Editor’s Update 24/9 11.50pm: The article has been editted to reflect a better choice of word. The previous version unfairly represented user “tarastar”.
When one think of HardWareZone, probably the first thing that comes to mind is their lively forums where you can participate in a variety of topics, from discussing the latest in tech, educational and travel advice, and even the best places to makan.
Deep in its underbelly though, lies arguably the forum’s most visited, and rightfully controversial, sub-category named Eat-Drink-Man-Woman, or more popularly known as EDMW.
So recently, local app Wander and its founder Krystal Choo, was the subject of a much discussed thread in this sub-forum.
Wander CEO Krystal Choo Enters
In case you haven’t heard of this app called Wander, it is basically a mobile platform to connect with strangers, and chat about common interests. Now in its second iteration, Wander used to be a single traveler’s app to connect with people overseas when they travel.
“saw this article on Sunday Times :
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyl…for-friendshipAnybody use any of these apps : Lunch Kaki, Wander?
any feedback?”
It started off with an innocent introduction to a newspaper article and a question asking if anyone has used it before.
“I’m Krystal Choo from Wander
Hey people, thanks for reading our coverage on Sunday Times!Wander is for people like yourselves to chat live with others.
I created a channel Eat Drink Man Woman under “Humor” for you, actually – heywander app link/D9oArC3hQw (sorry can’t post links yet).
Check it out and let me know how we can improve Wander?”
Not long after, Krystal herself came in.
Hey all! I’m new to hardwarezone so please forgive the n00bness.
“Man or woman?
I’m female.Why is it posted under ‘Humor’?
Cuz I read through the threads here and our categories are a bit more specific based on interest. We don’t have a “lifestyle” category, so the closest was Humor because I saw that a lot of you like to make each other laugh with your comments. If I’m wrong and you have better suggestions, I’m more than happy to change it to suit everyone. Once again, so sorry if I misunderstood this thread.Can you do an AMA?
Actually, I chat on Wander a lot with our users. A popular channel we are on is “Random Ramblings” if you’re interested to chat too. I’m happy to chat in the EDMW channel with everyone as well (may not reply instantly all the time cuz I’m still at work – sorry!).At the end of the day, we are all human trying to leave this world better than when we arrived. So founder or CEO or not.. It’s really just a title. My team members are all smarter than I am – it’s all their hard work that made Wander happen. My startup is small and the team is working really hard on the app – we are hoping to connect people better so input on how to improve is always appreciated.
How come advertise here?
I saw you guys talking about Wander so I thought it would be nice to chime in since we are all about communities and people like you. Feel free to ignore it or remove the post if I overstepped – I know different places can have different rules and I’m happy to follow them.Can you post a pic or 8 pics?
Err… shy lah. Whenever I have photoshoots I’m so uncomfortable that I have to bring a friend along to help me not be awkward. I’m actually more comfortable in front of a computer or phone screen. But okay, for verification… here is a pic of me in the office right now.”
Soon after, the sub forum became more active. So she answered some of their questions.
Krystal also attached a photo of herself too for good measure since some of the guys asked for ‘verification’, and following that, the forum thread was flooded with more replies.
“I definitely don’t dress up like this everyday!!! It’s a special occasion, going to a panel supporting other women in business later on.
I wear jeans and boots to work with no makeup most of the time, unless I have to go out. For all those who are so interested in how I look, here is a picture of me in the office on typically days. (I have perfect vision but use glasses to deflect blue light because I stare at a screen for at least 16 hours a day. So eyes get very tired and hurt.)
imgur com /a /jigC9
How to meet Krystal?
On Wander, usually.If around Macpherson/Paya Lebar area can always ping and drop by the office.
Did she just post this to say hi to EDMW?
Yupcan create dating app call ai sio gan mai.for better results of FA bui bui here.moi don app like hi and bye type really waste of time and cannot help to increase our population planning.
I don’t really understand all of this but Wander isn’t for dating anymore. It’s for everyone! The conversations in some channels are hi-bye, but there are very interesting channels to chat in too. Have you tried the Paktor app? I think it’s good.”
After a while, Krystal came back to answer some more questions.
