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rancid's avatar

Why was fluther created?

Asked by rancid (214points) March 20th, 2009

Is it to create a social networking site to meet the needs of a specific group of people? Is it to make money? Is it for the technical challenge? I’m just curious.

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30 Answers

SuperMouse's avatar

Because Ben and Andrew are bitchin.

Harp's avatar

In the beginning, there were Ben and Andrew. And Ben said unto Andrew, “Let us create jellies in our image…”

RandomMrdan's avatar

I would guess D: All of the above.

bythebay's avatar

~...and they make millions off of this site, too!~

RandomMrdan's avatar

@bythebay I’ve ordered a couple shirts =) so that has to help a little bit… right?

rancid's avatar

I am serious. I want to understand why they do it. Does anyone know? Do founders say what they think? I think you are making fun of me, and I do not like it.

Harp's avatar

@rancid Sorry, no offense.

bythebay's avatar

@rancid: You can always pm Ben and/or Andrew for a more detailed explanantion, but this, might help you a bit.

rancid's avatar

Thank you @bythebay. Still, I am looking for motivation, not what it does or is supposed to do.

bythebay's avatar

@rancid: Just pm them with your specific questions.

A_Beaverhausen's avatar

they wanted to create a place for us :)

rancid's avatar

So nobody knows?

aprilsimnel's avatar

Ben and Andrew know. Anything we’d tell you would be pure conjecture.

richardhenry's avatar

Although I don’t speak for them, possibly a combination of three things:

Andrew has often spoken about wanting a place where people were motivated to help eachother and answer questions. He was babbling about some game he played way back having a lobby specifically dedicated to questions and how much fun it was.

Running a small business is one of the most satisfying things you can ever do in your life.

Andrew and Ben love technology and programming.

richardhenry's avatar

Why make something beautiful?

Harp's avatar

In this article from the Brown Alumni magazine, Ben and Andrew talk about the birth of Fluther. pretty much as @richardhenry describes it

Michael's avatar

@rancid I, like richardhenry, cannot speak for Andrew or Ben, but I do remember having conversations with Andrew way back in the days when Fluther was barely a twinkle in their eyes. Andrew and Ben were friends from college and had collaborated on several successful and, I would imagine, rewarding projects, both technical and artistic in nature. I would guess that there was a significant appeal in working together to launch their own web start-up.

As to the specifics of Fluther, I believe the inspiration came from the SUN lab at Brown University, where students would, through a shared network, help each other with random and not so random problems on assignments and projects.

And yes, I do think that they hope to turn a profit from this venture. Nothing wrong with that.

rancid's avatar

I thank you @Michael and @Harp. Those answewrs are helpful. I read the article, and now I understand more.

It makes sense, @Michael, to want to make money. I don’t know how they do it, though. Since I did not pay to sugn up here.

dynamicduo's avatar

They make a small bit of money by serving ads to non-members, as well as having Amazon links appear in the sidebar with their referral code. It’s not a lot of money, probably not enough to cover server costs, but it’s better than nothing. Oh, and they sell T-shirts. I wish there were more designs!

jh_ang's avatar

rancid your ans.. it is free for regitration but any singel time you click in this site they got something on it..so how many people is using this site how many you urself ur clicking..money is here.

AstroChuck's avatar

To fulfill our empty lives.
Thanks, Ben & Andrew.

mcbealer's avatar

no surprise here to find out from @Harp ‘s link that fluther (and yet another wonderful thing) was born out of the East Side experience in Providence. It rocks!

SeventhSense's avatar

All of the above.

toomuchcoffee911's avatar

Because tthere was the question, what’s so great about salt and pepper?

rancid's avatar

Try to eat herensuge stew in his native form. Then you will be very glad of salt and pepper. When traveling with the Kerbasi on the plains of Sedgeheeth, you eat far too much heresuge. It is worse than haggis. Even worse than Ariolimax on dragon slime bread, which is odd, since the stew and the bread ultimately come fromthe same place.

tiffyandthewall's avatar

clearly, to exceed the awesome limits of the internet.

the realm of possibility is was always expanding – that is, until fluther was created – and that’s when the realm ended. the universe could not possibly expand to contain any more pure awesome.

bythebay's avatar

@rancid: You’ve traveled with Basque boy warriors and eaten stew made from a mythical dragon? Wow, what a colorful life!
I’ve also known dragon slime bread to be made with zucchini & blueberries, why would you top it with slugs?

Dutchess12's avatar

@rancid I think just because they could…and now, of course, they get to be famous!

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