
Swoopo: Profitable Until Deemed Illegal - mshafrir
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/12/profitable-until-deemed-illegal.html
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dbingham
That is pretty seriously evil. Although, with a little modification it could
be made less evil. Such as if they started all auctions at .0001 the normal
price of the item. And if they had enough users, so that any one user only bid
a couple of times before the price of the item reached a point where people
weren't willing to chase it any more. But it doesn't sound like thats the case
here, in which case, definitely evil.

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schindyguy
This is dated-- they aren't profitable[1]. As far as the ethical parts of this
article, it's not different than gambling sites. And I bet just like Vegas, it
will become profitable when people feel comfortable wasting money again

[1][http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_34/b41920406...](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_34/b4192040657482.htm)

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ahi
For more info than you ever needed on how a penny auction site works see this
course project: <http://home.kevinchampion.com/portfolio/course_work/si_618/>

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eclark
I hope that student got a great grade. While I think some of his conclusions
are not correct. It's obvious the work that was put in is way above what I
have ever seen as the average for coursework.

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ahi
Just to be clear, it's not my work.

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narrator
Swoopo works for the same reason slot machines are enormously popular, even
though the house always wins.

