Experience Project Blog

BroadCause

2010-10-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

Something BIG is coming from Experience Project-- and it's called BroadCause. BroadCause lets us help promote awareness and build steam behind great causes all over the world. Working with our partners, we can harness our communities on Experience Project, Twitter (@twitcause), and across our Facebook applications to promote meaningful cause campaigns, and help these organizations help others. BroadCause launches with our partner, Dreyers, on October 6th, 2010, helping raise Pediatric Cancer Awareness. Please join us in this great effort!

Music Search

2010-08-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

Experience Project's Music Search has been a fun and powerful addition to the site for a long time, hidden in the underbelly of the property. Our music search engine works differently than others you may have seen, allowing you to match moods and experiences to music. For example, if you want to know what song to listen to to get you through a relationship problem or remind you of growing up, according to millions of other Experience Project users.

Experience Project in Portuguese

2010-07-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Keep on keeping on, taking Experience Project to the world! Please welcome Experience Project in Portuguese! More languages to come soon...

Experience Project in Chinese

2010-07-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

Continuing our international releases, we're proud to release Experience Project in Chinese (Simplified). Experiences are universal, and we have many requests to address the Asian languages. For our first foray into this region, check out Experience Project 中文!

Experience Project en Español

2010-07-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

Introducing, Experience Project Español! EP is a universal place where people can share all of their experiences-- and experiences are not bound by language. We're happy to announce our first (very ALPHA!) release of EP Spanish, and we've built it in such a way that we can easily add additional languages. Enjoy, or (cheesiness alert), disfruta!

Real Dictionary Comes Through

2010-06-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

The derogatory term, Raghead, is all over the news today.

South Carolina state Senator Jake Knotts used the ethnic slur Raghead to refer to Rep. Nikki Haley, whose parents immigrated from India. "We've got a raghead in Washington, we don't need a raghead in the Statehouse," Knotts said on an Internet political talk show. He later apologized, saying the remarks were meant as a joke.

What does it Mean? EP's Real Dictionary comes to the rescue-- "Raghead is a derogatory term for a middle eastern or indian individual. the rag refers to the traditional head dresses, such as turbans, worn by some in those ethnic groups"!

Remembering Gary Coleman

2010-05-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

RIP Gary Coleman. What's your favorite Gary Coleman memory? Our little buddy growing up from Diff'rent Strokes has passed on, sadly... but he was a big part of many of our childhoods and will likely / hopefully be remembered fondly.

Hayley Williams, Paramore and the Real Dictionary

2010-05-28T01:59:00.001-07:00

We're loving the new Real Dictionary on EP... tonight after a certain rockstar claimed to have been hacked by way of naked pictures of herself being tweeted out to 600K+ people, we saw these two great definitions posted:

Who is Hayley Williams
Who are Paramore

Take a look and enjoy the laugh...

The Real Dictionary

2010-05-20T01:47:00.000-07:00

We've just introduced a new EP Labs, which we're calling the Real Dictionary. What is it? It's a dictionary that is built by you, our members. Of course, it has the usual "standard dictionary" definitions (thousands and counting-- we're including a number of great resources, including Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary), but what makes it great is the ability for people to contribute THEIR own interpretations of words to it. This might be a strange acronym finally being defined, or a witty definition of a common word. We figured drawing from our millions of experienced users, we could make huge progress in defining the world around us through the eyes of the people who know best.

Please enjoy, use, and provide us feedback on our dictionary!

Worst Case Scenario

2010-05-12T22:41:00.001-07:00

Many of us on Team EP are huge Bear Grylls fans, from his first show on Discovery called "Man versus Wild" to his latest new show, called, "Worst Case Scenario." Groups on EP share the love!

The Questions of the Day

2010-05-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

One of our longest-running features, it often gets the short end of our promotional time, but it's always a goodie. Our Question of the Day asks something interesting, provocative, but also light-hearted (no political questions or depressing existential questions allowed!). The best answer gets trophies, points and recognition on the page. Check it out when you get a chance... and yes, it is also due for the makeover that much of EP has already seen (no offense, page!)

Trending Feed

2010-05-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

hi all, we're testing out a new feature at EP-- a trending feed that shows you some of the hotter topics that are being discussed on site. For now, it appears near the bottom search bar on every page, and updates many times per hour. Taking a quick look, this is what we see right now:

Trending…

We'll keep testing to see if it's something people find useful, but in the few short days we've had it live, many thousands have checked out what EP's got on these topics. Thx always for your support as we experiment, tweak, and improve on our commitment to make EP better each and every day.

Sexless Marriage

2010-01-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

Hey all, Happy New Year!

As with 2008, our most popular group by activity for the 2009 year was:

I live in Sexless Marriage

More popular groups to come once we analyze the numbers, but wanted to throw that one out there as it was a runaway winner.

It's tough being married-- kids, medical issues, and particularly last year, economic stress, all took their hit in creating marriages without sex.

Merry Christmas from EP

2009-12-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

We wish our community a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays-- here's a few Christmas groups to mark the day:

I say Merry Christmas

I love Christmas

Brittany Murphy's Death

2009-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Tragic to see any young person lose their lives, but particularly poignant when it's a movie star that so many people are familiar with and would relate to. EP's discussions include:

Q&A:

Have you Heard About Brittany Murphey's Death and What Was the Cause?

Experience Group:
Can't Believe Brittany Murphy Died

RIP, Mrs. Murphy

Andre Agassi Revisited

2009-12-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a month since Andre Agassi's confession came out that he used crystal meth during the earlier portions of his tennis career.

For those on the less wild side, check out the I Play Tennis group!

Our Military Wives and Girlfriends

2009-12-14T23:06:00.000-08:00

Military families have always been a big part of the Experience Project family, and so we'll highlight a few of our hundreds of military wife and girlfriend support groups here:

I am an Army Wife

I am a Navy Wife

I am a Marine Girlfriend or Marine Wife

Life can be hard and often lonely in these situations, but these fine folks make their country and us proud. Their resolve and strength, with a little bit of help from their EP friends, is so admirable, and we're thrilled to call them our friends on EP.

Tiger Woods: Thoughts on the Girls

2009-12-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

Tiger Woods has been the buzz of the online world for the last couple weeks. Just uncovered a fun Q&A thread:

Tiger's Girls - What do you think their Thought Process was

Ping Sitemaps to Google, Yahoo and Bing

2009-07-28T13:02:00.001-07:00

Recently we discovered that our sitemaps-- the list of pages on the site-- for Yahoo and Bing were not updating on their own. Google handles this task automatically, so we had blissfully assumed it was the same case with everyone else. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be. You should manually ping the other major search engines each time your sitemap changes.

To help save you the time, here are all the addresses you need to hit:

Google Sitemap Ping Address:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap url]

Yahoo! Sitemap Ping Address
http://search.yahooapis.com/SiteExplorerService/V1/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap url]

Ask.com Sitemap Ping Address
http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=[your sitemap url]

Microsoft Bing Sitemap Ping Address
http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=[your sitemap url]

You can also include your sitemap (or sitemap of sitemaps) in your robots.txt file.
Just add the following directive to robots.txt:

Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Hope this helps! Happy sitemap indexing! For more information, check out the sitemap protocol site.

How Cute is Obama's Dog? Is Bo "the Cutest Dog Ever?"

2009-04-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

In a recent survey, respondents rated Obama's new dog, Bo, cuter than 95% of all dogs -- with most respondents considering Bo "extra cute."

America recently watched Bo's arrival at the White House closer than it has that of any world leader, men and women of all ages fawning over this Portuguese water dog's every move.

Upon hearing my colleague Deven proclaim "OMG I think I am going to faint...that is the cutest dog ever!" I took it upon myself to figure out how cute Obama's dog really is. Is Bo really "the cutest dog ever?"

As many of you know, here at Experience Project we have a large and vibrant community of pet lovers among the tens of thousands of passionate life experience groups members have formed. One of the things that pet lovers enjoy on the site is the EP Pet Project which, among other things, allows them to share pictures of their pets, adopt virtual pets, and play "Cute or Not" -- a fun game where they can rate how cute they think a pet is.

