I have put up a starter draft of the recommendations we intend to submit to FooMojo (by email, registered mail, and hand delivery), in the blog entitled “FooPets Business Plan”, clickable to the right. Comments and suggestions can either be posted here, or on the Plan blogpage itself.
2/11/11, new material added to Business Plan subblog, right, existing material expanded, and Comments section there fixed so people can use it. (sorry…blush…i was so busy setting it up i forgot to do that to begin with)
All input is welcome – these are my thoughts, I’m sure others can refine them and add ideas that haven’t occurred to me…and I will be incorporating and attempting to cover all the excellent input we have received so far in “Where Do We Go From Here”, below.
Thank you all…and please…say a prayer for your faithful bird dog, on her way into the bear’s den soon.
Excelsior!
operationlifeboat 
Check the latest article on the Spyglass about the official new CEO at Foo: http://foospyglass.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/theres-a-new-kid-in-town/
Peach :o)~
yes, i saw it, lol, and posted – and i see they also liked my use of musical themes. whether or not the new regime is behind the more brutal tactics on foo lately, i still plan to go talk some dollars and sense to them…
I wouldn’t know how to run a business like FooPets so I don’t know what to suggest in that regard. All I know is that what is happening now feels like they are really desperate for money and I don’t know if they really need the money, or if it is just a case of greed. This desperation is causing them to make rash and emotionally cruel decisions to accomplish this end because they know how attached to their FooPets people are. It’s not working, it just makes everyone angry, and when we don’t comply, they attempt another unreasonable tactic. Each bad decision causes a snowball effect and it feels like everything is spiralling out of control. For example, their little conniving trick of introducing Ultra-stats to destroy all other existing pets, knowing that those who are depressed over their pets’ crashing stats will pay the high FooDollar prices for the Ultras. To get FooDollars we need to give Foo-Mojo real money.
common sense is mostly what they seem to need – that, and better communication not only with US, but within their own divisions.
by offering them alternatives that won’t cost them a ton to implement that will offer things people will actually WANT to buy, we’re hoping to (a) pull them out of this spiral, and the accompanying panic, and (b) show them that there are members that are willing to work with them to mutual advantage, and free resources at their fingertips – US! – that they could be utilizing to solve their problems.
it’s raining soup – we hope to show them how to build buckets. go take a peek at the Business Plan blog off this page if you get a chance.
(sent to my email from a friend who forwarded the Business Plan blog to a friend)
“Kat, wow I like it. I have to say she has put into words many of the ideas and solutions that would work if we could get the Foo to listen. I think we need to stop the abuse of absent litters and non-bonding of sites and selling of the pets who are not bonded just to make a buck. If we could have a “classified” pet selling site with listings and “fair” pricing scale of pets based on bonding, age , stats. I like a lowing of the pricing for treatments for the fleas . They could also have a food treat section to the Foo Mart. They could make more fds/gems if the could have treats we could purchase and “feed” our cats and dogs. Maybe with special action to follow. Like “rolling over” or ” sit up” gesture. Making the “decorating” feature more user friendly . I have a hard time with placing items into a scene and being able to save to the site. I would like to have a option of changing the color of objects to match in items better. I think she has done some good thinking, not only as a site player, but also as a site coordinator for the Foo folks. I am going to save her link and give it some more thought. I like she is doing a bang up job, and they should offer her a job , as an Idea Person for the site improvements.”
some excellent ideas – though i don’t think we should give foo the notion of price-fixing on member sales, i see them running with that in unpleasant directions…as it stands, if a price is unreasonable, the pet simply won’t sell, and interested buyers can always contact the seller and dicker directly.
i like the treats idea, but inputting additional response behaviors would mean a total reworking of the pet code, which may be a bit much to go for out of the gate…unless they could use a variation of the “Walkies” programming…hmm. just purchasing and giving treats could run like the flea meds, and perhaps give a karma/gem boost as they do – and if we can get all the stuff that does NOT belong out from under the Play page (Adopt, Decorate, Scenes, etc) there’ll be plenty of room for the new care bar OUTSIDE the pet’s scene.
Pantoning decor items is a good idea, but it also involves REALLY major recoding, so we probably can’t get that to start with either, but it can definitely go in the future Foo Do List.
a lot of my recommendations are drawn from Suggestions i’ve had in for a long time – hopefully in this format they’ll actually get noticed…i can see why a lot of them didn’t win any popularity contests, lol.
i don’t think having me on staff will work out though – from their point of view OR mine (snicker) – i would see it as kind of a conflict of interest, and THEY would probably be terrified. what I’D like – and will add – is for them to implement the Review Board already created at their request.
the whole point of doing this is to present things that work for them AND us. a lot of complaints and threats have been sent to them, to no avail…i’m trying to pitch for an actual hit, and something accomplished. i’ve seen it stated that the site is “boring” – to high-speed gamers it may well be – but i still believe there is a big market out there for this level of VA interaction if it can only be made workable, and enjoyable, for all involved.
thanks, i’ll try…though i’m not sure where it’ll fit. (if nothing else, it will protect my nose when they try to slam the door on it…they’ve always been of the opinion that my nose was too long by half anyway)
i don’t know about the hearts – though i may say that i’m a torch singer from WAY back, and i know how to write to jerk those particular strings. it’s the PURSESTRINGS i’ll be making the best case with, and i am VERY good with numbers. they have no idea how much money they are turning their back on…but we WILL tell them, in loving detail.
far as the ears go…well, no one’s ever accused me of talking too softly, lol. they’ll hear us – or i’ll land them in a hearing.
Wish you tons of luck and here’s hoping that the proposal doesn’t fall on deaf ears or frozen hearts! And make sure you wear your Protective Gear while doing battle!
Peach :o)~
thanks, i’ll try to use it…though i’m not sure where it’ll fit. (if nothing else, it will protect my nose when they try to slam the door on it…they’ve always been of the opinion that my nose was too long by half anyway)
i don’t know about the hearts – though i may say that i’m a torch singer from WAY back, and i know how to write to jerk those particular strings. it’s the PURSESTRINGS i’ll be making the best case with, though, and i am VERY good with numbers. they have no idea how much money they are turning their back on…but we WILL tell them, in loving detail.
far as the ears go…well, no one’s ever accused me of talking too softly, lol. they’ll hear us – or i’ll land them in a hearing.