Kwipster – The Web’s Funniest Comments On The Day’s News

10 thoughts on “Kwipster – The Web’s Funniest Comments On The Day’s News”

1. How would you rate the story selection?

   I like the story selection.  The Twitter story seems a little stock-ish but I can see how it relates to social media.  Overall, I think you have relevant stories to what is going on.

   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?

   The “Kwips” on the homepage have to do with the social site, Twitter being bought by JPMorgan.  If you are not a Twitter user, it may not be as funny.  They were ok kwips. 

   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?

   I would like to be able to “read more” without having to rate the first 3.  How many would I like to see?  How about all of them?

   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?

   I would probably not visit regularly.  As the internet goes, if you read a highlight or get linked from Twitter, then someone visits.  i would not go here first for my news.  It may get bookmarked by people when they want to catch up on stuff.

   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?

   Telling a friend – not likely.  I have to be wow’ed to want to do that.  There are a million sites where people can get their satire or humor, and I don’t have to tell my friends where to go.  Everyone wants to choose that for themselves.

   What would you do to improve this site?

   Actionable suggestions:
   1. What is the purpose for being ranked as a Top Kwipster?  do you win anything, or any incentive other than earning pts?
   2. What do you mean by “Discovered on Kwipster, let us know”? Is this like a testimonial box for comedians that are discovered?  This is confusing and I seriously doubt that someone’s comedic career will begin by being noticed on Kwipster.  Sounds like a stretch.
   3. Why is your Blog tabbed on your homepage as “Klog” but at “kwiplog.com” Shouldn’t it then be tabbed as Kwiplog on homepage for consistency?  Klog is just confusing. And I don’t know why you would put “our sporadically updated blog” That takes your brand quality down a notch.  Even if you don’t update it that often, don’t downgrade or downplay your content offerings.  Most users don’t know and don’t care unless you point it out like this.
   4.  I get the impression that your jokes/kwips/social interactions lean toward Twitter more so than the other social media.  I personally use Facebook more and like it more.  Do you think you could offer more Facebook-friendly jokes and more inviting to FB users?
   5. The scoring and levels explanation page – The scoring is derived from weighted averages.  Ok.  I think you will lost some people that aren’t interested in this here.  The badges are ok but I don’t look at them and think “Man I really want a badge”.  It is a good idea, but really, what does it mean?  For it to be important, the badge would need to be recognized at more than just your site.  I think you need a better incentive system like:  If you get a court jester badge, you get a t-shirt.  Get to Level 10, you get to be a guest host on a morning radio Talk show, and so on.  Have real incentives to be a comedian. Level 20 should get you a spot at a nightclub to perform.
   6. Tips & Tricks section sounds like you are giving advice on how to be funny.  I would have never guessed by “tips & tricks”.  Maybe a more specific tab header?  It is a fresh idea to give joke advice.

2. How would you rate the story selection?
   I was a little confused because at first I wasn’t sure if these snippets of news were supposed to be factual or satirical.  Some of them seemed to have humorous commentary while others didn’t really seem funny at all.  In terms of topical selection, I thought you covered a wide range of topics.  There was some political commentary, some entertainment news, some current events, some science…
    
   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?
   By “jokes” I’m assuming you mean “kwips” on each story.  I liked the kwips.  I thought they were quite good, and I was entertained.
    
   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?
   A little bit, yes.  It’s slightly annoying, though I read your pop-up explanation and understand why you do it.
    
   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?
   I don’t have a ton of time to waste on the Internet, so I probably wouldn’t visit more than occasionally.  But that’s not because I don’t think it’s an amusing site; I would probably visit more often if I had more time to kill.
    
   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?
   It’s fairly likely that I would send a link to your site to my friends who enjoy political satire.
    
   What would you do to improve this site?
   First off, I like the home page quite a bit.  The colors are nice, you do a good job of providing just enough content to get visitors interested without overdoing it, and the layout is pretty clean.  Really, my only suggestion here is that you might make the article slideshow a little bigger to attract more attention.  This is a minor point, though.
    
   Your Top Stories page: I noticed that you can sort stories by date, but you can’t sort them by topic.  I’d like to see stories categorized by “Current Events,” “Entertainment,” “Sports,” “Science,” “Business,” and so on.  Also, you have a Most Kwipped widget on the right which really just repeats the main content on this page.  That’s wasting space, so I suggest you remove it.
    