To help me answer whether Bo is "the cutest dog ever," I asked a friend to submit a photo of Bo as a "contestant" in EP's Cute or Not game.

Within a day, Bo's cuteness had been voted on by nearly 600 people, and we had come to an average cuteness rating of 4.4 out of 5. So, how does that stack up against all dogs in America?

Since the EP Pet Project has had over 2,000 different pets submitted, I was able to look up my answer. Based on his cuteness score, Bo was rated as being cuter than 95% of all dogs! That's pretty remarkable and certainly places Bo as one of the cutest dogs in America -- quite an honor, if being America's First Dog wasn't enough!

UPDATE: the "Cute Puppies" Page on Facebook and @PuppyOfTheDay on Twitter also ran an informal poll on how cute fans thought Bo was as part of their Puppy of the Day game. According to them, Bo is cuter than 85% of all puppies. Nevertheless, Bo is still being considered cuter than most!

Experience Project Finds Osama Bin Laden, Receives Strategic Investment from Central Intelligence Agency

2009-04-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

April 1, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO: Experience Project Inc, the world’s largest living archive of life experiences, announced today that the company has found international terrorist Osama Bin Laden as a member of its anonymous online community.

Mr. Bin Laden’s identity was spotted through the company’s new location-sharing feature, where members can share the location of where a confession or experience took place. Mr. Bin Laden shared his location as Sar-e-Raqowl, Afghanistan – a cave dwelling in southern Afghanistan inhabited by 6 people and 2 mountain goats.

Mr. Bin Laden, or “SamaBabby” as he is known on the site, shared a confession about his secret love for Mochi Ball kebabs, a dessert previously forbidden by the Taliban. Mr. Bin Laden and his supporters continue to protest Mochi Ball kebabs as a tactic by the “imperialist demonic powers” to brainwash his supporters through the Mochi Ball Kebab’s soft and delicious flavors.

Mr. Bin Laden was an active member of the community, and a member of communities including “I Loved Someone that Didn’t Love Me,” “I Want to Lose Weight,” and “I Live in a Sexless Marriage.”

Immediately following the announcement, the Central Intelligence Agency announced a $200 million investment in Experience Project at an undisclosed valuation. The funds will be used to develop state-of-the-art location technology and algorithms to match the writing style of Experience Project stories to that of international criminals.

50 Things You Didn't Know about Sarah Palin

2008-08-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

Lots of talk today about Sarah Palin-- McCain's surprise VP pick. Learn 50 Things You Didn't Know about Sarah Palin here

Dream Meanings

2008-07-24T01:09:00.000-07:00

Every now and then we want to highlight a hidden treasure of the EP community. Today it is our dreams section, which helps with dream interpretation and dream meanings.

Dreams often reflect our innermost thoughts in their most raw form, so they are a staging ground for EP users to help better understand themselves and get help and input from the community on an often pressing question of What Does My Dream Mean?

Check it out and share your dreams today!

George Carlin RIP

2008-06-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

We just learned that George Carlin passed away on Sunday Night. Rest in peace-- like him or not, he was a true comedic giant that changed the landscape forever.

George Carlin Tributes and Video Clips at Experience Project

Hillary Clinton to Concede Defeat on Friday in Democratic National Primary

2008-06-04T16:06:00.001-07:00

According to ABC News, a senior person in Hillary Clinton's entourage said she would concede defeat in the United States Democratic National Primary on Friday.

After Tuesday's split decision in the Montana and South Dakota primaries, and the en masse endorsement of Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday morning by nearly 70 party superdelegates, it was only a matter of when and how, not if.

It has been a truly historic occasion, and we, alongside the EP community, have been enthralled by it. Now it becomes Obama versus John McCain, a
nd the EP communities are ready to throw their support behind their chosen candidate:

I Support John McCain for President

I Support Barack Obama for President

Support Ted Kennedy in his battle against a Malignant Brain Tumor

2008-05-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

Senator Edward (Teddy) Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Experience Project users have set up an online get-well card to show support for Senator Kennedy and his family as he battles glioma.

Teddy Kennedy Brain Tumor Diagnosis Support Card

Brain Tumor Survivor Stories at Experience Project

Starving Dog Artist Gets Protested

2008-04-29T02:43:00.000-07:00

Check out the Starving Dog Artist Protest Petition at EP...

Play Trivia for your Favorite Candidate

2008-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Following the success of our efforts to help save shelter pets and baby seals, we proudly announce the release of our US Presidential Election Candidate Game... play for your favorite candidate, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, or John McCain, and we'll donate proceeds to the respective campaign. It's an easy way to help your favorite candidate, pass some time, and increase your knowledge of trivia.

Have fun :)

Beijing 2008 Torch Protest

2008-04-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

In honor of the protests in our home town of San Francisco towards the Olympic 2008 Torch Relay, we've set up one of our famous Opinion walls-- a fun, powerful combination of petitions, open forums, and mad libs.

Check it out:

Olympic 2008 Opinion Wall

75 Year Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition

2008-04-07T00:33:00.000-07:00

April 7th marks the anniversary of the modification of the Volstead Act. That’s the date in 1933 when beer became the first alcoholic beverage to be made legal since Prohibition was implemented in 1920. The officially was ratified Dec 5, 1933.
In the words of the late President FDR “What America needs now is a drink”. So, raise a beer mug and let’s celebrate the freedom to enjoy a frosty tall one!

10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Prohibition Supporters

1. So convinced were they that alcohol was the cause of virtually all crime that, on the eve of Prohibition, some towns actually sold their jails.

2. Early temperance writers often insisted that because of their high blood alcohol content, "habitual drunkards" could spontaneously combust and burn to death from inside.

3. One temperance "scientific authority" implied that inhaling alcohol vapors might lead to defective offspring for at least three generations.

4. Because the temperance movement taught that drinking alcohol was sinful, it was forced to confront the contrary fact that Jesus drank wine. Its solution was to insist that Jesus drank grape juice rather than wine.

5. Although Prohibition was repealed seven decades ago, there are still hundreds of dry counties across the United States today.

6. Temperance Leader Lucius Manlius Sargent tried to get secondary schools, colleges and universities to eliminate all references to alcoholic beverages in ancient Greek and Latin texts.

7. During Prohibition, temperance activists hired a scholar to rewrite the Bible by removing all references to alcohol beverage.

8. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) strongly supported Prohibition and its strict enforcement.

9. Prohibitionists advocated strong measures against those who did not comply with Prohibition—one suggestion included having the government distribute poisoned alcohol beverages through bootleggers and even acknowledged that several thousand Americans would die as a result.

10. Prohibitionists didn't give up easily. They even tried to enforce Prohibition for as long as ten years after its repeal by the Twenty-first Amendment.

Thanks Perez Hilton

2008-04-04T17:36:00.001-07:00

We appreciate the shout out from none other than Perez Hilton about our SaveDogs game-- play trivia, earn food for dog shelters. Over a metric ton donated already. Play the save dogs trivia game today (also, check out save cats and save seals).

What a Difference a Year Makes

2008-04-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

What a difference a year makes. While search for the latest presidential poll numbers, we came upon this and had to do a double-take:

From April 1st, 2007:

Zogby: Giuliani, Clinton Hold Big Leads in National Tests
Edwards holds in third place among Dems; Fred Thompson could be a GOPer worth watching

Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrat Hillary Clinton, both of New York state, continue to enjoy significant leads over rivals in national tests of likely primary voters, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows. Meanwhile, Giuliani’s edge among Republicans is now more than double that of his nearest rival.

Clinton holds a double–digit 32% to 22% lead over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, with former senator John Edwards a distant third in a national test of Democratic likely voters. The survey was the first national poll to be fielded following Friday’s announcement by Edwards that he would continue his campaign despite a new cancer diagnosis facing his wife, Elizabeth. Twenty–four percent of Democrats said they were as yet undecided.

Among Republicans, Giuliani, a moderate, continues to show strength and Arizona Sen. John McCain continues to struggle to build a foundation of support. The former New York mayor now leads over McCain, 27% to 13%.

