A lot of people use the daily mail as their primary source of news (I'm not sure what informed news means).
Hacker news is a site full of smart coder/developer types, but I think most of them are not UK based so won't know what an unpleasant paper the Daily Mail is.
I can't believe that HN is linking to the Daily Mail... I can guarantee that everything said in this article is completely or partly untrue.
It's part of the daily mail's online strategy I think, increase traffic by using overseas social media whose users may not be fully aware of how utterly horrible and untruthful the paper is.
a) I think it differentiates itself by being a targeted vertical, a "destination" to go for homework answers from tutors who are rated and can provide full and in depth answers. Mahalo answers doesnt really focus on anything.
b) The assurance of getting paid is a potential problem, I dont think theres any way of giving that assurance...
c) The buttons problem is definitely something that needs changing.
d) About us - yes, doesn't look professional!
e) The last issue, allowing people to signup after theyve typed an answer is a really good idea... I think however that it's going to be much harder to get people to post questions than getting them to answer them. I've had lots of tutors sign up, just not that many students...
It was to protect against spam, ensure the user is a real person who can be contacted etc.
But I can see that a few people sign up, post a question, but never click the link so their question never goes live. I may try removing the requirement to confirm emails...
I understand the comparison with expertsexchange but I think Studylance is different. Expertexchange is all about spamming the search engines with common problems, Studylance is more like Elance or Rentacoder, in that individuals get a real response, rather than having to pay for the answer to a previously asked question,
The amounts are in £pounds for the moment, I'm going to add the option to view in USDollars soon.
Happened to me, I ran my own small ventures for about 2 years out of university. They definitely didn't fail, but they didn't make me a millionaire either. I cashed out of one of them with $20,000+ so it wasn't the end of the world.
However, whilst being interviewed over the past month or two I've encountered people who've really disliked the fact that I'd moved around several small entrepreneurial projects and now wanted a job. Some people absolutely loved it, but some people were really quite sceptical and even critical. Just shows you that people can be stupid, you have to keep trying as many as it takes until someone understands your value and doesn't make some retarded judgement based on something that doesn't matter.
As a sidenote, I found that the CEOs and founders that interviewed me were very keen on the entrepreneurial aspect to my cv. The middle management and wage monkeys weren't at all.