Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bix (website)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus. Black Kite (talk) 08:21, 7 November 2016 (UTC)

Bix (website)

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Promotional website content article. References are very poor such as Teitter, Techcrunch or wayback machine. Press coverage are promotional. Nothing significant or notable about the website to be here. Light21 07:29, 18 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Websites-related deletion discussions. North America1000 09:18, 18 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of California-related deletion discussions. North America1000 09:19, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

 References  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Keep – Meets WP:WEBCRIT per a review of available sources. Source examples include, but are not limited to those listed below. The article does not have a particularly promotional tone, the site was discontinued in 2009, and the article simply presents facts, although it would benefit from some copy editing. North America1000 09:27, 18 September 2016 (UTC) (Addendum: I am also okay with a merge to List of Yahoo!-owned sites and services. North America1000 19:47, 13 October 2016 (UTC))
 * Automata, Languages and Programming. pp. 339–.
 * TechCrunch
 * TechCrunch
 * TechCrunch
 * Billboard
 * Merge to Yahoo - this could be a paragraph from its RSes - David Gerard (talk) 17:06, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Natg 19 (talk) 06:51, 26 September 2016 (UTC)  Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks,  MBisanz  talk 19:51, 9 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Redirect to List of Yahoo!-owned sites and services This is not independently notable enough to have its own page. Any information to be merged can be taken out from the article history. This Automata, Languages and Programming reference for example is not an independent sources as it is written by a Yahoo employee. Techcrunch publishes literally every small news (where the sources are of questionable independence) and even they seem to acknowledge that the site didn't have a lot of significance. Most coverage is solely about the acquisition by Yahoo and subsequent shutdown. Per WP:NOPAGE there is no need to have a separate page for this. --Lemongirl942 (talk) 02:34, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Redirect to List of Yahoo!-owned sites and services; not independently notable per available sources. K.e.coffman (talk) 17:41, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources. Significant coverage about Bix not due to Yahoo!'s acquisition:   The article notes: "Bix, a natural extension of the current public obsession with American Idol, plays host to all sorts of contests—beauty, comedy, dance, karaoke, lip-synching—even Capitol Records is using the site to conduct its search for its 'next great country singer' (winner gets $50,000 and a three-song demo deal). Contenders upload original audio and video recordings or digital photos to enter; viewers vote, and, just like on Idol, the fans decide. Anybody can start a contest, and anybody can enter a contest—unless it's made private, which is an option. The Battle of Bix's Best Video Karaoke, for example, invited the top four from five different contests for a final face-off (it ended June 11, with songbird82 declared the champion. View the winning entry). Members can create top 10 lists (their 10 favorite entries), leave comments and email contest links to friends or post entries on their own websites (the site gives you the HTML code to copy and paste). There is mature content, but only registered members who declare themselves over 18 on their profile page can access it. Contest pages present a randomly selected face-off between two entries, and this changes each time you visit, so be sure to click 'view all entries' before you pick a favorite."  The article notes: "Not long ago, big media brands were eagerly jumping on the online karaoke bandwagon. News Corp. acquired kSolo in May 2006, and Yahoo bought Bix in November of the same year. ... Bix was a contest-oriented site where users uploaded performance videos and judged clips that other users created. After Yahoo acquired it, it scored some early successes—Time magazine named it one of the top 100 Web sites of 2007, and Capitol Records Nashville launched a country music talent contest through the service offering the winner $50,000 and the chance to record three demos. But Yahoo shut it down June 30, citing a desire to focus its resources on other areas. ... So what happened? ... At launch, Bix offered little more than 2,000 songs, while SingShot had about 2,500 when EA acquired it. What's more, licensing costs drove both to feature older songs rather than pricier new music. ... Rather, Yahoo and EA miscalculated by using karaoke as a rallying point to form a new social network. And just like most other such networks that have attempted to challenge MySpace and Facebook—as well as video-sharing sites that tried to compete with YouTube—they failed. Despite the popularity of user-generated video and music content, karaoke is just too small a niche to make the center of a new social network. According to the online traffic monitoring firm Compete, Bix averaged only 40,000 unique monthly visitors before it shut down..."  