newly ancient

Urbis is a cool web 2.0 writing review site. Basically, the premise of the site isn’t very new. Essentially, it is peer review with sprinkles on top. However, it is executed in a particularly effective way. When you register, you can post your writing for other people to review. You can also review other writing that has been posted. When you do, you receive credits. Those credits can be used to unlock reviews of your own writing. This way, you are encouraged to review other user’s writing and to not simply leach off the community. Overall, the site offers a good service.

When I look at a social media site, I like to think of it as a financial investment. You put something in and hopefully get back more than you put in. For instance, in the case of Digg, you submit articles (the expense). You can also view what other people have dugg to find good news (the revenue). If you are especially lucky, one of your articles will reach the top and receive thousands of views (the jackpot). Just ask your stock broker, the guarantee of a return and the chance of an immense profit is a good investment.

Now, turn back to Urbis. Our investment is the time we spend writing reviews. In return, we receive credits which can be used to purchase the reviews of our own work. However, here’s the catch. When buying reviews, we spend 30% then the person writing the review received. Why the processing fee? It’s not as though there is some brokerage that we need to pay? (This is all hypothetical money) In fact, you are guaranteed to lose credits if you buy the exact same review you wrote. Possibly, this could be to encourage users to write more reviews. However, I am certainly not happy with an investment where I am guaranteed to lose credits. Are you?

Despite the strange credit charges, the system is pretty slick with all the coolest social features like tags, comments, and goals. However, there is too much emphasis placed upon writing length. For reviewing, this makes sense since you had to spend more time reading the original piece. However, when buying reviews of your own writing, why should you be paying more just because the reviewer added a few extra words or you have an extra stanza? Bluntly, Urbis puts quality over quantity - something no creative group should ever do. Still, the service has its merits if you want to find an audience that will actually read your work and give educated criticism. Urbis is a credit-based peer review service.

If you want to give Urbis a try, please post in the comments so I can send you an invite. The more people you invite, the more credits for you… without having to go through all that trouble of actually thinking.

Recently, I have been feeling very sad and depressed for a variety of reasons, most of which have to do with being a 14-year-old boy who looks like something the cat dragged in. After all, spring is in the air. Around this time, I always get upset about how girls hate me. In order to maintain my sanity, I express myself through writing dark, brooding poetry and short stories. If I just sit down for 5 or 10 minutes, I am able to get some sadness out of my system by writing about something, anything sad. Once the last word leaves my pencil, I usually crumble up the paper and destroy it since the mood is so sad and revealing of myself. However, I decided to share one of the more abstracted, presentable pieces with you. Keep in mind that I simply whipped this off to get rid of sadness and do not expect anything good so long as it makes me feel a little better. So, I give you the story of the cracked grave.

How do you express yourself when you are feeling sad? How do you get it out of your system? (besides writing darkish stories and poems)