You've Got Questions. We've Sorta Got Answers.

Since we just launched, no one's really asked many questions yet so these are one's we guess we might be asked a lot. Drop us a line if there's something you want to know.

Collectivus Culture

Where'd the idea for Collectivus come from?

Actually, we've been kicking around the main idea for about 5 years. We started actively working on it part-time in 2007 and have been steadily been increasing the amount of time working on it and people involved.

What took so long?

We're still self-funded (for now) and a small operation. That funding comes through the careers of our day jobs. Nobody's as excited as we are to finally show you what we've been working on.

What's next?

If Collectivus is a marathon, our first release is just lacing-up our sneakers. We've got a big roadmap and will be updating and adding features regularly.

Collectivus Thingies™

Why do you have Thingies shaped like rubber ducks?

The ducks are promotional ducks I'm sure you've run into before. We have plans for custom Thingies in the future, but decided to use something cool and readily available to launch with.
The ducks are also symbolic and partially inspired by a the story about ducks escaping from a sunken cargo ship from China in 1992. Over 11 years later, the ducks we still turning up all over the world. See the 2007 article: Moby-Duck: Or, the synthetic wilderness of childhood by Donovan Hohn in Harper's Magazine for more details.
More recently, NASA scientists have tagged and placed rubber ducks on glaciers to monitor their movement and “migration” into open waters as part of a “flotsam science” experiment. Read more about it in the 2008 article The Sober Science of Migrating Rubber Duckies by Robert Lee Hotz of the Wall Street Journal.
Rubber Duckies can save lives.
We're curious to see where our Collectivus Rubber Duckie Thingies end up and who they meet on the way.
Closer to home, we think rubber ducks are really cool. We even have a duckie-themed bathroom — that had a lot to do with selecting the inaugural Thingies.

Why are there green Rubber Duckies?

We picked the green ducks because:

  • We thought they'd stand out really well
  • They're cool
  • Oh yeah, they glow-in-the-dark too!

Collectivus Web Application

Dude, IE6 looks like crap

We don't support IE6. This site is built for the future, not an old, buggy browser.

Supported Browsers

This site looks best on Webkit-based browsers like Safari and Google Chrome. Looks pretty sharp on Firefox too. Microsoft IE8 is also supported; IE7 works but might look quirky.

JavaScript and Cookies on?

Yes. It's 2010, should that really be a concern?

Collectivus on Mobile Devices

Does Collectivus work on mobile phones?

Yes, any mobile phone equipped with a web browser should work with Collectivus, although some features may be unavailable. Give yours a try.

Does Collectivus work on the iPhone, Android, Pre, and other "smart" devices?

Yes, we'll be releasing a version that better leverages the advanced features like standards-based browsers, modern JavaScript engines and location services. Not everyone has these awesome phones yet, so we wanted to make sure that lots of people could use them to quickly post encounters with Thingies.
Collectivus