The book notes: "BIX.YAHOO.COM Price: Free Video Enabled: Yes Platform: PC only  Bix certainly has the most outlandish contests, such as the Best Yodel Contest, Sing for Your Servicemen Contest, and many that have nothing to do with singing—Favorite Pet Picture or Favorite Nintento Character Contest. The interface is like other Yahoo services: cluttered, unattractive, and confusing. But it's also the only karaoke site that offers video content. That means instead of just listening to random strangers, you can see them crooning and wiggling at their computer stations. Take that as a pro or a con."  The article notes: "Here comes Bix, a new startup, with the latest in Internet big ideas: contests. ... Bix founder and CEO Mike Speiser, who had brought us epinions in the first dotcom boom, is an American Idol fan who hasn’t missed an episode, and appreciates the “brilliance” of the show in getting viewers to help make the stars. ... But the idea behind Bix is an intriguing one: That anyone can create a contest, and that the proliferation of webcams will have young people flocking to compete and vote online. The money will come when corporate sponsors decide to create contests, which Speiser says is already in the works. Speiser and his team have raised $6.775 million from Sutter Hill Ventures, Trinity Ventures and three smaller investors, including Stanford University. He says they’ve got three huge patents pending. They also have a bunch of other intriguing ideas for smaller revenue streams, such as recording your own karaoke and then using it as a cellphone ringtone."</li> <li> The article notes: "Venture-backed startup Bix.com is garnering a lot of attention in the blogosphere - and so it should, since it's an interesting play. The idea is to find talent online using a model that lies somewhere between American Idol and Digg - users create contests, submit their own videos and images and vote for winners in various categories. The company was formerly known as 900 seconds (famous for 15 minutes?) and it has some some good credentials: it was started by Mike Speiser, the Epinions co-founder, and has raised $6.77 million from Sutter Hill Ventures, Trinity Ventures and others. ... The concept is a good one: one of the reasons that mainstream users love Bebo, Hi5, Piczo, Windows Live Spaces and the rest is because they crave the attention - having a MySpace page or a top-rated YouTube video is the next best thing to celebrity status. This is surely one of the reasons that Fox bought kSolo, the online karaoke service. And of course the medium matters, too: because people aspire to be TV presenters, filmstars, singers and models, these sites need to focus on audio, video and images. This is also one of the reasons why video blogging may become bigger than text blogging (yes, really). So is it any good? Well, I took it for a a spin earlier today, and I think the simple answer is that there's not much to it right now. The site features a number of contests - Karaoke Idol, Lip-sync Idol and the Bix Beauty Contest, and you can also create your own. Users vote on entries using the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons, and you can't see how others have voted before you submit your vote. You can also add comments and see which users have given the entry a positive rating. The site design is ugly but tolerable and the content is - as you'd expect - pretty poor quality. Bizarrely, there doesn't seem to be any way to find the highest-rated entries, which seems like an oversight. Bix plans to make money from advertising and charging users for ringtones of their own audio clips."</li> <li> The article notes: "Add Bix, a start-up previously known as 900 Seconds, to this list. The company was started by Mike Speiser, co-founder of Epinions.com and has raised $6.77 million from Sutter Hill Ventures, Trinity Ventures and a gaggle of individual investors including ex-Yahoo Geoff Ralston. Bix is a platform for creating contests online much in the mold of American Idol. From singing contests, photo contests to video shootouts, the company will allow end-users to become their own producers and editors. Speiser says the company was inspired by the growing popularity of contents such as American Idol, and Top Model. Here is how it works – I create a contest inviting participants to submit their photographs of San Francisco. The community can then vote and pick their favorites. The photo submission with most votes bubbles up to the top. You can also have a head-to-head competition between various photos as well. You can do the same for picking say the top videoblogger or what not. Basically Bix is using community to do the editing and selection – off loading all the cost of creating and managing content."</li> <li> The article notes: "The co founder of Silicon Valley's Bix even showed up at a cattle call audition for 'Idol' last summer to pitch his site, handing out 15,000 fliers to the would-be Kelly Clarksons waiting in line. Three months later, his contest site, where you can vote for the best Elvis impersonation or the foxiest model, was acquired by Yahoo Inc. for an undisclosed amount. ... At Bix, competitors can win $50,000 and a recording session from Capitol Records. ... Bix and OurStage both try to prevent over-eager voters from spoiling the results of their competitions by presenting entries at random, so a band can't link its fans directly to a page where they can cast a vote. ... Bix employs artificial intelligence software to try to discern whether a vote is being cast by a real, live human or a software 'bot.' 