

Clever "down for maintenance" page - acangiano
http://down.grooveshark.com/

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mattlanger
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that not everyone would find a
"that's what she said" joke all that clever, or even all that appropriate for
a business to subtly present on its site.

And I think this speaks to one of the points I tried to make here
(<http://langer.tumblr.com/post/538680961>), which is that ideas like this can
come off as witty or clever in such a male-dominated industry because most of
us are tone-deaf to the many ways in which another person might find something
like this offensive.

~~~
m0th87
My hypothesis is that in order to build a cult following, you sort of have to
alienate others. Maybe it's crude, but it's part of the equation. The
alternative is to take the "corporate" route and build a boring, conservative
404 that could not possibly offend anyone, but would not possibly entertain
anyone either.

~~~
hugothefrog
Instinctively, I disagree with you. But you might be right. I may even agree
with you, intellectually.

What evidence do you have to support your hypothesis?

Alienation is a very powerful emotional force, used by all sorts of parties to
all sorts of ends. Are there 'positive' forms of alienation?

Is there not a middle path that can be taken that doesn't alienate, but also
doesn't bore?

~~~
m0th87
If a comedian worried about offending people, s/he wouldn't be funny. If Apple
worried about alienating large swaths of the marketplace, it wouldn't have a
rabid following.

If there weren't a "positive" effect of alienation, people wouldn't
consciously cause it. Maybe it's a side-effect of good marketing. Or maybe it
props up the sort of us vs. them mentality associated with cult followings. Or
maybe I'm getting too philosophical, and everything I'm saying is bullshit.

~~~
hugothefrog
Hah - I didn't intend to end 3/4 of my post with question marks. Or did I?
..ahem.

My comment was really a rhetorical question about the moral (not necessarily
commercial - I'm not arguing that) appropriateness of taking (as you
described) an alienating path.

I've read quite a few descriptions of marketing as being successful by causing
unknown wants and needs. None of those descriptions really talk about 'us and
them' as a concept.

[edit-minor typo]

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biggitybones
They just don't care and love to have fun, and I love them for it.

My roommate, out of undying love for them, sent their team a case of Brooklyn
lager just because. They responded with a full video of someone dressed as a
shark as a thank you, and he just got an awesome Grooveshark t-shirt in the
mail yesterday. This is how you build cult followers.

[http://help.grooveshark.com/a-special-grooveshark-thanks-
to-...](http://help.grooveshark.com/a-special-grooveshark-thanks-to-mike/)

~~~
epochwolf
That's awesome. Just seeing that got me interested in what their product.
Definitely impressed. I might just pay for it.

~~~
biggitybones
It's exactly why I tell everyone around me about GrooveShark if they mention
Pandora or another music service. As soon as they get a BB Storm app I may not
need my iPod again.

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maxniederhofer
Too verbose for my taste.

Here's a good sample of effective maintenance pages:
[http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/12/effective-
mainten...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/12/effective-maintenance-
pages-examples-and-best-practices/)

~~~
heyitsnick
This page is in that list :) Under heading 4 as the shining example of page
that "the same look and feel as your regular site."

~~~
maxniederhofer
Yup. Link was to highlight that there are many other examples of more
effective maintenance pages than the one from OP.

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muxxa
I like how the colour scheme is not the signature grooveshark yellow - an
attempt to limit brand tarnish?

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ErrantX
Too wordy; I like the idea of status updates (in this case powered by Twitter)
on the page though. Neat.

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Hates_
Cute story, but I can't see which bit is clever? Perhaps it's an inside joke I
just don't get :(

~~~
leftnode
Highlight the header, you'll see "That's what she said" after "Going down for
a bit". As in, she's going down (on you) for a bit.

~~~
pclark
thanks for the explanation of what thats what she said, meant.

~~~
leftnode
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but because there's many non-
American/native English speakers, the pun might not be as obvious.

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campnic
The perfect storm, I read the message while listening to 'waiting for your
conference to start' elevator music.

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peteysd
I like the nearly-hidden "That's what she said." Perhaps not the most
appropriate, but still funny.

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RiderOfGiraffes
It's not clever - it's puerile, and has no place in a professional
organisation. It's equivalent to giggling inanely when someone says "homo
sapiens."

