self-referential design. If adopted to all branding it is then your (new) logo. If it's only used once or twice it's still just a design and not your identity. If you search "word bubble" images you'll see they are not all oval and the directional pointer-tail-thing can have different shapes too. Infinite variations of line quality, texture, thickness, flourish, amateur hand drawn, clean professional, modern, tech, grunge, glitch, whatever you want. If you don't like the word bubble search "pow" images for something more dynamic. Or forget this graphic train of though altogether and we can delve into concepts more appropriate for trutherism and/or conspiracy theory and/or conspirophilia. But before we ditch this I want to pitch you a t-shirt and/or sticker and/or patch idea... Not fancy, a word bubble, with a good comic book font (most are bad but some are good) that says "PROUD TRUTHER! That's right, I..." and then your SaidIt proto-logo concluding the word bubble. Stick that on your coffee mug and drink it.

Maybe that's not the best taste, but it's a sample. Even if you don't like the attitude, we haven't even begun regarding campaign development. But that's for another time. Can you tell I spent a couple decades mostly making commercials?

If you want some information about authentic democratic worker directed enterprises, aka cooperatives, then check out Marxist economics Professor Richard Wolf and the Democracy @ Work group and site he helped start. He's got a big following on YouTube and the D@W site has great resources for starting coops.

I've been procrastinating but I'd like to start a local Windsor Ontario coop for my projects (assuming anyone would want to join a ragtag struggling startup from nothing, assuming they are truther-copacetic, and assuming they are trustworthy and ego compatible). If it goes well the coop would handle the accounting/merch, social media/marketing, webmastery, producing/animating, etc. to support an animation studio and servers as well as be a supportive foundation for an online community hopefully as big if not bigger that would virtually do much of the same towards open development of open projects. I'm pretty sure it's just easier to start a thing in person, otherwise I'm not really that rooted. That's my dream anyway.

Take all the time you need to think about this stuff. I'm in no hurry. At present I have very little to offer, and won't for some time to come. But either I'll prove to be full of shit or I'll prove to be of some value at least if not a success and/or a legit threat to the establishment with my projects. So in that spirit I hope you might save a seat for me.

I will certainly disappear for long stretches at a time, perhaps for months. During this time I'll be either researching, procrastinating, or working on the projects. I'll check back tomorrow but I really need to minimize my SaidIt and research time to spend on the actual productions or they'll remain theoretical forever.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate the input. I'll think about the things you presented.