'We're looking for inconsistencies,' says Speiser. ... Speiser says Bix will generate revenue for Yahoo by charging companies to create contests on the site -- for instance, a toothpaste company might sponsor a competition for America's best smile. 'This is a new way for marketers to engage with consumers,' he says."</li> <li> The article notes: "Bix is a Palo Alto start-up that wants to feed off the popularity of American Idol. It has just launched. We mentioned it here when it was still in testing mode. It lets people compete in online karaoke, dance, and other contests. It kicks off with a $50,000 prize. The company says the idea is to let other companies sponsor these competitions, thereby building their brands within what Bix hopes will be a young, attractive user base. But as you may expect from a start-up, it launches this first $50,000 competition without a sponsor."</li> <li> The article notes: "American Idol proved not just that we love watching the highs and lows of wannabe superstars, but that a surprising number of us wanted to be up there. It’s these two factors that make Bix, a company enabling public and private contests online, think the service it’s about to launch is a winner. ... The site is certainly easy enough for the mass consumer to use. I spared the world my singing, but I watched Speiser create a contest and karaoke video. Setting up a contest is quick, as is creating and uploading a video with a webcam. Also, viewing content, voting and sharing are all simple enough tasks. Still, there is a lot of work ahead of them. The user interface needs an upgrade to attract serious corporate advertising dollars; Bix needs to optimize for mobile users (mobile was a huge factor in American Idol voting); and it will have to soon go international, before someone else does, to tap what’s likely an even better market."</li> <li> The article notes: "But that doesn't matter because Webb is the reigning champion of a Web-based Karaoke competition sponsored by www.Bix.com - total payout: $50,000. ... Bix.com is the first online contest system that allows anyone to create, enter, and view a talent competition. Bix sponsored the $50,000 karaoke contest as a promotion to help launch the Web site. ... The Bix.com contest attracted over 1,300 contestants - 500,000 people watched the performances, and Webb won with just 387 votes."</li> </ol> Significant coverage about Yahoo!'s acquisition of Bix:<ol> <li> The article notes: "Bix.com, which was founded in January and introduced its service in August, is trying to capitalize on two trends in popular culture: the fascination with TV shows like “American Idol” and the explosion in user-generated online content, especially video. The site allows anyone to create an online contest in any of a number of categories. Users can then submit their own entries — a video for a lip-sync, karaoke or comedy contest, or a photo for a beauty contest — and vote on which entry deserves to win. The prizes range from a few minutes of Internet fame to cash or merchandise in contests sponsored by advertisers. ... Yahoo said it planned to keep Bix.com as a stand-alone site and also to integrate it with some of its other social media properties, which include Yahoo Groups, the social network Yahoo 360 and the photo-sharing site Flickr. ... Bix.com, based in Palo Alto, Calif., has 16 employees and has received nearly $6.8 million from Trinity Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures."</li> <li> The article notes: "Contests on Bix range from rating creative undertakings like karaoke, dance, photography or writing to 'Hot or Not' beauty contests, where participants judge others on looks. ... Bix is one of a new crop of Web sites that encourage user self-expression, by enabling people to try their hand at making short video or audio recordings. Toward that end, it has video- and audio-recording tools that work with computers connected to a low-cost Webcam device, cameraphone or digital video camera. Founded only in January of this year, Bix is the latest in a string of social media sites Yahoo has acquired including photo-sharing site Flickr, shared bookmarking site del.icio.us, group calendar Upcoming.org, and video editing site Jumpcut. Since Bix was formally introduced in early August, the site has attracted more than one million users, Speiser said. Contests can be initiated by Bix members, or by corporate sponsors. In one example of its utility for advertisers, amusement part operator Six Flags asked people to submit their best impersonation of a roller-coaster scream. Details can be found at http://www.bix.com/sixflags/."</li> <li> The article notes: "Adding to its credentials in social media, Yahoo Inc. has acquired Bix, an online site where users can create, enter and judge contests involving everything from karaoke to comedy to writing. The acquisition, disclosed tonight, gives Yahoo what it bills as a playground for emerging talent. Bix, a start up, founded in January, joins a list of other Yahoo acquisitions in the social media space, including photo sharing service Flickr, the bookmarking site del.icio.us and Upcoming.org, for listing events. ... Among the recent contests on Bix was one to find “the sexiest female biker,” a vote on “the least deserving billionaire” and another created by Six Flags Great America that asked people to submit their best impersonation of a roller-coaster scream."