This time with a photo of her typical office look when she’s not having meetings and events. This, of course invited more replies from all the users in the thread.
All Good So Far
I think that the way Krystal patiently replied to the few posts in the thread has been nothing short of graceful and seeing as how certain questions were plain offensive.
For someone who is not familiar with EDMW, Krystal has definitely not taken the indifferent culture of the forum personally, and answered both genuine questions regarding her app, as well as those made in jest.
Admittedly I have visited EDMW before, and was even active across multiple sub-forums back when I was still schooling. In those years, I have seen some local female internet personalities (ladies with large followings on social media and blogs) tried to reach out to these ‘fans’ in the same and failed miserably.
While Krystal touched on the offensive statements and questions lightly, someone else chose not to, and here’s when it gets sticky.
A Female Reader Stepped Up And Voiced Out For The Female Entrepreneur Community
With an account registered just yesterday, user ‘tarastar’ came in and posted a very lengthy post (part 1, part 2) point out what female entrepreneurs traditionally face to the forum followers.
“It is one thing to say it in private another to publicly humiliate, degrade and embarrass her by doing this. And she has actually replied with total grace and you then ask her for 8 pics and with winks and tongues stuck out?”
This didn’t sit well with the users.
Lol running a business is hard anyway. Coming to edmw to lecture edmwers for making life difficult for anyone is really laughable.
Anyway, if anyone wants to commence any legal action against anyone here, please contact the mods and admins with your lawyer letters et al. We get quite a lot of those anyway *shrugs*
But personally hor, don’t come here to lecture us la. If you can’t take heat, then maybe you are not ready to run a business
The forum moderator then stepped in too.
Hi new account,
Obviously you have no idea how EDMW culture is like thus you are so easily provoked/threatened to think everyone in this thread is looking at her (and you) as a piece of meat.
Pray tell, point to us where’s the insulting, humiliation, cyber bullying and defamation?
There are several legit suggestions as well as criticism with the app. But if you insist on taking our comments soooo negatively, then none of us can stop you from thinking so.
Good luck to you if you are running a business, you are gonna fail if you can’t take criticism
User ethan89 also threw in his 2 cents on the issue.
Tarastar,
Any savvy and sophisticated institution investor would do their own background and reference check to support their investment decisions. Any such investor worth his salt is unlikely to be easily influenced by a few cheeky thread posts, and formed his opinion on the Founder based on these. If any investor lacks such savvy, then he is not the type of investor the Founder should even consider working with.
I am not sure if you are indeed Krystal or somebody close to her, to create this nick to just post here. It is clearly immature and demonstrate you are unsophisticated when it comes to understanding social media influences.
In terms of legal matters. Let me tell you this. Most of such defamation demand letters (we call it LOD) are generally ignored. I always advise people to just ignore such LOD, don’t bother to even reply, simply because if you got balls, you will really proceed to issue Writ of Summons when the LOD lapsed, only THEN we will put up legal representation and see you through all the way, and test how much stamina and financial firepower you truly have to last the mile. I love litigation!
The thread starter, ftplah, himself also made some comments to respond to tarastar.
So How Now?
Krystal then took some time to write a long post to calmly explain the situation – and answer more questions.
So here’s what happened. User ‘tarastar‘ is actually a friend of Krystal’s, and through their conversations together regarding a separate thread on EDMW that touched on some matters that Krystal would rather not discuss, was not all too happy about it, and taken upon herself to post her opinions on her own volition.
This of course set off a chain of events which hopefully Krystal has helped to alleviate with her post.
As of now, it seems that the thread has gone back to normal, somewhat, with Krystal continuing to reply the other forum users.
What Can We Learn From This?
Well for starters, the online world is still clearly still a harsh place for women, even in a cosmopolitan city like Singapore. In a crusade for treating women with respect, it seems one stands alone to be attacked.
Secondly, ignore the trolls but accept and reply to both positive and negative statements nicely. While the thread did attract multiple trolls, those who were in it to strike a conversation with Krystal, about her or her app, are met with similarly genuine replies.
Anyways, if you are keen to check out Wander, visit this link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wander-social-group-messaging/id1131954098
They are currently only available on iOS, with an Android version coming.
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