The survey, conducted March 22-26, 2007, included 432 Democratic respondents (margin of error of +/- 4.8 percentage point) and 376 Republicans (margin of error +/- 5.2 percentage points).

Democrats
Clinton 32%
Obama 22%
Edwards 13%
Biden 2%
Richardson2%
Kucinich 1%
Not Sure 24%

Republicans
Giuliani 27%
McCain 13%
Thompson 9%
Romney 9%
Paul 3%
T. Thompson1%
Huckabee 1%
Hunter 1%
Tancredo 1%
Not sure 28%

from http://zogby.com

Helping Save Baby Seals From The Seal Hunt

2008-03-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks the start of the annual Canadian Seal Hunt-- widely viewed as the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. In conjunction, Experience Project announces a way to Help Save Baby Seals by playing a simple game.

There is a great deal of controversy over the seal hunt-- proponents say it provides needed income for indigent fisherman, and is no more cruel than the slaughter of any other wild animal, such as lobstering. Critics point to the fact that the seals are mammals who are clubbed to death with an ancient weapon, then often skinned before they are fully dead. A recent study verified that indeed nearly 40% of the seals were determined to have been conscious at the time of skinning.

This year, the permit to hunt seals includes a caveat that the seals be bled to death before skinning-- required, grotesquely, by cutting the major arteries underneath each flipper. Again, wildlife protection agencies cry foul, noting that there is no guarantee that this will be done, or when it will be done.

In any case, at Experience Project, we listen to our community, and we are a community of animal lovers. Our games to raise donations for shelter dogs and shelter cats have resonated with our community, and in that spirit, we are proud to release our newest trivia game to raise donations: Save Baby Seals.

The concept is simple: play a trivia game, get a question right, and we'll donate towards a cause protecting the seals. We hope you enjoy this opportunity to easily help in an important cause.

In honor of Mr. Rogers Day (Sweater Day), Here's 15 Fun Mr. Rogers Facts

2008-03-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

In honor of National Sweater Day (Mr. Rogers Day!), and the fifth anniversary of his death, here are fifteen fun facts about PBS' Mr. Rogers (thanks to member Videodemon for pulling this together):

Mister Rogers was colorblind (red-green)

There has been a rumor floating around for years that Mr. Rogers was (either) a Navy Seal, or a Marine sniper, with dozens of confirmed kills. These rumors are certainly amusing, but totally false

While a child, he spent most of his free time with his grandfather, who was a huge influence on him

Mr. Rogers first began to wear his sneakers because he found them quieter than his other work shoes when he was moving around the set during production.

Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1962. He was charged with continuing his work with TV and children.

He first worked with NBC, but then decided that commercial television's reliance on advertisement and merchandising undermined its ability to benefit kids, so he quit.

The sweaters Mr. Roger wore on the show were hand knitted by his mother.

Mr. Rogers drove a used Chevy Impala. Towards the end of his career, his car was stolen from the studio parking lot. Word spread, and outrage swept the town. 48 hours later, the car was back in the spot where he had left it along with a note, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it!”

You can have a VCR thanks to Mr. Rogers. In contrast to most people in his industry, Mr. Rogers fought on BEHALF of VCR manufacturers in court-- arguing that he didn't object to families recording his show for later viewing at a more convenient time. The United States Supreme Court considered his testimony in its decision that the Betamax recorded did not infringe copyright (see below for a great quote from his testimony). The Home Recording Rights Coalition later stated that Rogers was "one of the most prominent witnesses on this issue."

When Mr. Rogers was at a speaking engagement, he would instruct the audience to remain silent for 60 seconds-- and to use that time of silence to remember those who helped them become who they are

Mr. Roger’s parents adopted an African American teenager named George. Rogers came to consider George his older brother, and George later became an instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II-- and also taught Rogers how to fly.

Mr. Rogers was awarded 40 honorary degrees

Mr. Rogers show has the distinction of being the longest running program on PBS; it ran for 998 episodes

He was a vegetarian, swam every morning, and never smoke nor drank

There is a $3 million dollar statue to Mr. Rogers being unveiled on Mr. Rogers Day "Sweater Day" on March, 20th, 2008 in Pittsburgh (he was from Latrobe, Pennsylvania).

(Bonus) Mr. Rogers could Moonwalk & Breakdance(not kidding!):

Here's Mr. Rogers' rather profound quote when testifying about private recording of shows:

"Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "Neighborhood" at hours when some children cannot use it ... I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "Neighborhood" off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "Neighborhood" because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important"
RIP Mr. Rogers

Visit the "I loved Mr. Roger's" group at Experience Project to learn more and remember this kind soul.

Credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers

http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/464_US_417.htm#464us417n27

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0736872/

Eliot Spitzer - A Bit of Comic Relief

2008-03-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

With all the Elliot Spitzer news and gossip in high gear (around his participation in the high-class prostitution ring Emperor's Club and subsequent resignation as Governor of New York) we noticed one of our users used it as an opportunity for a comic break:

Jiggylicious posted an entertaining story on Experience Project titled "Top 10 Signs Your Husband Is Part of a High-Class Prostitution Ring." I've reproduced the top 10 list below. Enjoy!

10. He leaves wads of cash on your bedside table after sex.

9. He frequently has voice messages from women with names like Maya, Avalon, and Svetlana.

8. The receptionists at the Mayflower Hotel all know him by name and bill your room by the hour.

7. $31,000 charges show up on your American Express statement from "Emperor's Mattress Warehouse"

6. You find him up at night watching Pretty Woman and crying for Richard Gere's character.

5. He rates restaurants and movies in terms of how many "diamonds" they deserve.

4. Justifies a hike in state taxes to pay for rising costs of service workers.

3. He starts getting bulk discounts for expensive gifts from Tiffany's.

2. He changes his relationship status on Facebook to "it's expensive."

Check out the story for the top reason! And then add your own!

Barack Obama won the Texas Primary, Right?

2008-03-10T15:53:00.001-07:00

Like many of you, we've been closely following the trials and tribulations of the US Presidential Election, namely the Democratic contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Barack was on the verge of a knockout last week after 13 straight victories, but Hillary stayed in it by winning Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. But the conclusions were based without having the final Texas Democratic Primary results, including caucuses. Let us explain...

Ohio and Rhode Island were impressive victories, no doubt, both by healthy margins. But it is Texas that provides the most curious results, and by any reasonable math, Obama actually WON Texas yet received no popular credit for it. Here's how it looks:

From the Texas Secretary of State, and with 100% of ballots counted, here are the results:

Hillary Clinton 1,459,814 50.89%
Barack Obama 1,358,785 47.36%

This gives Hillary a popular vote win by ~101,000 voters, and 65 delegates, to Barack Obama's 61 delegates. All well and good.

BUT Texas has, by all accounts, a different type of primary than most any other state. Called the "Texas Two-Step", one is the popular vote in a statewide election, while the second part is a caucus system where voters actually gather and decide who to support en masse. Obama tends to do very well in caucus states, most likely because of his mobilization of the youth.

In Texas, this was no different. The state, to complicate matters, stopped providing results about halfway through the counting process, but here were the latest official results from the Texas Democratic Caucus:

23,918 OBAMA 56%
18,620 CLINTON 45%

with 41% (or 3377/8224) precints reporting.

If this trend holds up, and there's no reason to think it won't, then Obama gets 38 delegates to Hillary's 30, yielding a total result from Texas of:

Hillary Clinton: 65+30 = 95 Delegates
Barack Obama: 61+38 = 99 Delegates

With plenty of margin for error on the caucus side, this means Barack Obama wins Texas in the technical sense of the word (just as George W. Bush won the US Election in 2000 versus Al Gore despite losing the popular vote), which for better or for worse, is all that matters in the Democratic primary process.

To corroborate, Obama's own campaign website shows their side winning Texas, 99 to 94. Hillary is not showing a score on her website (at least that we found).