</li> <li> The article notes: "Bix.com users create contests and then ask others to submit entries. Contest subjects include lip-synching, photography, dance, beauty and many others. Viewers cast votes and winners can receive prizes if the contest creator offers one. Some contests are sponsored by companies that view them as promotional opportunities. ... Once Bix.com becomes part of Yahoo, users can expect more community features and more entertaining content, Speiser said. In addition, Yahoo is already looking into how it might integrate Bix with other offerings such as Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Video, Horowitz said. Bix.com, founded in January, joins several other social media companies acquired by Yahoo including Flickr, Jumpcut, Del.icio.us and Upcoming.org."</li> <li> The article notes: "Yahoo! Inc has acquired a community-based website called Bix.com, where users arrange contests and rate each others' photos and videos online. The acquisition is an attempt to compete against social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook, by integrating Bix with Yahoo! Groups, social network, Yahoo! 360 and photo sharing site, Flickr. However, the companies have not disclosed financial terms of the deal. ... Bix is currently focused on talent—based online contests, with categories such as photography, Karaoke, comedy, dance and writing among others. The prizes for winners of the contests range from a few minutes of Internet fame to cash or merchandise, sponsored by advertisers. Despite being launched in January this year, Bix has enjoyed massive popularity, considering the growing fascination with online videos. Moreover, the site also has video and audio recording tools that work with computers connected to a low-cost webcam device, camera phone or digital video camera, making it a shorter route for everyone's 15 seconds of fame."</li> <li> The article notes: "Yahoo! Inc. is adding social media service Bix to its menu of offerings, a company representative confirmed. Founded in January, Bix features online contests with Web-based video and audio recording tools where users can create, enter and serve as judges for those contests, which range from karaoke, dance and comedy to beauty, photography and writing. The competitions are initiated by Bix members who also establish the contests' criteria and deadlines."</li> <li> The article notes: "Online karaoke and contest site Bix has signed an agreement to be acquired by Yahoo! Bix CEO Mike Speiser will continue running Bix but will also take on responsibility for product management for Yahoo! Groups, 360, and Photos under the title VP of Community. ... Bix is a 16 person company based in Palo Alto. The company was founded in January and went live in August. They report 1 million unique visitors since launch. They have raised $6.77 million from Sutter Hill Ventures, Trinity, and others. The terms of the acquisition aren’t being disclosed. Our previous coverage of Bix is here. Bix has built a community of users by offering prizes of up to $50,000 in its contests. Contests are set up by the site, but others are created by users. Those contests include not just karaoke but everything from beauty contests to comedy, dance, a cappella singing and photo competitions. Those contests can be public or private. Each are wrapped in targeted advertising and there’s a strong mobile component. The site has some basic community features and an “easy upload to MySpace” tool."</li> <li> The article notes: "It must be disconcerting to a big Internet company to shut down a whole website and nobody even notices. Not even a short note on Twitter from a concerned user until now. But that’s what apparently happened. At some point Yahoo shut down Bix, a karaoke and contest website that they acquired in late 2006. Yes, at some point in 2006 someone at Yahoo said “Karaoke? Contests? We gotta own that!” Six days ago at least it was still up and running at bix.yahoo.com. Now that just redirects to m.www.yahoo.com."</li> </ol>There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Bix to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 02:33, 16 October 2016 (UTC) </li></ul>
 * A merge to the list article List of Yahoo!-owned sites and services would be undue weight because the list article contains a sentence or two about each Yahoo! service. The substantial coverage in reliable sources is sufficient for Bix (website) to be a standalone article. Cunard (talk) 02:33, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

<div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Still not convinced. These are functionally passing mentions, or personal op-eds at WP:SPS level - David Gerard (talk) 12:53, 16 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Nothing to write more about this one. It only exist because Yahoo Acquired it and shut it down. Light2021 (talk) 13:23, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Your welcome &#124; <b style="color:blue">Democratics</b> <b style="color:red">Talk</b>→  <b style="color:violet">Be a guest</b> 09:01, 17 October 2016 (UTC) <div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus. Relisting comment: moved to new log Your welcome &#124; <b style="color:blue">Democratics</b> <b style="color:red">Talk</b> 11:23, 21 October 2016 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Your welcome &#124; <b style="color:blue">Democratics</b> <b style="color:red">Talk</b> 11:23, 21 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Keep per Cunard's demonstration that this was a notable website for a time, and there's too much content to fit neatly in the list article, so a separate page is justfied per WP:NTEMP. --Arxiloxos (talk) 16:33, 21 October 2016 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.