Who is Uncle Sam?

Ever since we introduced Uncle Sam as a new member of the ShowNearby family in this blogpost, we have been receiving many queries from our users asking us who exactly is this mysterious Uncle Sam? From the smoky blog entry, to the mysterious name...it just seems like no one knows what he looks like or who he is. His profile page doesn't reveal much apart from this black silhouette...

Don't let that smile fool you!

Unfortunately, incredible as it may seem, he has never been seen by anyone in the ShowNearby team either! In fact our interview with him was conducted over the phone and his resume simply did not include a photo. Before his first day at work, he requested for a personal office and we agreed without thinking too much about it...

While his identity remains a mystery, his contributions are clear!

His latest contribution involves embarking on the uphill task of cleaning up the entire ShowNearby database! We had quite a few duplicates and a whole bunch of POIs with funky characters in their names as many of our users pointed out. A major overhaul of the ShowNearby database led by Uncle Sam is in progress and we hope that by the end of it, our users will be able to find accurate POIs with correct names and contact details!

Before Sam (Notice the Funky Characters!)

After Sam (No more funky Characters!)

We went knocking on his room door to congratulate him and possibly take him out for a cheap lunch at a hawker center. However, our good intentions were met with a simple yet direct response...

"Go away!"

Its strange how he can be sooo friendly with our users yet so cold and aloof to his own family members! I guess the old adage is right. Water is indeed thicker than blood!

However, before we could probe further, our eyes caught an impending downward motion of a broom descending upon our heads and we made a run for it! The next day, there was a sign on the door that said "Stay Out!"

In any case, a brand new database of accurate and detailed POIs will be coming your way soon dear users! All thanks to that black, mysterious man known simply as Uncle Sam!