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How to deal with a relentless spammer, a WePay April Fools’ special

84 points by zopticity 16y ago

zyfo 16y ago
Just over an hour? I thought he'd at least take him out bass fishing for an afternoon.
aberman 16y ago
Rich from WePay here. Definitely did not want this to end up on HN. Awkward... edw519: I know what you're going to say...and I agree with you this time ;)
- ivankirigin 16y ago
  What did you think was going to happen?! [in my bed Ed Norton voice] Folks seeing this might not understand the degree of annoyance this company has caused. I've personally been called at least 40 times, half of those AFTER I shut down Tipjoy. This company deserves worse.
  - aberman 16y ago
    haha - it's awesome that you know who they are even though we bleeped out the name. I figured it might get posted to HN, but I was hoping it would just live on reddit for a while...
    - orangecat 16y ago
      t's awesome that you know who they are even though we bleeped out the name. Well, when you have direct quotes from other victims...
- edw519 16y ago
  OK Rich, I know it's just good clean fun (especially today), so I'll see your "We Pay Haiku" and raise you a... Hacker News Dilemma You work your butt off on your blog Providing content that's all the rage, But no matter how hard you try and try You can't hit the Hacker News front page. Then someone takes your picture Goofing off or rolling joints, And there your are at Number 1 Voted up with 42 points.
  - bullrunbear 16y ago
    Kudos...
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - aberman 16y ago
    Well done, sir. Again, I agree - I didn't think this belonged on HN.
citricsquid 16y ago
Tivo Android App? Spoilers!
mayukh 16y ago
I don't get it, why cant you name this douchey company? For the amount of work that went into setting it up, the prank itself was boring, if the 5 minute reel is the funniest part I shudder to think what a yawn the rest was. There was potential for a lot more, could have really made that guy squirm a lot more..
- citricsquid 16y ago
  PhotonInfoTech.com, I assume they don't say it for legal reasons? PhotonInfoTech.com could claim the claims are fake, libel etc? It's easy enough to locate who they mean, just google for the quotes they use.
  - geuis 16y ago
    Redirects to http://www.photon.in/ http://www.photon.in/
    - armandososa 16y ago
      http://cl.ly/2R1g352G0n3E253p1m2s http://cl.ly/2R1g352G0n3E253p1m2s priceless.
  - shareme 16y ago
    wait I know these guys..they spammed me as well
    - enjo 16y ago
      +1 for me. A couple of calls a week.
dpcan 16y ago
This felt demeaning and mean to me. I was very uncomfortable watching it. It looks like one of the company's employees showed up... possibly one of the people you claim may already be getting mistreated? Now what happens to this person after they come back to work having wasted an hour with you? If it had been the CEO, then I would see some humor possibly. Where's the line? The CEO of GoDaddy kills an elephant in Africa to feed a village and save its crops and the world shits bricks. Another company goes out of their way to trick and be mean to another fellow human being and it's funny? What the hell am I missing?
- randall 16y ago
  I think it's turnabout here. Spamming, being crappy business people, I think this is their 74 minute way of getting the people to never call them again.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
  - jm4 16y ago
    Only problem is it backfired on them the moment they set up the in person meeting. The offshoring company doesn't know they were being played. Anybody who would agree to an in person meeting- hell, these guys even initiated it- is a hot lead. On top of it, the "CTO" looks like an easy mark. They are going to receive calls for probably the next three years. Sleazy move on their part, and not at all smart if the objective is to stop the sales calls.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - bullrunbear 16y ago
      any suggestions to stop the sales calls?
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
bsergean 16y ago
It's lame to name something an April Fool. On April first you pretty much expect anything twisted to be an April fool !!
jcr 16y ago
"If I'm here and you're here, doesn't that make it our time?"
reitzensteinm 16y ago
This reminds me of something a friend's game development company did in the 90s. They kept getting fax spam from some local print shop, and after calling them back repeatedly asking them to stop, they decided enough was enough. So at about 9pm, when they figured everyone would have gone home, they taped together two or three bits of paper to make a loop inside the fax machine, and faxed it back to the company - it went all night. I have visions of mountains of paper strewn across the floor, but more likely the other fax machine would have had a couple hundred sheets loaded at most and probably quite a bit less. Still, apparently the print shop was annoyed enough to call the cops, but as you'd expect, nothing ever came of it.
bertil 16y ago
Was there anything funny in there? Yeah, they collage buzzwords, mock Louisiana and the blurry guy approves—but how is that funny?
JacobIrwin 16y ago
Well played
rdl 16y ago
Uh, wow dudes. Assuming this happened in California in the recent past (post 1994), and the annoying outsourcing guy was not aware he was having audio recorded, congratulations -- you've just violated state law! (California v. Gibbons, 215 Cal. App. 3d 1204 (Cal Ct. App. 1989).) This is California Penal Code SS 630-638. Up to $2500 fine, 1 year in jail. (any covert audio recordings of telephone/electronic conversations are also illegal in California; it's an all-party consent state, although you can disclose and report recording all business calls as a routine thing (you play a "we record all calls" at the beginning of the call, and staying on is implied consent). ) IANAL, but YGANVP.
- oomkiller 16y ago
  They could have overlooked this, but it would not seem odd to say it's being recorded, for whatever reason. Or even having a sign that says "audio and video recording in use" would probably suffice.
  - rdl 16y ago
    Yes, it's one party consent, two party notification. There was clear expectation of privacy (it wasn't a public meeting in a cafe, or a press conference). Hiding the identity of the outsourcing guy might legally change things -- I actually have no idea. The firm is trivially identifiable, but it might be enough. Regardless, it's irresponsible. More ice blocks and real guerilla marketing, less bragging about violating employment laws or wiretapping vendors, please.

