Step 1 of many to make WiGLE.net a household name

[izzy4505]

<izzy4505> I'm curious. . . . . Why doesn't everybody use WiGLE? It seems that it ought to be the standard in 802.11 mapping
<izzy4505> especially since none of the other sites seem to work
<arkasha> oh, we quite agree.
<arkasha> i think it's 'cause we don't have a commercial charter, or lack of awareness.
<arkasha> if you've got ideas about how to inform people, without threatening them, that'd rock.
<arkasha> i'd love it if companies would feed us their hotspot info instead of us having to track it down... more points!
<arkasha> (and they get free "advertising," 'cause we get the official word on what sites are free and what sites are commercial)
<arkasha> start a forums-thread about it and we'll troll for commercial wigle memebers.

[uhtu]

the best thing about standards... there's so many to choose from.

..i personally believe that its because everyone out there in net-hugging land
hasn't yet had a drink of the special wigle redbull-koolaid combo and had a look at our promotional hypno-4-sure feature wheel...

i'm also all for a grand diversity of sites, they promote new ideas and ways of looking at data; as well as healthier teeth and gums. plus, its dangerous to ever trust a single source of any kind of information. except us, of couse. we're legit.

[arkasha]

sorry; i must learn to take government officials with a grain of salt, especially when they make claims about size of anything, secular or otherwise. but we do want to improve WiGLE-stickyness... it's mostly a matter of understanding what people want. well, that and not running out of money.

we want to be as accurate as possible, make as many people aware of wireless networking and the attendant security stuff as we can, and of course be insanely popular (ok, we weren't ever popular, but you know...). we'd like to make this project as big and as useful as we can without selling out.

people HAVE been clicking on the google ads, which has helped... and our outta-pocket burn rate will be improved if people keep doing that. since we're not for profit (well, we've looked at it, but can't figure out how to keep the service and data free+anonymous *and* make money. so so-far, no-good... ideas always welcome), we're trying to make WiGLE successful like npr (without the funding), not successful like clearchannel. tell us how we can do that! (or tell us how we can make truckloads of cash *and* still stay legit, that's fine too. but we're not counting on that. don't let our pessimism stop you if your idea is insanely good. and if you want to see us living like the hedonistic lushes you've always suspected we're capable of being.)

what i'd like to see next (personally) is more of the commercial hotspot-providers publishing their data to us and other free projects; right now it'd be free advertising for them, higher data quality for us, and better "find commercial connectivity" and "see networks in area" for everyone.

regardless, thanks for all the support, all input is welcome.

-a

[uhtu]

higher quality is always relative :-)
as a devout empiricist, i'll take observation over claims. but having both is nicer.

i'd like to think of us wanting to be sucessful like the illuminati (who do not exist), rather than npr (which exists when funded by dead billionaires.)?

does WiGLE need to be known by people's grandmas? probably not. but does WiGLE need to be known by their laptop-toting granddaughters? hell yes.

i think we will have succeded beyond my wildest dreams when every geek with a portable computing device and a gps has a WiGLE.net client alongside their stumblepackage(s) of choice.

[bobzilla]

You guys are all CraZy! WiGLE is contaminating your precious bodily fluids! RUN!

I'd be happy for getting more Stickers To The People, and maybe getting mentions in non-sucky "news" articles. Maybe becoming more active in the WWWD and/or DefCon Wardrive would be a good idea. Or doing other contests and/or events.

Also sending arkasha out to be slaughtered by the media.

[mycroft]

when did the "how do we become popular" thread become the "gimme the cash!" thread? if that's the issue, I'll take out a life insurance policy on myself payable to wigle, take out a contract on my life, and you'll be funded forever

ok, no I won't.

[izzy4505]

CAn you get life insurance policies on animals? I could take one out on a coon in the woods behind my house, and then when we go hunting, if we get 'em, that'd be good source of funding for WiGLE.

[izzy4505]

Ok, accuracy is important. What really really really needs to happen before anything else, is the fixing of the "does it have WEP or not" data. I know I know I know, other threads, but yea I figured I'd point that out here as well. The data interpretation maybe fixed, but so far, the stuff coming out of queries has not been fixed. Atleast not from my viewpoint, and mappacks I use.

[bobzilla]

I'm confused, we *do* pull the wep data out of every client that gives us that info, including NetStumbler.

[izzy4505]

Never mind, Arkasha pointed out some stuff in the chat which makes the suggestion irrelevant.