I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Chapter 88 The Cape, right? (Please subscribe and vote with monthly tickets)

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""

Shen Kang finally understood why Ma Liang was giving him that strange look.

The two things I wanted to make were both things that Ma Liang had provided technical support for, and both of them went bankrupt—this isn't Ma Liang with his magic paintbrush, this is clearly Ma Liang with bad luck!

Perhaps it was the stirrings of memories, for Ma Liang slowly began to recount that incident.

"Actually, quite a few students were already posting on the campus forum to buy and sell secondhand items at that time, but the information on the campus forum was too mixed. He said that doing something 'vertical' or 'specialized' would definitely work, so he asked me to make a website that only deals in secondhand transactions, with no other content, making it more professional."

"Initially, the website was free. Sellers posted their sales information on the website, and buyers clicked to buy. Because the content was simple and the classification information was more concise, there was no need to search through a bunch of posts. In addition, he spent money on promotion, so it was very successful. Students with second-hand trading needs came, and there were hardly any second-hand trading posts on the forum."

"At that time, our website was the largest and only second-hand trading website at Yangko University of Science and Technology, and it had a lot of traffic."

"Then, when he saw that it was about time, he said that the users had developed the habit and started taking a commission."

"Every seller who wants to post a second-hand transaction must first deposit 50 yuan into their account as a security deposit. After each transaction is completed, a 2% platform maintenance fee will be deducted."

Ma Liang shook his head as he finished speaking.

"Where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure. Students are still communicating online and then trading offline, but many no longer confirm the transaction online after completion. Instead, sellers simply remove the sales listing. The deal is actually completed, but the website shows it never happened—it becomes a ghost order," and naturally, no commission is collected.

"Later, he implemented some measures to deal with these ghost orders." Once three such cases occurred, sellers were restricted from posting new sales information. The result was even worse; people went back to buying and selling secondhand items on the campus forum, and website traffic plummeted.

Ma Liang talked for a while longer, recounting his friend's painful experience, and finally looked at Shen Kang, shaking his head, "Second-hand methods won't work. Are you sure you want to do it?"

Shen Kang grinned and said, "Hey, I thought it was something serious. Actually, if you look at it from another angle, your friend was quite successful when he offered this secondhand website service for free, wasn't he? That's a good thing! It shows that running a secondhand website has potential."

When he heard that Ma Liang's two related websites had failed, he was a little worried. He wondered if Li Su's recommendation was unreliable and if Ma Liang's skills were actually terrible.

But after listening to all this, it seems that Ma Liang's technical skills are fine. The website going under is a matter of business logic, and has nothing to do with Ma Liang.

Shen Kang was finally relieved.

Ma Liang was puzzled. "Providing free secondhand website services was indeed quite successful, but don't you make money running a website? Not to mention anything else, the monthly server and broadband fees are a significant expense, so you definitely need to find a way to charge for it. But once you start charging, too many problems arise, and it becomes impossible to continue."

Shen Kang waved his hand extravagantly, "Don't talk to me about money, I'm not interested in money. I created this website to serve the students. What's a little money to me? As long as the students are happy!"

'

The girl with the brightly colored hair stopped painting her nails, glanced at Shen Kang, and then turned back to paint her nails.

Ma Liang also looked at the guy in front of him with a strange expression.

No, did he run into a great philanthropist? He doesn't earn money himself, but instead spends his own money to provide a more convenient life for his classmates?

However, this is no longer Ma Liang's business. He has given all the necessary reminders, and if the other party still insists on doing it, then that is their problem.

"Fine, if you still want to do it, then I have nothing more to say," Ma Liang said.

Shen Kang added, "By the way, when you're building this interest-based community, you should first create an points system. People can earn points for logging in daily and for their first post each day. When Jiahe Laundry Chain is so busy that they can't accommodate last-minute customers, you can implement this points system, allowing people to spend points to book or skip the queue for Jiahe Laundry Chain's laundry services."

"etc!"

Ma Liang interrupted Shen Kang again, looking at him with some surprise. He raised his left hand, showing the sign on it, and asked, "You mean, you also own this laundry room at Yang University of Science and Technology?"

The girl turned her head and looked at it again.

"Hmm." Shen Kang was a little puzzled. "Didn't Li Su tell you?"

"No, he just told me that a friend of his wanted to create a campus forum-type website."

Ma Liang paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you often go for foot massages?"

"No, I've never been there even once in my life," Shen Kang swore, pointing to the sky.

He has never been there even once in his "life," and he is telling the whole truth.

Ma Liang didn't believe it at all—this kid named Shen Kang must be a regular at those kinds of places, otherwise a normal student would think of making such a hand of cards.

This warmed Ma Liang's heart. He looked at Shen Kang, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

Shen Kang looked at him, puzzled: "Senior Ma, what are you trying to say?"

"—It's nothing."

Ma Liang hesitated for a long time, then glanced at the girl next to him who was still painting her nails, but ultimately didn't say anything. Instead, he changed the subject, "What are you planning to call this website?"

"To be precise, there are two websites. One is an interest-based community, and the other is a second-hand website."

Shen Kang pointed this out, and then said, "We haven't thought of a name for the website yet; we don't have any inspiration for the time being."

Ma Liang felt he needed to quickly build a closer relationship with Shen Kang so that he could say things more easily. So he became enthusiastic and even volunteered, "How about I help think of a name too?"

Shen Kang readily agreed: "Sure."

Ma Liang tossed his long hair and actually muttered to himself, "Secondhand—idle—I've got it, let's call it 'surplus'! The 'idle' in 'idle' and the 'surplus' in 'remaining' perfectly captures the website's positioning, and it even sounds like 'salted fish,' easy to remember!"

'

Shen Kang never expected that Ma Liang would come up with such a name, whatcanlsay?

Ma Liang was still exerting his strength, frowning and muttering incantations.

"We've got the name for the secondhand website, and then there's this interest-based community. Based on your positioning, it's best if it's related to something—'Leisure Time,' 'Salted Fish'—'Fish' means living in water'—'Water' doesn't sound good'—'Sea'—'Yes, the sea is also water'—'Right, let's call it 'Cape'! This community will be called 'Cape'!"

Shen Kang's face twitched.

Ma Liang, however, was very excited, praising his brilliant name: "This name is great! Isn't there a Tianya community? The so-called 'ends of the earth' (天涯海角) is called 'Haijiao' (海角), which perfectly capitalizes on the popularity of Tianya!"

Seeing that Shen Kang's expression was off, Ma Liang asked in confusion, "Isn't this name good?"

""

Shen Kang smiled wryly, "It's good, but—"

He didn't know how to explain it. He couldn't very well say that he thought of some strange things as soon as he saw the name, could he?

My sister and I stayed home for two months, and when my parents came back from their trip, they broke my leg.

My wife called, and my sister-in-law answered the phone, telling me not to move.

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