The caveat: "Although delegates generally do not switch presidential preferences, party rules do not formally bind delegates to support the same candidate at every step in the convention process, and the allocation of delegates to the national convention is not finally determined until the June 6-7 State Convention. Therefore, these results may not reflect the final allocation of 67 delegates determined by the TDP convention/caucus process."

If you support Barack Obama, click here
If you support Hillary Clinton, click here
If you support John McCain, click here

Eve Carson Memorial

2008-03-06T23:45:00.000-08:00

Here's an online memorial created for Eve Carson after the shocking news of her brutal murder.

Eve Carson Memorial

RIP.

Lindsay Lohan Poses Naked as Marilyn Monroe

2008-02-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

Lindsay Lohan lovers have something to cheer about as she recently did a spread with famed photographer Bert Stern, who did a similar layout with Marilyn Monroe just a few weeks before she died. The pictures show her cavorting in erotic poses in bed, and are meant to be a haunting indication of someone who is appreciated more for their sex appeal than their talents. Not sure if it succeeds-- the Monroe pictures are doubtless more powerful.

http://nymag.com/fashion/08/spring/44247/

Be warned: some pictures of Lindsay Lohan are topless in this photo shoot.

Last Minute Valentine's Gifts

2008-02-14T10:46:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

One of our most popular stories for this holiday is one detailing quick, affordable, and well-received, ahem, gifts for Valentine's Day... check it out...

---

Listen, I know you're desperate. Time is running out and you haven't a clue nor an infinite budget. Don't even think about making origami flowers or roadside produce. Whether you need a present for your lady friend on Valentine's Day or Christmas, I've got a plan that fits YOUR needs-- and takes into account the stores YOU can get to, be it drug stores, department stores, or (no whammy!) even convenience stores. Yes. I said it.

If you know me, my feelings about high maintenance girls are clear. So instead of getting gouged with roadside roses that are probably already sold out, standing in line for an hour at Sees to get the stuff people returned from Christmas, or doing what most guys do, which is trying to overcompensate by buying her something outrageously expensive like jewelry, here are some realistic (and dirt cheap) suggestions to save your buttockal region and retain a reasonable chance for a successful evening. Note that this isn't stuff I'd recommend in a regular situation, but something about desperate times and desperate measures prevails.

The main strategy- make it look to HER like you're different and thoughtful (not like those 'other guys') AND delay/defuse the situation until you have time to actually do something nice for the lady in your life. Without further ado, here we go...

---
Read the rest of the story...

Valentine's Day

2008-02-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is here, and with it the cadre of love experiences and stories about first kisses, first loves, crushes, missed connections, and everything else dealing with cupid, and his successes and failures... here's a small sampling of what we've got for you...

Free Love Notes

Post a Free Love Note

Experiences and Stories

I Had A Great Valentine's Day

I Had A Bad Valentine's Day

I Am Alone on Valentine's Day

I Am Born on Valentine's Day

I Don't Want to Spend Valentine's Day Alone

I Am Away From My Love on Valentine's Day

Surveys and Quizzes

These Valentine's Day Surveys about love and dating can be posted on MySpace, Piczo, LiveJournal, Blogger, and pretty much any other blog or social network.

Or create your own!

Chantix Stop Smoking Drug Linked to Psychological Problems

2008-02-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

The FDA today issued a warning that Chantix, the recently approved drug for the treatment of smoking, may exacerbate or even cause psychological disorders.

According to the report, a total of 39 patients have committed suicide while taking the medicine. In addition to the suicides, the FDA said there have been 491 incidents of suicidal thoughts and behavior. Scary stuff.

Many Experience Project users have shared their personal Chantix stories... check them out, and share your own.

I Quit Smoking
I Want to Quit Smoking

John Edwards Gives Up Presidential Aspirations

2008-01-30T14:43:00.000-08:00

It seems John Edwards has bowed out of the 2008 US Presidential Election, without endorsing Obama or Clinton, after failing to win any of the primaries or place higher than third, for that matter. A progressive candidate who was simply outshined by his two groundbreaking competitors-- Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama.

At the Experience Project US Presidential Polls, we saw Edwards gather only 5% of the polls for the Question, "If the Presidential Election were held today, who would you vote for?" and 10% for the question "Which Democratic candidate do you support for the 2008 Presidential Election?"

Interestingly enough, Rudy Giuliani (Guiliania, Juliani, Jeweliani, who can spell this!?! ;)), gathered 14% of the Presidential Poll, and 45% of the Republican poll.

The drama now unfolds... Supporters, line up!

Support Barak Obama, Share Your Stories and See the Latest Polls
Support Hillary Clinton, Share Your Stories and See the Latest Polls
Support Mitt Romney, Share Your Stories and See the Latest Polls
Support John McCain, Share Your Stories and See the Latest Polls

Vote in our presidential polls!

Heath Ledger's Death

2008-01-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Heath Ledger's death brought shock and sad surprise at our office. Our community was also affected, with a group immediately forming called "I can't believe Heath Ledger is Dead."

As one user eloquently wrote: "I was shocked and saddened to hear that Heath Ledger was found dead today. He was such a great actor, and so young with such a bright future ahead of him. We'll all miss him."

RIP friend.

Jamie Lynn Spears' Pregnancy

2007-12-19T02:36:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. Britney Spears is a perennial favorite at Experience Project, but now news that her younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant-- at 16 years old-- is shocking news indeed. There's a small Jamie Lynn Spears Fan Board at EP, with lots of Jamie Lynn Video Clips.

Oprah Obama Barack Winfrey

2007-12-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

The United States Presidential Election begins to heat up at the close of this year, and it's interesting to see the star power coming into play at this still early stage.

Most notably, Oprah Winfrey has thrown her formidable support unequivocally behind Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton, often seen with her husband Bill Clinton, today featured her daughter Chelsea and mother Dorothy Rodham on the campaign trail-- to elicit a feeling of a new message 'for the generations.'

It's far too early to get very excited, but it's interesting to see how campaigning-- which has become so much of a media management issue, comes together. Ron Paul, the surprise candidate of 2008 in terms of grassroots internet support, even has the Ron Paul Blimp coming together!

At Experience Project, where we have numerous presidential polls and surveys running, the overall leading candidate (survey prompt: Who would you vote for US President in 2008" is Barack Obama, at 27%, to Hillary Clinton's 25%, followed by Rudy Giuliani's 17%. Check it out and make your voice heard today!

Or join your favorite candidate's support and discussion group:

Barack Obama Supporters
Hillary Clinton Supporters
John Edwards Supporters

Rudy Giuliani Supporters
John McCain Supporters
Mitt Romney Supporters
Ron Paul Supporters
Mike Gravel Supporters
Mike Huckabee Supporters

Heather Mills Talks of Suicide

2007-10-31T10:37:00.001-07:00

Heather Mills, ex-wife of Paul McCartney, was on TV this morning talking about how hard her life has been since the news of the split broke, even going so far as contemplating taking her own life so her daughter could then, in her mind, be safe with her father.

Celebrities are real people, and their needs are like ours. Under a microscope, we see their flaws and successes, but we are always keen to point out that underneath it all, we can relate.

Check out the rather shocking Heather Mills crying and suicidal thoughts videos.

Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas and Contest

2007-10-31T10:29:00.000-07:00

Boo! It's Halloween and we should point out that we've got over 100 great Halloween costume ideas, with stories on how to make them and what reaction they get, posted in our "I remember my favorite Halloween Costume" group.

Likewise, today is the last day to enter the Halloween contest where if you submit a story about YOUR favorite Halloween costume, you're automatically entered to win a $25 iTunes gift certificate!

Trick or Treat? Treat!

Carving Pumpkins

2007-10-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming up... and thoughts turn to pumpkins. Want to figure out how to carve them? Don't feel like the messy task of carving pumpkins is for you? In our own search, we found some neat flash pumpkin carving applications... you get a virtual pumpkin, a virtual knife, and then you have at it. We thought it was neat enough to share. Get in the Halloween spirit ;)

Here are some links for you to try carving your own pumpkin, without seeds or a pattern!

