5 ms·

This is a really low blow. This is what companies do when they are clutching at straws - they spread misinformation. Considering: * Most tumblr themes have Di

by pclark 16y ago

This is a really low blow. This is what companies do when they are clutching at straws - they spread misinformation. Considering: * Most tumblr themes have Disqus integration, and the "tumblr way" to comment is via reblog. * Multiple people can contribute to Tumblr blogs, I can also submit posts even if I'm not a user, and ask the authors questions (formspring style) * I can also password protect my Tumblr. They also missed the giant Tumblr plus - the community. Also, given that Posterous bootstrapped their themes from the Tumblr theme community stabbing Tumblr in the back is hardly cool. To clarify, I mean this: http://www.nbrightside.com/blog/2009/09/18/posterous-leveraging-tumblr-themes/ http://www.nbrightside.com/blog/2009/09/18/posterous-leverag... For a company as cool as Posterous I have no idea why they're resorting to such shammy PR.

gaiusparx 16y ago
Posterous tweeted 2 days ago "Posterous launches new tools to switch from dying platforms: One new importer per day for the next 15 days". So Tumblr is a 'dying platform' after Ning huh? Which site is next? Is Wordpress another 'dying platform'? So does Posterous consider Facebook a 'dying platform' and come out an importer for Facebook?
- chanux 16y ago
  Maybe they should implement an 'import posterous to posterous' tool if they continue this way.
  - seancron 16y ago
    To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion. :)
ivankirigin 16y ago
Your opinions about comments aren't informed if you think people moderate them only out of fear of feedback. That we're having this discussion here proves that issue doesn't matter.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
webwright 16y ago
It's not misinformation, but it is marketing/PR (and I bet it's working). Competing is not a low blow and it's not stabbing anyone in the back. They aren't saying "Tumblr SUCKS", they are saying "We're different, here's how, come give us a shot".
- pclark 16y ago
  If they wanted that they should pitch the benefits of their service (hey, you and your family members can just email in posts!) not: > But blogging on Tumblr is sort of like being in high school. You have a lot of friends. You can navigate all the different cliques. You're comfortable. But you know deep-down that you can't be in high school forever. Eventually, you have to move on. Posterous saying "tumblr doesn't support multiple contributors for a blog" when it does - what do you call that?
- jraines 16y ago
  The proof will be in the numbers, but I doubt it will work with Tumblr. They're pretty spot on about Tumblr being like a collection of high-school cliques -- but what do you think happens when you take an "us vs. them" attitude against a clique? They just become defensive & tighter.
rantfoil 16y ago
I have a major bone to pick with your characterization of Posterous themes. I hardly think the theme community is unhappy about suddenly being able to use their themes on millions of other blogs that aren't Tumblr. Also, the themes that we build into our service are 100% licensed via partnership with the theme designers. Attacking the ability to use Tumblr themes in Posterous is absurd. It's like saying Google Apps isn't allowed to open Microsoft Word documents.
- pclark 16y ago
  I didn't attack the feature, I said they bootstrapped their theme launch with the tumblr themes. That isn't attacking. I simply meant they lent on the pre existing tumblr community to boost their own offerings - which was genius. I do think to do that, and for Tumblr to nod or whatever, and then to do this, seems, IMHO a mis-step.
  - rantfoil 16y ago
    Actually on day one every single theme that we launched, I designed. We gradually added the best themes that we liked the most, some of them were Tumblr themes, and others were created by Posterous users, e.g. http://corywatilo.com http://corywatilo.com
    - a4agarwal 16y ago
      I wouldn't even call them "Tumblr themes." These were just blog themes, owned by a third party, who licensed them to us for use on Posterous. They just happened to be on Tumblr first, but don't have any other affiliation to that service.
- edw519 16y ago
  Some honest feedback from a long time hacker news participant and innocent bystander... It looks like pclark is providing feedback of some kind to a product represented by rantfoil, who is responding. I have no opinion about the issues being discussed in this thread, in fact I'm not sure I even understand many of them. But this much I do understand... rantfoil, you appear to be arguing in a public forum. Don't. By definition, you can't win. You responses may be perfectly valid (who knows), but language like I have a major bone to pick with your characterization of Posterous themes. I hardly think the theme community is unhappy about... Attacking...is absurd... make you and all that you represent appear confrontational. It doesn't matter who wins this battle, rantfoil will lose the war if this is the public perception of the corporate face. Find a way to address this feedback that will attract innocent bystanders, not scare them away.
GBKS 16y ago
Note how the three features that Tumblr doesn't have use vague terms like "real", "works for anyone" and "practical and flexible". Reads like fluff to me.
robinduckett 16y ago
> * I can also password protect my Tumblr. Hehehe...
- pclark 16y ago
  Huh?
  - robinduckett 16y ago
    http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1441997 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1441997
barmstrong 16y ago
Agreed - low blow. Tumblr is actually kicking Posterous' ass in term of UI and ease of use I think. I definitely prefer Tumblr after trying both for a few weeks. This post isn't helping.
- barmstrong 16y ago
  http://siteanalytics.compete.com/posterous.com+tumblr.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/posterous.com+tumblr.com/ Their growth curves show a different story also (I take compete graphs with a grain of salt, but at these traffic volumes it's probably safe to say the overall trend is correct).
  - ElbertF 16y ago
    Tumblr is definitely a more popular service. http://wappalyzer.com/stats/app/posterous|Tumblr/websites http://wappalyzer.com/stats/app/posterous|Tumblr/websites
Tawheed 16y ago
I'm really confused about their product positioning. Ning was a white-labelled social network, what good will a "simple blog" do to its users? Similarly, Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform -- people are on it because they precisely DO NOT want a full blog. I remember Posterous founders specifically saying they don't want to be compared because Posterous is not that (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=680087 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=680087), why go after these people now? Wordpress? So far, all they've been doing are incorporating features that Wordpress already has and not really changing the experience all that much either... which then begs the question, what's the big goal and how is it different? It seems to me that their moves align with getting on AS MANY USERS AS POSSIBLE -- and if that means attacking all peripherally similar services, then so be it. It seems that their only goal is a large exit due to a large user base, not really product vision. I see a couple of takeaways here for fellow hackers and Posterous: - Really think about what your product is and what your big vision is. Are you really just creating yet another Wordpress.com? - Is it the post by email that is the uniquely awesome thing about Posterous? Someone should put together a universal "Post by Email" service and test this theory. Have it connect to Wordpress.com and Tumblr and see if people buy.
- pclark 16y ago
  this might imply their original concept of blogging via email had too small a market, and they needed to expand to be more general purpose?
  - Tawheed 16y ago
    I can think of better strategies for attacking the blogging market. Instead of creating a generic blogging system that just copies Wordpress' features, create the "starter" blog for a set of verticals. Create a 'starter' blog that has the right bells and whistles for each of these individual targets: 1. A startup looking to promote their story (have it pre-set with a "About Us" page, a sidebar section to explain their product(s) and what they do, and Twitter/Like buttons to promote the posts 2. An author looking to promote his/her (e)book. Have an "About the Author" section, have excerpts/reviews on the sidebar, and a way to profile sample chapters as blog entries along with a super easy big call to action for buying the book from amazon. 3. A small business trying to attract locals. Have a clear display on the sidebar for location, maps, hours, and phone number. Have a section showing off pictures of the business. Have custom post types for Sales, Events, and special SEO sauce optimized for the given zip code. (you get the idea...) With an offering like this, not only will you solve a real problem (people like these having to create and customize these sites from scratch AND having to figure out what the right things to show are -- even though its well known), you 'll be solving a problem that people are willing to pay for.
kmfrk 16y ago
Kudos to you for keeping it civil; I personally have a lot of things to call the people, none of which are as restrained as your comment. Posterous is already inferior to Tumblr technically, aesthetically and in many other regards, and now they can add morally to the laundry list.

