Final bleats of the Crush Master?
The Crush Master may be close to calling it a day. The e-mail overlord of Crushlink.com appears to be getting desperate. So much so that he's making it easier to find out who likes you.
"Only 3 steps," he touts in his latest message. Only three companies to whom you'll have to give your personal information. Only three steps, some from a certain region of the country might say, toward the door.
This de-escalation is almost as amazing as Crushlink's continued existence. The site started in 2000, back when pointless Web sites made money, and has retained all the trappings of its breed.
Despite the industry threshing, Crushlink has stayed content-free, e-mailed based and contact information-lite. No names, no address, no phone numbers. The anonymous "info@crushlink.com" e-mail address harkens back to the days of Mahir, earn-as-you-surf and jobs.
But this new ploy suggests a chink in the armor. Dizzy-era dot coms have followed a similar pattern:
1) Launch with unsupportable business premise.
2) Discover premise doesn't support costs.
3) Increase ads to support costs. Repeat.
4) Find drop in users negates more money per user.
5) Look to increase base, so drop some ads.
6) Now balanced, site sinks or swims.
Crushlink seems to be at step five, attempting to lure in users on a second earnest try, also known as earnest scared stupid. A good example of a similar situation is the Web mag Salon — the publication that once tracked down the Crush Master, a Harvard student named Greg Tseng.
After Salon found it had to move to subscriptions to support itself, the site has been making every accomodation possible to increase its base. Lots of swag, sponsored one-day subscriptions and ad-free pages. We'll cut you some slack, the offers imply, if you help our creditors cut us some slack.
The Crush Master could be in the same spot of trouble. There's no way to know for sure; Tseng's been running quiet ever since his Harvard days. His San Francisco-based company keeps its own site bare bones, and its new venture trades on personal info as nakedly as the crush sites. This time he offers movie tickets in return. Perfect for a date with your crush!
Maybe this movie ticket venture is going better, and Tseng wants to put his time to better use. But look at the change in the subject lines. In early 2001, I received "NEW! Get a THIRD HINT!"
So full of optimism, yes? Today the subject line was "Last chance! We'll just tell you who likes you!"
