SodaHead.com slurps up $8.4 million

Its name might be wacky, but some investors with deep pockets think it's the real thing: SodaHead.com, a polling and answers site, announced Wednesday that it has raised $8.4 million in Series B venture funding. The money comes from new lead investor Mission Ventures, as well as existing investor Mohr Davidow Ventures.

The company's previous round, with veteran investor Ron Conway and Tech Coast Angels contributing, had totaled $4.3 million.

SodaHead was founded by Jason Feffer, former vice president of operations at MySpace, and his childhood friend Michael Glazer. Feffer describes the site as "the Internet's modern day town square," and has said that polling records produce so much information about user preferences that they're a dream for advertisers.

Currently, SodaHead has about 600,000 subscribers. The new venture money will be used, according to a release, to get the word out, support a growing user base, and make some "strategic hires."

[jennavee]

I'm sorry but this site is trashy. I have never seen so many racist people in on place until I ran into sodahead. If you have any morals this is not the place for you and don't get me started on the owners of the site they are even more racist and trashy than the trash on their site. If your thinking about joining good luck.

[boriskin]

You didn't try reddit.com, did you? The site has more racists than alabama in 1940.

[BoyOfTheEnders]

I really love SodaHEad. If you into talking to new people, and really hearing what they have to say, this site is awesome. Many new users are pulled in from bands and other social networks. Any poll can be shared at any time, to let people freely vote, without registering.
The ability, to just poll your friends, is only the beginning of the fun at SodaHead.com! There are also groups, related subjects to search in categories, and a "rave" system, that gives praise to those that deserve it!
If you enjoy voicing your opinion, and speaking with like minded people, please come to SodaHead.

[sincere12345]

I used to be a user on sodahead but i left because it was full of hate, especially by some dissappointed individuals over the last election.
It was also full of propaganda and the worst dissappointment is that it seemed like there wasn't enough done by sodahead to tune down the hate. It was almost like a place where a bunch of "psychos" and "cult members of hate" go to chat and form friendship in political newsrooms and refresh. Personally, i don't see myself ever joining again.

[baredd79]

Your right. It is very cultish. If you say one thing someone doesn't like, this bizzare cult like lynch mob will start bashing you all over the site. It's really strange. At least thats what happend to me. If anyone is thinking about joining, dont'! Go somewhere, anywhere else but sodahead. There's no place to unsubscribe either! You have to email them and beg for them to cancel your account! Just like the mafia, once your in, it's damn hard to get out!

[NemesiS773]

I have been a member on sodahead for some time now. And the site is full of hate. Democratic discussion is silenced on the website. But the conservative prejudice ,racist, and hateful comments run ramped on the entire site I actually thought Fox News owned the site. I am thinking about closing my account.

[SeeTruth]

I was on Sodahead for over a yr. and it is a right wing extremist site. It should be listed as an official hate site. Hate and racism is encouraged by the staff, if not overtly, by covertly ignoring the right wing threats to the left. The HORRIBLE RACIST pixs of President Obama and his family. Referring to him as a monkey, eating watermelon...well you get the drift.
BTW; IF YOU START FEELING IT IS OWNED BY FOX..THERE IS A GOOD REASON FOR THAT. THE OWNERS ONE OF WHICH IS JASON FEFFER, IS A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF MYSPACE.COM. WHEN IT WAS RAN BY ONE RUPERT MURDOCK, WHO JUST SO HAPPENS TO HAVE STARTED, AND OWNED FOX NEWS. MR. FEFFER HAS STATED NUMEROUS TIMES IN PUBLIC AREA'S THAT HE DID WORK FOR MR. MURDOCK. THAT MURDOCK ONLY WANTS WHAT IS BEST FOR THIS COUNTRY. AND SINCE HE STARTED WITH MURDOCK AS HIS BOSS ON MYSPACE, HE IS NOT GOING TO BITE THE HAND THAT FED HIM.
I was shocked and almost could not belive some of the views still held by many Americans about other nationalities. And such HATE against gays, liberals...you name it.
NOT surprisingly, Sodahead is frequented by and hate encouraged by many White Aryan individuals and groups, posing as mere dissatisfied citizens.
They have private groups that encourage swarming particual people that get more comments than themselves...that are on the left and debate and win arguments with the right. They have limited groups where only "certain people" can join. There is so much more. It is a scarey place to be, some of the polls are silly, or for the younger crowd. But politics are pushed and encouraged, and without this side of the polling, I don't think they will last long. I would go so far as to say that Sodahead should be on the list of Domestic Terrorist Sites, as decribed in the current regs. for Homeland Security. Since they do not just spout off in words, many of they outright encourage violence and overthrowing the American Government. It is this sort of site that makes me ashamed of seeing the internet come about. Fortunately, there are places like Cnet that help keep us sane.

[Anysia]

I signed up on Soda Head, and at first it was fun. Then one day I had the audacity to disagree with a "very conservative Christian" and life was never the same again. Insults, threats, racist, sexist, sexually explicit comments were directed at me, although all I had stated is that the newly elected president would do things differently than his predecessor, and get the US out of a hopeless war, and that the past 8 years of misrule had caused the downward economic spiral, not Obama getting elected.

The sheer magnitude of the hatred aimed at me was appalling. And then there was the threats of physical harm for daring to say such things.

Funnily enough, none of this seem to have been against the rules. I couldn't understand why, until I saw a pattern. If you were a conservative who thought Obama was scum of the earth, you could pretty much say and do anything there. However, if you spoke out strongly against such comments, you would be reviled, insulted, threatened, and if you spoke strongly back against their treatment of you, you stood a good chance of having your account deleted, on the say so of a few select users.

It's sad when the site operators are so obviously playing favorites with the forum users.

[twobears1]

I think it is important to kick a little conservative butt at every possible opening, Republicans have lost what little souls tghe had in the first place, McCain can't wait to get to get us to Bomb IRAN along with his over 60 white guy brigade, Washington needs to be cleaned out, can u say TERM LIMITS, these old Bastards know only WAR, and derision, new ideas terrify them, they are all going out of thier minds trying to put Obama into a box, this in itself illustrates thier stupidity, not one of them could begin to match wits with Obama, People like Mccain and Dick Cheney have yet to understand that they Lost, Finito, Game over!!! America has moved on, Anysia don't you ever fear the racist, the skinheads, the lousy Polititians, or in fact Fef, I find that he is not some racist crazy person, he has always dealt fairly with me, just remember that a truth pressed to the ground will RISE, have no fear, Republicans and Conservatives are upset because they are getting thier Butts handed to the by the Majority of Americans and they are fearfull and angry, All we need do is stand aside and watch them self implode, yet another one today SANFORD and his er ehem hike thru the Appalachians, these guys have no clue regarding morals or respect and never will.