   Your Top Kwipsters page: Same here.  You have a widget at the right that features your highest rated participants, which just repeats the information you already have on this page.  I’d get rid of that widget. While I was on this page, I visited one of the member profiles just to see what it was like, and the set-up was nice.  I liked that I could review all of the member’s kwips from his/her profile.
    
   Scoring & Levels: A good explanation of your kwip scoring system.  Totally understandable.
    
   Tips & Tricks: Wow!  This is like Comedy 101!  I’ve truly never seen the art of wit spelled out like this before.  I’m impressed!
    
   Rules: Again, totally clear and understandable.
    
   Archives: Is this page really necessary since you can already sort stories by date on the Top Stories page?
    
   Klog: Um, I get what you’re trying to do with the branding, but that just sounds awkward.  I’d call it a blog and leave it at that.  I love the tagline, by the way: “Our sporadically updated blog.”  Heh heh.  I also like that this opens in a new window.
    
   About Us: Doesn’t really tell me anything about the people behind your operation, but that’s not really necessary since you’re not trying to sell me anything.
    
   Feedback: Form looks standard.
    
   I also took a look at your Help page.  Actually, I almost missed it because it’s grouped together with Join and Log In and so on, where I wouldn’t think to look for it, and all those links are very small.  In any case, this is quite a good FAQ, and my only suggestion here would be that you might consider listing all the questions at the top of the page as links which would jump to the answers farther down.  I always like that particular set-up because it allows me to go straight to the answer I need instead of combing through a whole page, as I have to do with yours now.
    
   Bottom line: Your site looks very good.  It may still be in beta, but it’s already quite polished.  It’s a nice concept, and your site’s design and copy look very professional.  Good job!  If you feel like you’re not getting the traffic you want, could you possibly advertise on some related sites such as The Onion?  You might also try soliciting humor bloggers to review your site.  And you should definitely add social bookmarking widgets so that people can submit your site to StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, and so on.  Finally, you might try having some contests on your site that would offer periodic prizes for the best kwip on a specific story or the highest scoring kwip member or something similar.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

3. How would you rate the story selection?
   
   The story selection are nice, with a wide variety to emcompass everyone’s interest. Although I don’t know if they should be taken seriously or as a comedy, they provide quite intesresting topics I must admit.
   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?
   
   Oh I see now, You are supposed to write funny comments about the articles. Unfortunately I don’t find most of those comments to be funny. They just seem to be… well… comments? Nothing special.
   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?
   
   It did at first, but then when I think about it, 3jokes to rate seem to be balanced. I mean, one is definitely too little, while two just doesn’t seem right. Three is fine then.
   You might want to come up with a new system though. Submit an article ? Or write another joke?
   It is also confusing when you are saying “joke” when they are just “witty comments”, use the term “kwips” throughout your website to make sure people understand what it is.
   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?
   
   Not much, I would probably not go in there anymore actually, it just does not interest me. Probably because I’am sick and tired right now.
   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?
   
   If it were not in the beta state, I think I would recommend it to some friends. Those cunning, always looking for a laugh ones. Every has one of those as friend, don’t they?
   What would you do to improve this site?
   About the funny comments, there is not much you can do. Probably just wait and see how it develops into a funnier website. You might want different sections as well, instead of limitting it to articles, how about graphics? Or videos?
   I also think the “rules” should be in the home page. And you should state clearly what the site is for, on the homepage. A new user would have no idea what your website is for.
   The layout, colours, font, images, logo and background are all good. Simple yet engaging, I like it !

4. How would you rate the story selection?

   I find the story selection to be rather mediocre and reminiscent of the National Enquirer. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the story selections a 5. That is probably just me. I also do not know if they are intended for comical purposes or if they are supposed to be taken serious

   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?

   Again, mediocre comes to mind. I barely cracked a smile readin these jokes. It is a lot less like someone who is actually funny and more like someone who is trying too hard to be funny.

   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?

   It doesn’t really bother me that much. I do find it odd because no other site would have you rate the first 3 pieces of content in order to be able to see the rest of the content. It might even be unfair, because some of the best comments might get passed up due to this feature. It doesn’t bother me but it can annoy some visitors.
   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?

   I probably will be a regular visitor from time to time. I might even be a contributor. One of the things that I like about your site is the tips and tricks section. However, I’ll be a little too busy working on some other sites, but I’ll visit as often as I can. Just keep the updates coming.  