Virtual Pumpkin

Another Pumpkin Carving Game

One more Pumpkin Carver for good measure!

And be sure to take our Halloween Survey

Enjoy your virtual pumpkin simulators!

Another Universe (Youniverse)

2007-10-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

So interesting to see Law and Order have an episode on Virtual Worlds, which they called Another Youniverse (which everyone will misspell as Another Universe when searching for it). This was about, the, well nefarious side of things involving such savory topics as sexsomnia.

Which made us check out if there were any Law and Order groups on Experience Project-- and indeed there were, with "I love Law and Order" leading the pack in activity...

Oops She Did it Again

2007-09-10T18:16:00.001-07:00

With news of Britney Spears' lackluster performance last nigh at the MTV Video Awards, we took a look at Experience Project to see if a group existed about her. And indeed, there was one called "I Feel Sorry for Britney Spears" (and another more lighthearted one, called "I Share the Same Birthday as Britney Spears."

Britney Spears remains insanely poplar, even if the sentiment towards her skews towards the (increasingly) negative. It's a shame, because if you look at Britney's collective works, no one can deny she knows how to entertain.

But now that her musical career seems to be in its death throes, the reason people are so interested in her these days might have something to do with the fact that she's becoming more human. She's no longer waif-like, she's had marital problems, she's had her rebellion(s). We don't judge nor condone whatever she does-- it's none of our business. But we are always fascinated by the complexity, the triumphs, the challenges of human life-- from celebrities to your neighbors.

Experience Project covers that range of life-- weigh in, read some stories about Britney, and check out the videos of Britney Spears at the Video Music Awards (VMAs).

Luciano Pavarotti Memorial

2007-09-06T00:58:00.001-07:00

It is with great sadness I mourn the passing of Luciano Pavarotti.

I became a fan of Luciano Pavarotti after his appearance on the haunting U2 ode to Bosnia, Miss Sarajevo. It was astounding work:

[Pavarotti]
Dici che il fiume
trova la via al mare
E come il fiume
giungerai a me
Oltre i confini
e le terre assetate
Dici che come fiume
come fiume
L'amore giunger
L'amore
E non so pi pregare
E nell'amore non so pi sperare
E quell'amore non so pi aspettare

[English translation:]

You say that the river
finds the way to the sea
And as the river
you'll come to me
Beyond the borders
and the thirsty lands
You say that as river
As river
Love will come
Love
And I cannot pray anymore
And I cannot hope in love anymore
And I cannot wait for love anymore

You can visit Experience Project's Luciano Pavarotti Memorial here.

Paula Zahn shows that celebrities are not Immune to a Sexless Marriage

2007-08-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

With the media frenzy picking up, it's hard to avoid word of former news anchor Paula Zahn's affair with Paul Fribourg. Word has now come out that Paula blames this very public ordeal because her marriage with husband Richard Cohen was of the sexless variety.

Whether or not these tawdry tales are true, sexless marriage is a serious and pressing issue. One of the most powerful experience groups at Experience Project is "I live in a sexless marriage"-- and provides an exploration from both gender's perspectives of what such an arrangement is not only like, but how it might be improved. Experience Project's culture is about positive growth and improvement of wellness- and that often starts by realizing you are not alone.

Through our encouragement of anonymity, our members can explore whatever it is that is on their minds-- be it a sexless marriage or remembering your first kiss, in a comfortable, safe environment and meet people who truly understand them.

Welcome tour of the Experience Project World Headquarters

2007-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

To kick off a new project we're calling "EP TV" we did a quick welcome tour of the Experience Project office to introduce you to the team. Check out the video below:

For the beholder

2007-08-21T01:22:00.001-07:00

Yawn!

No, not bored. But a bit underslept!

I can't explain just how productive the Experience Project Team is. In the past week, we've added:

-Powerful new threaded mailbox (think Gmail)
-A promotional badge and logo page (share EP on your website or blog)
-Address book import (pass on EP to your address book without sharing your username)
-Random story and group links (stumble through Experience Project!)
-Sorting your stories by unread comments (we heard you!)
-Subscribe to stories (get notified by email when someone else posts a comment)
-Tons of tweaks and bug fixes to make the site more usable for you

Yes, all in 7 days. Weekends count at EP.

Why? Because we love our users and know how important the site is to them, and so going the extra mile could very well make their lives just a tad bit better.

Keep the suggestions coming. We're listening. And just you wait until the features coming out NEXT week. We're going to knock your socks off. Maybe your shirt too. Scandalous!

BlogHer (dawn's take)

2007-08-07T15:26:00.001-07:00

Wow, Julio covered a lot of bases with his summary of BlogHer. He did forget an couple of key details, however. One was the amazing dance party that Jessica and I had along with many other women at the final cocktail party in the Children's Museum at the Navy Pier in Chicago. We busted some moves to a mix of top 40's. Gwen (www.gwenbell.com) and Tara (iquitforlijit.typepad.com) were key dance floor buddies, and many other women joined our hip-swiveling affair until we had a full on funk fest (ok this is getting a bit cheesy...) We're still anxiously awaiting some of the many pics that were taken to appear in the blogosphere.
Speaking of pictures, another one of our fave features of this particular party was the old-fashioned photo booth that Jessica and I (ok, especially Jess;) took full advantage of. We have several sets of pics of the EP team making all sorts of ridiculous faces in black and white awesomeness.

The Windorphins eBay Campaign Deconstructed

2007-08-04T12:33:00.001-07:00

eBay has been running a mysterious mass-market ad campaign for the past two months, referred to as "Windorphins." Cryptic messages on billboards, bus stops, newspaper stands show colorful, cutesy blobs like the one above, and some feel-good message that you might think is more appropriate for an anti-depressant or Microsoft Windows ad instead of one for the onlin auction giant.

But you see, you get a "windorphin"-- a play on the stress hormone endorphin-- when you win an auction. Oh. Right.

The purpose of this post isn't to argue the merits of the ad campaign itself, but rather to try to get a sense of what the impact is of such a mass-market, eyeballs campaign where the brand is hidden behind some mystery. The hope is that this triggers curiosity in people who already know (and are indifferent) to the brand, and both reinvigorates abandoned users, as well as enchants people who had previously dismissed the idea of using the given brand's products. A very similar example could be found in the Ask.com campaign for their search engine about "the Algorithm."

So, enough of the theory-- is this a good use of limited marketing dollars? Certainly Windorphins has gone from no recognition to some semblance of fame in a very short time...

But that graph is useless without comparing it to something... more impactful. Like the ladies of the press, Paris and Britney:

Now we see that windorphins really aren't making all that much of a splash, particularly for a site with the girth of eBay. To be fair, Paris and Britney are monstrous search terms, but that's the type of traffic one might think eBay needs to generate for this to be a worthwhile endeavor.

However, in the interest of pseudo-science, let's take a look at something more up the alley... another recently rising star, like David Beckham of the Galaxy. Surely eBay can compete with Beckham in the US? And for good measure, let's throw in a well known, but off the radar actor, oh, say Rob Schneider?

Ouch. Beckham has bent it all around the Windorphs. And Schneider, at minimal baseline levels, is pulling the same.

It's hard to tell what the actual traffic is that makes up these graphs. The best we can do from publicly available data is to take a look at Quantcast's chart, which is very likely underestimating the traffic and is likewise dated to only the beginnings of the campaign:

Oh my. Approximately 3-4 thousand visitors a day? What does each "eyeball" cost?

One other thorn: If you type in "Windorphin" on Google, the first result isn't even Ebay's! (Windorphins does lead to eBay if you're feeling lucky, however).

So the laymen's conclusion about mass eyeball marketing in major cities for a cutesy technology product with zero name recognition and no brand association? It simply isn't doing a whole lot of anything for eBay but costing them lots of money, and perhaps a collective annoyance among the public when people discover the brand behind the ruse.

You can discuss your thoughts on the Windorphs and Windorphins at Experience Project.

Other articles of interest here,here, and here.

