The end of wheek.it shortlinks

That’ll do, pig.

wheek.it operates with one goal in mind: to promote the adoption and rescue over the purchase (or purposeful breeding) of pet guinea pigs.

To this end, wheek.it launched in October 2012 as a free service to “shorten links and raise money for guinea pig rescues.” By connecting with “affiliate” merchants like Ebay.com and Target, wheek.it earns money each time a product or service is purchased through a wheek.it shortlink. These shortlink earnings are then donated in full to guinea pig rescues chosen by you via online polls and surveys.

Since its start, wheek.it has been able to donate over $300 to hard-working 501(c)3 non-profits that demonstrate the ability to properly rescue, shelter, rehabilitate, and rehome homeless guinea pigs.

But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Unfortunately, this is the case with wheek.it‘s link-shortening service.

Beginning March 1, 2014, the wheek.it link shortening service will be retired. This decision has not come easily, but it is the best course of action for a number of reasons, outlined below.

#1. Declining User Base

It’s no secret that the use of wheek.it appeals to a niche, tech-savvy group. Shortening links, tracking analytics, and using wheek.it in a way that brings in dollars for guinea pigs has proven to be a challenging tool to package. Whether the cause comes from the complexity of how wheek.it works or from weak messaging, wheek.it usage in 2013 was dismally low, and easily the #1 reason why retiring wheek.it shortlinks makes the most sense.

Without the time of a robust group of volunteers to grow the service, and without a flash-bang of new users, our current user base isn’t large enough to raise the kind of money that can justify such a large output of time for daily maintenance and security.

wheek.it started strong with over 25 loyal users. After several months, that number grew to 35. Then 45. Then things stalled towards the Fall of 2013. People began to use wheek.it less, wheek.it staff had less time to blog and post rescue news across our channels, and traction eventually declined.

Then, at the end of 2013, came the next piece of news.

#2. Unfavorable Merchant Agreements

When wheek.it started in 2012, our negotiated merchant agreements were earning an average of 20% to 50% of the price of items purchased at participating shops through wheek.it links. To put it plainly, these percentages are the only way wheek.it is able to raise money for guinea pig rescues.

Today, those same agreements are earning 5% to 15%. It’s a numbers game, and, without a massive future influx of new users, our earning power has, unfortunately, flatlined.

#3. Technical Considerations

Spam Link in Email Message

Daily link monitoring and spam protection has grown far above and beyond what can be handled by wheek.it‘s current volunteer team of two. The more spam that goes untreated means the more difficult it is to keep wheek.it shortlinks functioning properly across channels such as Facebook and Twitter.

In fact, in the past several months, wheek.it has been flagged as a “suspicious source”, most notably on Pinterest (update: 2/16/2014: This has been resolved). This happened due to those who would rather use wheek.it for greed and trickery rather than its intended use: raising money for homeless guinea pigs. While spam use of wheek.it poses no threat for other users, it significantly degrades the user experience beyond staff control.

We want our awesome users to be able to share wheek.it shortlinks wherever and whenever they want. Unscrupulous spammers have made this goal increasingly difficult, and sometimes near impossible.

What’s Next?

Beginning March 1, 2014 at 12:00am Pacific Time, the wheek.it shortlink service will go offline.

What About the 2014 Rescues?

LA Guinea Pig Rescue and Wee Companions were selected to be the 2014 Featured Guinea Pig Rescues. Each of these deserving rescues will be sent a contribution equal to the largest donation we’ve issued. Each rescue will receive a check for $80.00, which we will announce on the wheek.it blog. (Update 2/1/2014: Please read 2014 Rescue Donations for updates.)

Closing

wheek.it has been in operation since October 1, 2012. In the nearly two years of operation, wheek.it has issued a total of $381.20 for guinea pig rescues; generated 2,476 links on the wheek.it domain which has raised public awareness of guinea pig rescues; and has made an earnest attempt to share stories of guinea pig rescues and their successes on our blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

Whether you are visiting wheek.it for the first time today or you were here shortening links to raise money from day one, we hope you are left with a better understanding of the merits of adoption vs buying.

We will continue to make frequent cash and supply donations to our favorite guinea pig rescues. We hope you will, too.

For a list of guinea pig rescues you can help, please visit the Guinea Pig Rescue Directory.