   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?
   Not very likely. I might tell my friends about this site, however I won’t go out of the blue to talk about it. When it is relevant to the conversation I might talk about your site.

   What would you do to improve this site?

   I would add a feature which allows you to sort by category as well as date. I would also get rid of the requirement to rate 3 jokes before you see the rest. I might feature the best 3 jokes of each story and then ad a link to the page which has the rest of the jokes.

   You have a lot of good things going with your site all things considered. I know a lot of people who would scoff at the idea of getting discovered at your site. However, I have looked at your tips and tricks and you seem to have all of the aspects of comedy down. It seems like you are willing to help aspiring comics. I definitely appreciate the intention.

5. How would you rate the story selection?
   I thought the story selection was okay. It ranges from serious stories to just plain old water cooler talk. Some of the taglines placed on the stories are really quirky and funny, iPass, Trumpable and of course USPS makes it rain (classically funny).
   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?
   It is not necessarily that people are supposed to be leaving “jokes” but just funny comments that are to be rated. Rating the level of jokes was hard to do, it’s not like these people are paid professionals.
   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?
   It seemed a little tedious at first but to get the best rating you should judge more than one or two of the jokes. It seems that the way its done works well for your site in that it makes people more inclined to read the rest of the jokes so they can compare there thoughts to those of others.  
   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?
   This would be a site I would visit a couple times of week to get a laugh and to read some of the wierds stories going on in the world.
   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?
   If the thought comes to my mind during a conversation I would probably share it but I would not go out my way to tell someone about the site.
   What would you do to improve this site?
   I would like a quick search button at the top of the page. I would like to see the top three kwipsters versus the top ten. I would like to see a quick profile of them also. I like that you feature of the jokes that they did. I think that you need to clearly state what you site is about. It is not clear that people are suppoed to be wriing jokes versus just leaving comments.

6. Feedback sought:

   How would you rate the story selection?

   There was a good selection of stories, to make jokes, or joke comments. They were all relative and in the news.

   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?

   There some good jokes, but some people were just leaving unfunny comments and not understanding the web-site properly.

   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?

   It might be a minor inconvenience but, if you enjoy using the web-site, it would be worth it to see the best jokes for the different stories.

   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?

   I very much like joke web-sites and I use them regularly at weekends. Your web-site is a relevant jokes site, which is appealing.

   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?

   I probably would tell friends and my Facebook network, if I posted a joke from the web-site onto my Facebook thread, or was discussing jokes generally with friends.  

   What would you do to improve this site?

   It is quite a relevant jokes web-site, but maybe the colour scheme could be improved upon. Maybe you could have a “Joke of the month” and “Joke of the year” competitions?

7. How would you rate the story selection?
   Certainly not a place I would go to to read the news…Nothing too groundbreaking or investigative… But definitely some stories that can obviously be picked at pretty easily. Some of the stories are kind of off-color, which I don’t like.

   How would you rate the quality of the jokes?
   Some of them are pretty dumb. None of them made me laugh out loud, but the same jokes would seem funnier if they were on late-night TV–maybe just the format. The ones tying different current events to each other were the funniest (e.g., tying Charlie Sheen with Gaddafi & Mel Gibson).
   Does it bother you that you have to rate 3 jokes per story to see the best jokes for that story? How much?
   Yes, because the first three jokes I had to rate were usually not very funny anyway. If the quality were higher I wouldn’t mind. I don’t have a lot of time–just give me the top 10 funniest jokes on your site, overall.
   How likely would you be to visit this site regularly?
   It doesn’t meet a need for me. I use DrudgeReport to get the latest news, and if I wanted to laugh at news, something like the Onion would give me much more laughs. For someone who likes making jokes, it would be perfect.
   How likely would you be to tell a friend about this site?
   If I posted something funny, I would share it on facebook, but that’s about it.
   
   What would you do to improve this site?
   I just want to see the funniest jokes without having to wade through all the amateur stuff. The competition is fun and the ratings are good, and have their place, but I also want to sort by funniest overall jokes. Digg is a good example–you can rate current popular stories and new/upcoming (not-yet-popular) stories, but you can also sort by most popular of all time, most popular this year, 30 days, etc.

8. $5 awarded to zeke2100.

9. $5 awarded to greatfeedback4u.

10. $5 awarded to H_game.

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