

 We finally launched Zombal, your thoughts? - eam
http://zombal.com/

======
revorad
Very interesting idea. Congrats on the launch.

Usually I'd say names don't matter much, but in this case not only is your
name terrible, you are taking it too far by using words like Zombs, launcher,
catcher. The whole concept is novel enough, you don't want people to learn a
whole new Zombie lexicon just to understand what the heck your site is about.

I'd rather just borrow terminology from elance, odesk, etc.

Other available names: ososci.com, outsosci.com, researchoid.com,
fineeinstein.com...

~~~
tren
These questions about terminology have been contentious issue since the
beginning. I agree quan is the furthest from what it actually represents and
needs to be changed. The others, launcher, catcher are a small leap, but not
too far from what they represent. At the moment, nothing is set in stone and
on the other side of the coin, if the terminology is one the greatest
detractions, it is one of the easiest things to change.

Thanks for the other name suggestions

~~~
revorad
The question is why do you want people to take leaps, small or big, in things
which don't matter? Outsourcing research is a pretty big leap of faith, better
focus on convincing people on that one.

Do you have an email address I can write to you at? I'd like to discuss some
collaboration options if you are interested.

~~~
tren
info@zombal.com - drop me a line

~~~
revorad
Thanks, just sent you an email.

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emeltzer
top of my head stuff:

1\. there is beginning to be a serious proliferation of DIY science centers at
least in the field of synthetic biology (those guys are capable of doing
anything from biochem to cell bio, so they could work on these jobs.) you guys
are in a good spot to take advantage of this growing network!

2\. the name is just not going to fly. period. change it.

3\. my first thought is "bullshit" when i read this, so your first page should
basically be a testmonial: the most legit sounding scientist you can find
saying how awesome his experience with your thing was. i know you're in beta
and you can't do this yet, but remember you will be battling for legitimacy in
a notoriously conservative community.

4\. a question: what kind of thing do you see people getting done on this
site? a certain category of experiments in my field (sequencing, synthesis,
etc.) are already commoditized. are you aiming for somewhat more complicated
stuff? make it clear.

~~~
tren
1\. Thanks for the recommendation, duly noted

2\. Yes, seems to be the most common recommendation

3\. Any ideas how you'd get this to happen?

4\. I thought it would be used by primarily by college students wanting to
make some cash and by companies seeking to outsource extra/menial work

~~~
abhikshah
"Scientific Outsourcing" does not say "college students" or "extra/menial work
to me". Based on the tagline, I would expect something more like consultants
with MS or PhD who do freelance research projects.

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wccrawford
The hand-drawn graphic at the top makes it look like a joke website.

And the first item actually BEING a joke makes it look even more so.

Your policies on how to deal with contested results need some work. 'Until
both parties are satisfied' doesn't work very well when someone does a lot of
work and the client denies that it matches what they asked for. And it could
go either way at that point, too.

~~~
tren
Thanks for the feedback, I'm the owner of the site.

Regarding the payment system, I agree it’s not clear at the moment. Currently,
the way it works is that when there is a dispute between the two parties, they
can file for mediation. They will be charged a small fee and their case will
be reviewed by an arbitrator whose decision is final and will award between
0-100% of the agreed upon price.

We will also consider revising the design.

------
Strunk
I think it's a great idea(!!), but as emeltzer says, you should get some legit
scientist to give you thumbs up, before anyone wanna use the site. The second
thing is your name - zombal!? Come on. I was thinking exactly the same thing
as everybody else: A Socialsite for Zombies? Like: Zombiebook, zombiespace
etc.

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cubicle67
At the risk of getting all meta, what's happening to HN?

Why has this already disappeared of the front page in just over 3 hours,
garnering only 17 points (including mine)? To me, this is what HN was all
about; seeing the great stuff people had been working on, reading many (often
hundreds) of encouraging/helpful comments.

Here's a guy who's been an active member of HN for well over a year, busted
his gut creating something, and it's met with a collective "meh".

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agravier
The name is a little unfortunate, I think. I immediately thought "Zombal =
Zombie + Paypal", so expected an online payment solution (for funny
necromancers?) or a parody of Paypal.

~~~
drKarl
Funny, I associated the name with Zombies, but not with Paypal. I thought it
would be a Social Network for Zombies.

~~~
jpcosta
It really does sound a lot like Zombies (My Zombs?).. I thought it would be a
game.

------
drKarl
Many options in the top menu should be hidden unless you are registered and
login (Inbox, My Zombs, My Nets...).

~~~
tren
This is a good point. Judging from several of the posts, the front page needs
a major rethink.

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crocowhile
I was thinking of doing something similar yesterday! Talk about coincidence.
However, my idea was to have something completely non for profit in which
there is no money exchange.

After seeing the kind of noise you find on places like rent-a-coder, I don't
think I would use a paid service myself (as a scientist, I mean). I remember
someone on one of those rent-a-coder like website asking for a solution to
P=NP and a huge number of bids all saying "WE CAN DO THIS IN FEW HOURS!"

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strayer
You could bootstrap Zombal as a "payment system" for scientific reviews.

Get in touch with the organisers of a national-level scientific conference.
They could offer reviewers the option of getting Zombal credits for their
(currently unpaid) work. Reviews are automatically meta-reviewed (by the
acceptance), you could use that information.

If you do so, please make it fully automatic: conference review websites are
already painful to use.

You could also use the information that the reviewers provide about
themselves.

There you have lots of people who might be keen on getting some sort of
recognition for their currently unpaid work.

------
qtrng
I got hired for one of the tasks, but I'm not sure how to proceed with it.
There's nowhere on the task to type a response, and the email I got about
being hired just links to the task.

------
Jabbles
FAQ HTML italics tags are rendered incorrectly.

------
Eminence
\-- Looks like there will be a fair amount of flak! Smile nicely, reply
soothingly, and just keep going along the path. In six month's time, it will
all settle in. Remember how it took you the 3 months away for it all to
coalesce? D.

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Eminence
I was going to suggest changing the name Zombal to Google, but then thought
"Google"??? what is this, to do with Gooey Goggles or something? With a name
like that, the site would never get off the ground. D.

------
acangiano
Interesting idea. Are you going to give us some invites?

~~~
eam
Yep, just go here and request it: <http://zombal.com/get-invite>

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egor83
"Learn more on Labels" doesn't do anything for me - tested in FF and Chrome.

~~~
eam
Oops, we still have to link it. Thanks.