Dispatch from Blogher Part 1: Julio’s Take

2007-08-01T01:26:00.000-07:00

As our videos below can attest we had a great time at Blogher, learning a lot from all the amazing women that were there. As many of you know, Experience Project has very strong female participation, and as the site grows we need to ensure we are able to maintain the safe and comfortable culture that has been so valuable to members over time. What best way to get feedback and input on community building than from talking to hundreds of women that are experts in social media?!?!

The conference merits some honorable mentions from my side… I’ll let Jessica and Dawn do their own honorable mentions in later posts. So here we go:

Special thanks to all the bloggers that helped us steer through the conference and meet more great women. Wendy Piersall, Elizabeth Edwards, Kelly Reising, and Liz Strauss were all especially welcoming and generous.
I personally love photography (and dabble a bit in it) so a special mention to Georgia Popplewell for always being on top of the photo world during all the social events. Caroline Donahue is an insightful life coach moonlighting as a talented photographer (or is it the other way around?)
Most inspiring interview we did was with Carol Lin (you can see the video in our previous post), former CNN anchor who lost her husband to cancer and is on a mission to bring support to others like her via the web (cancer social network). Carol’s story especially resonated with all of us at EP given the commonalities of how both sites got started from a personal need to help others going through difficult times. I told Carol that I thought that her genuine desire to help is the greatest driver of all as it has been in our case at EP.
Most laughter: Gina Trapani of Lifehacker. Despite being super busy and overly sought-out (blog superstar!), Gina sat around with us for an interview and for nearly 20 minutes afterwards just joking around and exchanging ideas. We were all incredibly surprised at how giving Gina was and especially how carefree and contagiously jovial she was – must be that amazing San Diego lifestyle!
Making a big difference: Two bloggers that I met over lunch that are making a big difference to their readers are Therese Borchard and Rachel Inbar. Therese does a near “Dear Therese” Q&A spin on fighting depression and is insightful and compassionate on her blog. Rachel talks about infertility and introduced me to some great web tools that she uses to make a lasting difference with her readers.
Best t-shirt design, Larry Smith of SMITH. Too bad they weren’t giving any out (at least I didn’t get any...) but the company logo and t-shirt design were beautiful. On some shameful self-promotion, our t-shirts came out pretty cool as well if I may say so myself. Design was courtesy of Bruce Drummon, an amazing and very professional designer.
Finally, special thanks to the wonderful women behind blogher: Jory, Lisa, and Elisa who I had the pleasure of meeting in person over the weekend and who put together what was a flawless conference!

Facebook Down: We Missed You

2007-07-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

The Facebook outage this morning left us without our beloved series of applications. Happily, they were restored within a few hours, but it makes you realize just how important a part of our lives FB has become-- not only for individuals, but also for companies!

Check out our Facebook Applications

BlogHer 2007 and Experience Project

2007-07-30T02:40:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful time at BlogHer 2007 in Chicago. Thank you to all of the wonderful bloggers we met and had the opportunity to chat with. Your thoughts and friendship are so very meaningful to us!

We were able to conduct a number of interviews with attendees; see below!

BlogHer Interview with Elisa Camahort:

BlogHer Interview with Esther Dyson:

BlogHer Interview with Gina Trapani:

BlogHer Interview with Jane Goldman:

BlogHer Interview with Carol Lin:

Experiencing BlogHer

2007-07-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update-- we will be at the BlogHer conference in Chicago this weekend, meeting many of our blogger friends. If you'll be in the area, drop us a note and say hello!

More Facebook Applications: Diversity, Goals, Dreams, Stories, and Moods

2007-07-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Bringing the power of Experience Project to new audiences is incredibly exciting for us. Which is why we've spent some time pulling together an impressive armada of useful, interesting applications for the Facebook platform. Try some out today!

Facebook Moods- Share your moods with tons of choices and smileys. Call out friends who made you feel the way you do. And we'll put a music player on your profile that automatically matches your mood. Get the Facebook Moods & Music Application Now

Diversity and Ethnic Pride
Show your ethnic heritage on your profile, meet people like you, and find out what your friends are made of! We'll even show you a breakdown of your friends' ethnicities-- how diverse are you? Get the Facebook Ethnicity Application Now

My Dreams Keep a dream and nightmare log. Share with friends-- and let them know when they pop up in your dreams!
Get Facebook Dreams and Nightmares Application Now!

My Goals Facebook Goal Tracker lets you set your top personal goals, track them, share them with your friends, and see how many share your goals. Discover who else has the same aspirations and talk to people who have been there are glad to help. And it's absolutely free. Get Facebook My Goals Application Now

Facebook "Random Story" Profile Content Generator Random Story puts a new story from Experience Project on your page multiple times per day. It's interesting, fun, compelling content--
and it will keep people coming back to your profile constantly for more.
Get Facebook Random Story Application Now

For a list of all of our applications, with screen shots and longer descriptions, please click here:
Facebook Moods, Diversity, Surveys, Goals, Dreams, Nightmares, and more

And Another: Facebook Moods

2007-06-11T03:15:00.000-07:00

The hive has been busy. We are proud to announce the release of another new Facebook application that builds upon one of the more popular features at Experience Project: Facebook Moods.

Moods lets you set your current mood, choosing from over 100 presets (frustrated, happy, flirtatious, etc.), and degrees (slightly, extremely, etc.). You can also pick out the friends that are the cause of your mood. Finally, and here's the best part, when you set your mood, we put a music player in your profile with a playlist of songs that match exactly how you're feeling (we have tens of thousands of music recommendations made by members of the Experience Project.

We hope you give it a spin, and let us know how we can make it better.

Try Facebook Moods here

Facebook Applications for Goals and Stories

2007-06-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

It has been far too long since we've written here, but would you rather we worked on building a better community, or waxing poetic in a blog? Thought so! ;)

This will be brief, but important. Experience Project is proud to announce the release of the first two of our Facebook Applications: Random Story, which allows you to keep your profile ever-fascinating with a random story from the tens of thousands at Experience Project, and the one we like the most: My Goals.

My Goals lets you set, track, and share your personal goals, desires and plans. Planning on sleeping this weekend? Add a goal. Planning on getting married? Sure, add that too-- and maybe set a deadline while you're at it. Your friends can see your goals, and add them as well.

Check our Goal and Story Facebook Applications out-- more are coming.

And for developers, here's a helping hand from our house to yours-- "10 Things That Would Have Been Nice to Know When Starting My Facebook Application"

Confessions of a Mayor-- and You

2007-02-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Experience Project is based out of the great, and practically always controversial city of San Francisco. Hearing the 'breaking news' that our Mayor Gavin Newsom had an affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk (pictured here). Ruby Tourk was not only one of his aides at the time, but also the wife of another one of his campaign staff, Alex Tourk. Let's not get crazy with speculation, but she WAS pregnant just around then too. We're sure the timelines don't add up to mean anything, but that's just too weird, no matter what. Now enough tabloiding-- what can one say but 'ouch and wow.' (Update: We know you want to know about this: The "I Hate Cheaters" group has a forum post with lots of pictures and video of Ruby Rippey-Tourk)

The point is that politicians are unfortunately no different than the (weak) everyman. This is a pretty common occurrence, sadly. And seeing this kind of confession makes us want to remind you of one of the most compelling, but understated features at Experience Project-- confessions.

The feature provides an anonymous platform for people to get things off their chest, and realize that maybe, just maybe they're not exactly alone (they almost never are, for better or for worse). And thousands of people have done just that. So next time you do something you're not proud of, why not join the masses and let the world know about it by confessing it in our confessional. It won't remove your guilt, but you'll probably feel a whole lot better.

Bad Mayor! Bad Wife! Good that they confessed though...right?

And for those that are sinless, oh indulge yourself and see what shenanigans the rest of the world is up to.

We're about connecting people with common experiences, good and bad, for support from people who really understand you and won't judge you. So here are some other stories you might be interested in if Gav's actions caught your attention:

Sources courtesy of CBS 5

Valentine's Day Contest

2007-02-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Ah, the scintillation of love. Many of us have a binary view of this celebration-- either we have a Valentine, or we don't.

