Discussion site Deja News Monday announced a series of changes, changing its name to Deja.com Inc. and introducing a new user-based ratings system.
Deja.com boasts a site redesign, enhanced discussion
functionality, such as improved navigation, and a thread digest that displays specific conversations to users. Another new feature, Deja Tracker, notifies members through e-mail when new messages are posted to ongoing discussions. Other portal sections include the ratings area, Deja Discussions, Deja Communities, and Deja Shopper.
Aimed at furthering the reach of Deja News users, the company unveiled Deja Ratings which provides consumer opinions on more than 7,200 products and services in 400 categories, through a scaled voting system. Deja Ratings are designed to reflect the uncensored opinions of Deja.com users and offer a comprehensive comparison resource. The section will also provide contextual links to
e-commerce retailers and vendors throughout the site.
The Deja Shopper area incorporates results found from the Deja Discussions and Deja Ratings sections. The
feature provides two search options for finding products, “Shop New” and “Shop Used.” Powered by Inktomi, Shop New is a guide to online
retailers offering specific items and related products, featuring pricing and availability information. Shop Used searches through Deja.com’s classifieds database to locate products offered by discussion forum participants.
According to Deja, roughly a third of the 45,000 discussion forums
offered on its site are member forums, created through Deja
Communities, and the remaining two-thirds come from Usenet
newsgroups.
“Our site has always provided a place for users to easily communicate their views in an open and democratic forum,” says Tom Phillips, Deja.com’s chief executive officer.
“We believe that we’ve taken a significant step toward bridging the gap
between content and commerce.
“With Deja Ratings, we can now quantify the
tremendous volume of shared-knowledge so consumers can use the information to make better decisions in their everyday lives. The breadth and scope of Deja Ratings, in combination with contextual e-commerce links, will change the way consumers make purchasing decisions, large and small,” Phillips said.