by pclark 16y ago

gaiusparx 16y ago

Posterous tweeted 2 days ago "Posterous launches new tools to switch from dying platforms: One new importer per day for the next 15 days". So Tumblr is a 'dying platform' after Ning huh? Which site is next? Is Wordpress another 'dying platform'? So does Posterous consider Facebook a 'dying platform' and come out an importer for Facebook?

chanux 16y ago
Maybe they should implement an 'import posterous to posterous' tool if they continue this way.
- seancron 16y ago
  To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion. :)

ivankirigin 16y ago

Your opinions about comments aren't informed if you think people moderate them only out of fear of feedback. That we're having this discussion here proves that issue doesn't matter.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

webwright 16y ago

It's not misinformation, but it is marketing/PR (and I bet it's working). Competing is not a low blow and it's not stabbing anyone in the back. They aren't saying "Tumblr SUCKS", they are saying "We're different, here's how, come give us a shot".

pclark 16y ago
If they wanted that they should pitch the benefits of their service (hey, you and your family members can just email in posts!) not: > But blogging on Tumblr is sort of like being in high school. You have a lot of friends. You can navigate all the different cliques. You're comfortable. But you know deep-down that you can't be in high school forever. Eventually, you have to move on. Posterous saying "tumblr doesn't support multiple contributors for a blog" when it does - what do you call that?
jraines 16y ago
The proof will be in the numbers, but I doubt it will work with Tumblr. They're pretty spot on about Tumblr being like a collection of high-school cliques -- but what do you think happens when you take an "us vs. them" attitude against a clique? They just become defensive & tighter.

rantfoil 16y ago

I have a major bone to pick with your characterization of Posterous themes. I hardly think the theme community is unhappy about suddenly being able to use their themes on millions of other blogs that aren't Tumblr. Also, the themes that we build into our service are 100% licensed via partnership with the theme designers. Attacking the ability to use Tumblr themes in Posterous is absurd. It's like saying Google Apps isn't allowed to open Microsoft Word documents.