But there's a few hundred thousand people in our country who get shades of grey. Those people are members of our armed forces deployed in either of the major operations-- Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan-- in the War on Terror. For those couples, they may have Valentine's, but they are separated by an ocean and beyond that, subject to the unknown for things we take for granted-- such as their physical well being/safety and when they will see each other again. Puts a little perspective on picking up some last-minute chocolates at Walgreens on the way home from an(other) uneventful day at work, no?

This kind of love, then, is one to be truly celebrated-- a deep and powerful one that withstands time, distance, and uncertainty. We are enamored with it, pun fully intended. So our Valentine's Day Celebration this year is for the military and their significant others. Share the story of your love, how you fell in love, how you cope with being without each other (especially on a day of lovey-dovey celebration), and what your plans are when you are reunited. Prizes are from Bath and Body Works, intended for some self-pampering while you wait.

The contest is now open, so get to writing, and in the process meet other kindred spirits that understand exactly where you're coming from and how you're feeling.

Happy Valentine's Day to All. Experience Project is quite the eligible bachelor, by the way. It hasn't really had time for dating and such this past year, but you know how it goes... ;)

The Profile, Revisited

2006-12-13T02:18:00.000-08:00

It is with great joy, and perhaps greater exhaustion, that we announce the release of our new member profiles. Literally every aspect of the original profiles was revisited and painstakingly improved, with the goal of making the site easier and more fun to use.

I won't bore you by providing a laundry list of new or updated features-- log in to Experience Project, check it out, and most importantly: let us know what you think. We *thrive* on your feedback. We also like sleeping from time to time, but that's not your problem now is it? ;)

Fun with Search

2006-12-04T02:21:00.000-08:00

Check out the new Zeitgeist-- which shows you daily and weekly trends in searches at EP, and the Search Snoop to watch what's being searched for right now. See what's on the community's mind, you trend-loving voyeur, you!

Beyond that, you can now subscribe to an RSS feed for any search result. Just search away and click 'subscribe' on the results page.

And don't forget to download our search plugin so you can search Experience Project from directly within your browser.

Weapons, Flowers, and Month 11

2006-11-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

Good folks, on behalf of Experience Project, I want to wax poetic about the month of November, 2006. The thing that immediately comes to mind when I ask my brain to get emotional about this month is Guns and Rose's '"November Rain."

I'm certain that you remember this song and video. Axl (love that spelling) and Stephanie Seymour experience the rise and fall of love. A beautiful song from a group not known for ballads. But my initial reaction was that this had nothing to do with what I wanted to commemorate.

You see, November was a month of *unprecedented* growth for Experience Project. A gentleman never tells, but there are various numbers with multitudes of zeros attached to them behind that growth. We want to welcome each and every new member to our community with open arms-- we really like you, and we hope it shows.

Every day, we are building a better community. You talk, we listen, we talk (and listen), and most importantly-- we produce. We don't want to disappoint you. Ever. We believe in what we're doing from the very bottom of our hearts-- connecting people with themselves and others through the world of visceral life experiences-- and we won't stop, nay we *can't* stop, until everyone and their brother that can benefit from EP is a satisfied part of our team.

The features added in November kept me behind... I still have much blogging to do to introduce a few of them. And just you wait...what's coming in December is going to rock you senseless.

So now, November Rain playing away in my head... I realize that the song IS appropriate. It actually describes one of the underlying goals of Experience Project!

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

When you're at Experience Project, you're not alone. You're among friends.

Thank you, November. And to our friends in the community, welcome again. We're all a part of something really special, and everyone benefits from *your* presence. Onward, upward... together.

Search us from anywhere

2006-11-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

As with most content-heavy sites, one of the most popular features is search-- this obviously makes sense, as no matter how well laid out a site is, nothing beats finding exactly what you are looking for at the moment.

To that end, we are happy to announce the release of our free search plugin for Firefox 2.0+ and IE7+. What this plugin does is allow you to search the Experience Project directly from your browser, no matter where you are. And of course it's absolutely free, and absolutely useful.

To get it, either surf to the following web page:

Experience Project Search Browser Plugin

-OR-

Just go to any page on Experience Project and click on the search bar in the upper right hand side of your browser, which should be highlighted. Follow the directions and happy searching!

Much more to come... this blog is having issues keeping up with the pace of the site!

Halloween Writing Contest

2006-10-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Every now and then we run fun contests to encourage people to think 'out of the box' and think about an experience long forgotten but extremely interesting. In the spirit of Halloween, our current writing contest explores near-death experiences: we're looking for stories where you almost died.

I know, that sounds morbid. But so is a holiday where we celebrate death. And in this case, we're celebrating NOT dying.

When people say 'near death experiences' they usually think of things involving a tunnel and a light. Most people cannot relate to that. But if you really think about it, we've all at some point been perilously close to being addressed as 'dearly departed.' Maybe you had a bad illness when you were a kid, maybe you were on a flight that was a little too bumpy, maybe a car smashed into yours... come to think of it, we're all lucky to be alive.

Share your story. Win $50 in Barnes and Noble Gift Certificates, or up to $15 in iTunes downloads. The contest is open to all of our members, new and returning.

Fpr details, check out the Halloween Writing Contest page.

And while you think of your own near-horror stories, you can take a look at the current submissions in the I Had a Near Death Experience group afor the Halloween contest.

News about news

2006-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is a self-referential posting.

I wanted to mention a few interesting things that have happened in the press and related.

First of all, just a few weeks ago Rafe Needleman published a nice writeup on Experience Project over at CNET.

Following that, we issued our launch press release.

Today, we realized we were mentioned in VentureBeat.

And today, one of the stories on our site (I'm not even going to link to it because it's got enough love already) ended up on the front page of Digg. Last I checked, it had nearly 800 diggs. Needless to say, this brought Experience Project to a grind. We took it offline as a preventative measure until the whirlwind blew over a bit. And yes, calls were made and servers were acquired in the meanwhile. Next time, I want Experience Project to face a Digg onslaught with a smug, 'what else do you got?' instead of an, 'is this over yet?!?'

A giant welcome to the many new folks in our community. We are so happy to have you with us, and as always, feel free to send us a line to let us know what we can do better. If we like what you have to say, don't be surprised when you see your suggestion enacted in less than 48 hours... ;)

New features

2006-10-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start.

In terms of new features, there's a laundry list. We started with adding auto-tagging: every post automatically has keywords extracted from it and added to the post's tags. This makes finding new content *so much* easier, because two people may label an article about baseball in two different ways: "I love baseball" or "I love playing America's national pastime"-- but they both will inevitably use the word 'baseball' within the text. This would then be a tag applied to both entries, and a search for 'baseball' will return both relevant links, without having to resort to a full text scan. Yes, we do this tagging automatically, and no I won't tell you how. If you're interested, send us a resume.

What good is auto-tagging if there's no good way to show the tags we derive? Right! As a complementary feature, we introduced a snazzy new tag cloud that's always available. Wherever you go on the site, just click the big green "Explore" button hanging off the top menu, and you'll drop down a fresh list of tags that you can peruse to see what catches your fancy. I'm more of a hockey fan, myself... Oh, and you check out the Zeitgeist of our tagging world by going to the tags home.

We also added autocomplete functionality, so when you're typing in the main Experience box, the site will try to show you similar items. Maybe someone else already entered the experience, and so you can join the group rather than being a pioneer.

Sometimes in life, you don't like someone and you'd prefer not to interact with them. The same thing can happen at the Experience Project. So we added the ability to block users. Just browse over to a certain offensive someone's profile and hit 'block member.' You know what happens next.

There's tons more things that are fresh (we make the site better EVERY day, no exaggeration), but I'll only talk about one more because it's so useful. Now you can subscribe (or watch, whatever language you prefer), experience groups. Meaning that if you like a certain group, you can go ahead and tell the site to email you whenever there is a new story. We want to make sure you don't miss a story, and likewise make that process as convenient for you as possible.

OK, that's a quick rundown on the changes for the last few weeks. Hope you enjoy them, and as always, let us know what you think. We really like you, and we're going to try our hardest to make sure you feel the same about us. There will be another post like this in about a week's time. Watch out now.

