This site is about not making journeys across London to look at something that turns out to be a complete waste of time.

That is what the site is for.

Inevitably this means MoveFlat does refuse ads from the site, and you may be already aware via word-of-mouth that I do do this.

 

I'm not interested in running a property site where anyone can post anything.

That's because it really isn't very interesting for me to do it.

What's interesting for me is to use the internet to allow choice.

So I'm interested in hosting ads that are interesting for people who like to use MoveFlat.com

At a basic level, that means the ads have to contain useful information for people that are looking for somewhere to live.

That means I am refusing between 20 and 30 ads a day on this site, every day.

I refuse them because they heap the responsibility onto you for finding even the most minimum information. These are some examples which you may ring some unnostalgic bells for you :-

Vegetarians are welcome but the house is not 100% vegetarian. The website insists I write 40 words so here are some more words. And some more words. This is now becoming a pain.

"Zone 2, wonderful room in friendly flatshare, only 12 minutes to London Bridge, Waterloo. Really safe area. Sharing with 1F1M f/f. Call us!

"Saffa/Oz/NZ near to transport, fridge-freezer, microwave etc close to transport. Saffa/Oz/NZ only.

or much more wordy but (possibly more) unhelpful :-

Fantastic property in up-and-coming area of Peckham Village in well sought after area. Flatshare with professionals with varied professional interests. Included: knives, forks plates,living room, kitchen with saucepans,TV,WM,locks on front door,double-glazing on bathroom window,nearby parks, excellent for relaxing! Parking in street. Fantastic transport links from Dulwich West.

This ad really did say 'locks on front door !"

These ads are very disrespectful: they tell you absolutely nothing about where you are going to live, they tend to patronise and above all they a lazy.

I dislike this kind of advertising..

I am one of the very lucky people who has hit on an internet idea that has worked.

This is possibly because I was relatively early in on the game: There have been some excellent startup London flatshare sites that have not succeeded, and I'm not sure why they haven't, because their new design has certainly excelled mine.

But, what has become important about all internet sites is trust.

This is really really ironic on a medium where anyone can post, and anyone can look.

And what is (in my opinion) very very good about the internet, is that it has spawned the requirement of trust from the 'bottom up.'

It's important to say that MoveFlat has grown up on trust: I don't sell e-mail addresses to anyone and I don't e-mail you atall after your ad has finished. The 'trust thing' is paramount, and you'll find this theme recurring throughout the site.

Julian

Quite a lot of people think you don't exist !

Well I'm not a computer, and I'm not a corporate logo or marketing vehicle.

I do exist, and I have a job which is nothing to do with any of my Move_ sites.


So why don't you have a 'Julian Blog?'

Blogs are for failed journalists.

If you run a blog, then you have to be sure your blog is going to be VERY interesting everyday, otherwise you're going to look like an egotistical Jonny-no-friends who spends all his time on the web.
I'd hate to think any of this applies to me ...



Some people think that the presentation of your sites is distinctly amateurish ?

Yes I am aware of that.

Well ?

I guess the opposite of amateur is 'professional.' And I'm not sure what that word means anymore. 
Every year, for my paid employment elsewhere, my professional body sends me a letter telling me what this entails 
and how I must conduct myself irrespective of my employer,
 and what will happen if I don't behave in the way they expect of me. And I do take them seriously,
 not least because they have the power to relieve me of my career, let alone my job.

But they don't tell me what suit to wear, nor the colour of my tie.
 They don't tell me they'll disown me if I don't get to network with the right people,
 or I've got bad breath or I listen to my messages at work with the speaker on.

So what's your point ?

well I think 'amateurish' is OK, and I think the adjective 'professional'  and noun 'professional' 
get confused.


 I don't want the sites to look like Vodafone's or Argos, because it implies that flatshare or whatever is an unhuman thing,
 and that people will arrive in neatly packed boxes with warranties and exclusion clauses. 

'Community' websites such as yours are very much 'last years' thing surely ?
 Are you not threatened by Facebook for instance ?

Wasn't it 'MySpace' or is it 'FaceBook ?' or 'Tribe' or 'UConnect' or 'Ebay' or 'CraigsList' or 'Amazon' ?

In fact MySpace continues to have considerably more traffic than FaceBook, but the TV companies have done with MySpace, so now they are reporting FaceBook. 

You probably don't recognise a couple of names in the previous list: that's because they've risen and fallen and largely disappeared.

It is true that people like me worry about these enormous sites and what they'll do next.
But it's also true that people like me (and me) were working in the public sector and didn't have a business four years ago and now we do.
I by the way have a business which is doing very well: it's called MoveFlat.com

It's also true that one big name is soon about to hit the news as stumbling: and it isn't Yahoo. The clue here is that it owns my major competitor. More will emerge about this in 2009.