pclark 16y ago
I didn't attack the feature, I said they bootstrapped their theme launch with the tumblr themes. That isn't attacking. I simply meant they lent on the pre existing tumblr community to boost their own offerings - which was genius. I do think to do that, and for Tumblr to nod or whatever, and then to do this, seems, IMHO a mis-step.
- rantfoil 16y ago
  Actually on day one every single theme that we launched, I designed. We gradually added the best themes that we liked the most, some of them were Tumblr themes, and others were created by Posterous users, e.g. http://corywatilo.com http://corywatilo.com
  - a4agarwal 16y ago
    I wouldn't even call them "Tumblr themes." These were just blog themes, owned by a third party, who licensed them to us for use on Posterous. They just happened to be on Tumblr first, but don't have any other affiliation to that service.
edw519 16y ago
Some honest feedback from a long time hacker news participant and innocent bystander... It looks like pclark is providing feedback of some kind to a product represented by rantfoil, who is responding. I have no opinion about the issues being discussed in this thread, in fact I'm not sure I even understand many of them. But this much I do understand... rantfoil, you appear to be arguing in a public forum. Don't. By definition, you can't win. You responses may be perfectly valid (who knows), but language like I have a major bone to pick with your characterization of Posterous themes. I hardly think the theme community is unhappy about... Attacking...is absurd... make you and all that you represent appear confrontational. It doesn't matter who wins this battle, rantfoil will lose the war if this is the public perception of the corporate face. Find a way to address this feedback that will attract innocent bystanders, not scare them away.

GBKS 16y ago

Note how the three features that Tumblr doesn't have use vague terms like "real", "works for anyone" and "practical and flexible". Reads like fluff to me.

robinduckett 16y ago

> * I can also password protect my Tumblr. Hehehe...

pclark 16y ago
Huh?
- robinduckett 16y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1441997 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1441997

barmstrong 16y ago

Agreed - low blow. Tumblr is actually kicking Posterous' ass in term of UI and ease of use I think. I definitely prefer Tumblr after trying both for a few weeks. This post isn't helping.

barmstrong 16y ago
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/posterous.com+tumblr.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/posterous.com+tumblr.com/ Their growth curves show a different story also (I take compete graphs with a grain of salt, but at these traffic volumes it's probably safe to say the overall trend is correct).
- ElbertF 16y ago
  Tumblr is definitely a more popular service. http://wappalyzer.com/stats/app/posterous|Tumblr/websites http://wappalyzer.com/stats/app/posterous|Tumblr/websites

Tawheed 16y ago

I'm really confused about their product positioning. Ning was a white-labelled social network, what good will a "simple blog" do to its users? Similarly, Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform -- people are on it because they precisely DO NOT want a full blog. I remember Posterous founders specifically saying they don't want to be compared because Posterous is not that (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=680087 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=680087), why go after these people now? Wordpress? So far, all they've been doing are incorporating features that Wordpress already has and not really changing the experience all that much either... which then begs the question, what's the big goal and how is it different? It seems to me that their moves align with getting on AS MANY USERS AS POSSIBLE -- and if that means attacking all peripherally similar services, then so be it. It seems that their only goal is a large exit due to a large user base, not really product vision. I see a couple of takeaways here for fellow hackers and Posterous: - Really think about what your product is and what your big vision is. Are you really just creating yet another Wordpress.com? - Is it the post by email that is the uniquely awesome thing about Posterous? Someone should put together a universal "Post by Email" service and test this theory. Have it connect to Wordpress.com and Tumblr and see if people buy.

pclark 16y ago
this might imply their original concept of blogging via email had too small a market, and they needed to expand to be more general purpose?
- Tawheed 16y ago
  I can think of better strategies for attacking the blogging market. Instead of creating a generic blogging system that just copies Wordpress' features, create the "starter" blog for a set of verticals. Create a 'starter' blog that has the right bells and whistles for each of these individual targets: 1. A startup looking to promote their story (have it pre-set with a "About Us" page, a sidebar section to explain their product(s) and what they do, and Twitter/Like buttons to promote the posts 2. An author looking to promote his/her (e)book. Have an "About the Author" section, have excerpts/reviews on the sidebar, and a way to profile sample chapters as blog entries along with a super easy big call to action for buying the book from amazon. 3. A small business trying to attract locals. Have a clear display on the sidebar for location, maps, hours, and phone number. Have a section showing off pictures of the business. Have custom post types for Sales, Events, and special SEO sauce optimized for the given zip code. (you get the idea...) With an offering like this, not only will you solve a real problem (people like these having to create and customize these sites from scratch AND having to figure out what the right things to show are -- even though its well known), you 'll be solving a problem that people are willing to pay for.

kmfrk 16y ago

Kudos to you for keeping it civil; I personally have a lot of things to call the people, none of which are as restrained as your comment. Posterous is already inferior to Tumblr technically, aesthetically and in many other regards, and now they can add morally to the laundry list.