We have big Ears

2006-09-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Don't make fun of us, our ears just happen to be larger than most. I mean, when you talk, we listen. And we don't just listen, we LISTEN listen. We don't just hear you, WE HEAR YOU. (lol thanks Dane).

So it's with great pleasure that I announce two new features (no, we don't stop) today. First, we've introduced a site tutorial link on the profile page that walks you through what you can do once you sign in. The Experience Project is a large resource, and we don't want you to miss out on something really interesting because you didn't know it existed or how to get there.

And the second feature is simply such a huge improvement, it practically makes me emotional. It's a 'What's New' box on your profile page when you sign in. It shows you exactly all the new parts of life that people have shared, be it dreams, confessions, surveys, stories or experiences, since the last time you logged in.

These two features make the site easier to use and significantly more functional.

And listen, please stop sending us roses. We love you too, but there's simply no more room here. Donate to child hunger programs instead.

With these behind us (along with Face Scrub- it's been a busy week!), the feature we're working on now will blow the doors off. Stay tuned.

STIRR Founder's Mixer

2006-09-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

I will be at the STIRR Founder's Mixer this Wednesday in San Francisco, for those interested in chatting live.

Face Scrub

2006-09-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting challenges we face at The Experience Project is how to find the right balance between anonymity and personalization.

It is critical that everyone at the site stay anonymous, such that we feel comfortable sharing all kinds of experiences-- including sensitive topics. At the same time, we're all real people and don't like being boxed into bland categories.

We made a big step forward this morning with the release of our new 'face scrub' feature-- now when you upload a photo for your profile, you can tick off a box that says "My Face is in this Picture." When you do that, we'll automatically (try to) change your picture in such a way that makes your face unrecognizable, while still preserving some of the aspects of the picture that you found interesting in the first place. Of course, it won't always work, but it's added a nice new feature that will allow members to be even more at home at Experience Project without compromising the principles of the Project.

Our community is an amazing place to be, and it's getting more so every day. I hope to see you there, even though I won't know who you are! ;)

Oh, and how did that image look before we tackled it?

Have fun :)

New features

2006-09-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

Too much time developing leaves too little time for blogging.

Two exciting new features:

In response to many of your requests, we created a survey generator so you can automatically create questionnaire code for placement in other social network sites. This helps us get the word out about ourselves, while giving users a fun tool to play around with. Check it out here:
Create your own Survey

And our advertising engine is now in place... I'll have a lot more to say about this in a future post, but the sponsorship opportunities at The Experience Project are nothing short of remarkable. Since everything is organized into experiences, you are able to target your audience with laser focus-- and since we've chosen to make all ads plain-text links, sponsors also get a one-way text link from a highly relevant page to their own, which is quite nice for improving the advertiser's organic search engine results.
Advertise at the Experience Project

As always good folks, more to come. We're going through keyboards like underwear.

August iTunes Promo

2006-08-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Beautiful people,

For sitewatchers that haven't yet noticed, we've been running an iTunes promotion this week to shed off some extra certificates we had built up. Join the site, share 3 stories, get 3 iTunes.

It's a surgical strike though, so move fast. It's over tomorrow.

2006-08-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

Our Myspace profile is now up:

http://www.myspace.com/experienceproject

Friend us! We want to be saying "Thx 4 the add" like a skipping CD player.

2006-08-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

As The Project continues to grow, we've been turning an increasing amount of our attention lately to usability and design improvements. First came the ceremonial Elimination of the Orange, and over the first few days of this week, we have redone the layout for both the Group (example page: I Lost My Religion) and Member profile pages (example: Administrator profile). Special thanks to Alex Vartan, a product manager at Google with a keen UI eye, for his inputs. To be fair to Alex, we didn't do everything he wanted.

Also in the category of improvements, we've done a wee better job of tying the dreams section of the site into the member profiles, with a direct link from each member profile that lets you see the dreams shared by that user.

Speaking of which, why have a dreams section in the first place? Dreams fit into The Experience Project quite neatly. Oftentimes they are intensely personal and sometimes even disturbing in their detail and superficial meaning, to the point where you may not feel comfortable sharing them with people you know. At the same time, they only make sense in the context of who you are. This apparent contradiction is precisely the type of thing that can best be shared in the anonymous but community environment available at The Experience Project.

Coming soon: Press coverage, and our very own MySpace profile. Our baby is, sniffle, growing up so fast.

2006-08-21T02:06:00.000-07:00

One of the founding tenets of the Experience Project is that it remain predominantly an anonymous community. If people are to feel comfortable talking about the things that matter, they can't worry about being recognized by friends and family.

That being said, the anonymous nature of the site, combined with the ability to easily share experiences that members themselves find notable, have led to a significant amount of entries as of late that might be considered, well, adult-oriented. A good example would be the various people who enjoy introducing a third party into their relationships... (I'll have you know that I tried very hard to come up with the least shady description for that particular set of experiences... ;) ).

In any case, we have no inherent issue with this-- adult experiences are just as valid as those of a less salacious nature. But, as you well know, adult entries tend to be quite popular, and to a newcomer to the site, they might seem to dominate most of the 'popular' lists that we maintain on our Stories main page-- and thus send the wrong message about the site as to the scope of experiences represented. We talk about everything at the Experience Project-- all the experiences that make us who we are, and want to project that image consistently so people quickly understand the opportunity participating in our community presents.

As such, we added a filtering option today on the experiences page that allows one to selectively display or hide entries that the community have marked as containing adult content. We hope that this option is yet another step in the direction of making the site both more usable, responsive to the needs of our rapidly growing member base, and exposing the sheer range of experiences that would be valuable to share-- namely all of them that make up our lives!

And yes, for those you noticing the time of this post, working at a startup means weekends and late nights simply do not exist as distinct entities in and of themselves. They are the same as any other time-- in other words, spent making the site better! ;) I have to say it is an indicator of our passion for the success of this project that we find this amusing and not in the least disturbing. lol.

Until next time,
-armen

2006-08-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

We've completely redone the site navigation and layout. Gone are the orange pastels, my friends. I know, I know, you'll miss them. We'll hold a moment of silence Monday at 9am.

The new menus should give you easier, quicker and more logical access to the parts of the site you use most. Especially when you login, because the "You" link gets you directly to innards of Experience Project in one click (e.g., Mail, Your Stories, Your Experiences, and so on).

It's quite smurfy-blue, but we think it's an improvement. Let us know how you feel.

The Birth of a Blog, the Adolescence of a Site

2006-08-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Setting up a blog to keep our users informed of our comings and goings has been a long running goal, which we've only finally had the opportunity to do.

Yes it took about 8 minutes, especially since we decided to outsource this and simply host it at Google rather than rolling our own.

That being said, allow this to serve as a simple but grateful welcome to the official blog of the insanely progressive web community called The Experience Project. The mission of the Experience Project is very simple: To connect people who share common experiences for healing, support, growth and fun.

The Experience Project is a community with no real faces or names, but very real people sharing the equally real experiences of their lives. Instead of networking on who you know, such as at MySpace, Friendster, and so on, you network on who you are. We don't let you personally identify yourself so you can actually talk about things that matter without worrying about who will recognize you.

You list experiences you've had, then you share the stories. Other people do the same. In the process, you find people just like you, or you find people who have had experiences you might have, either by choice (like going to a taping of the Colbert Report), or by force (like having a sigmoidoscopy-- ouch!). In these situations, reading another's experience is incredibly reassuring, and offers the opportunity to ask questions from someone who actually knows what they're talking about. Writing about your own experiences, by the way, is an incredibly therapeutic thing to do.

There's much more to the site, but that should serve as a good introduction. Start by taking a quick poke around... check out some real experiences, or people sharing their stories.

And stay tuned to this blog, as we are a very fast moving organization that is highly responsive to the needs of our community. Our charter members have witnessed the rapid pace of improvement. We have no purpose if we're not serving you.

Until next time,
-armen
Founder, The Experience Project