Pandora’s Box

Judy’s Book started off with the intention of being “Your Friend’s Yellow Pages” offering “unsolicited” reviews of local businesses. They started about the same time as InsiderPages but perhaps focused a little too broadly and now they find themselves floundering.

Maybe it was their single-minded effort of expanding the membership at a break-neck clip that left the remainder of their infrastructure so wanting. With this myopic focus, much else had been left unaddressed. The membership base they had recklessly grown harvested a crop of the Grammatically Challenged which was left unattended and has now gone to seed. More and more of the Grammatically Challenged have sprouted up in every nook and cranny on the site. Rather than find an approach to clean up their garden, Judy’s Book added manure to the mix. Now the place is simply overgrown with nonsensical weeds.

If this weren’t enough of a turn off, the infighting found on the site gives one the eerie feeling that a tornado is due to blow through the trailer park that is Judy’s Book at any given moment. Religious quarreling, member flaming, dramatic “goodbyes” all equate to a Spanish soap opera with misspelled subtitles. What happened to the reviews, the intelligent insights…?

Like so many other sites today, Judy’s Book realized that it could and should share at least a tiny percentage of the wealth—if only to keep itself competitive with the myriad sites that do the very same thing. Unlike those other sites, however, Judy’s Book surprised everyone by becoming stingy. Where other sites are increasing their “dividends”, Judy’s Book cut their rewards considerably while shoveling more of that manure around rather than being upfront with their members. Even some of the trailer park’s thickest members stopped fighting and cocked their heads for a moment at this turn of events.

When there are one or two minor “mistakes” or “misjudgments” made in a flight plan, most anybody can right the plane. When Judy’s Book insulted their members with bait-and-switch tactics, and then cut their rewards significantly while requiring more from their members, however, their nose dive began to look terminal.

With their site in turmoil, what did Judy’s Book do? Why, they turned their focus on a whole new venture and rolled out Judy’s Book Deals, of course! Perhaps their new slogan should be: “Judy’s Book—When One Debacle Just Isn’t Enough!”