84 points by zopticity 16y ago

zyfo 16y ago

Just over an hour? I thought he'd at least take him out bass fishing for an afternoon.

Rich from WePay here. Definitely did not want this to end up on HN. Awkward... edw519: I know what you're going to say...and I agree with you this time ;)

ivankirigin 16y ago
What did you think was going to happen?! [in my bed Ed Norton voice] Folks seeing this might not understand the degree of annoyance this company has caused. I've personally been called at least 40 times, half of those AFTER I shut down Tipjoy. This company deserves worse.
- aberman 16y ago
  haha - it's awesome that you know who they are even though we bleeped out the name. I figured it might get posted to HN, but I was hoping it would just live on reddit for a while...
  - orangecat 16y ago
    t's awesome that you know who they are even though we bleeped out the name. Well, when you have direct quotes from other victims...
edw519 16y ago
OK Rich, I know it's just good clean fun (especially today), so I'll see your "We Pay Haiku" and raise you a... Hacker News Dilemma You work your butt off on your blog Providing content that's all the rage, But no matter how hard you try and try You can't hit the Hacker News front page. Then someone takes your picture Goofing off or rolling joints, And there your are at Number 1 Voted up with 42 points.
- bullrunbear 16y ago
  Kudos...
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- aberman 16y ago
  Well done, sir. Again, I agree - I didn't think this belonged on HN.

citricsquid 16y ago

Tivo Android App? Spoilers!

mayukh 16y ago

I don't get it, why cant you name this douchey company? For the amount of work that went into setting it up, the prank itself was boring, if the 5 minute reel is the funniest part I shudder to think what a yawn the rest was. There was potential for a lot more, could have really made that guy squirm a lot more..

citricsquid 16y ago
PhotonInfoTech.com, I assume they don't say it for legal reasons? PhotonInfoTech.com could claim the claims are fake, libel etc? It's easy enough to locate who they mean, just google for the quotes they use.
- geuis 16y ago
  Redirects to http://www.photon.in/ http://www.photon.in/
  - armandososa 16y ago
    http://cl.ly/2R1g352G0n3E253p1m2s http://cl.ly/2R1g352G0n3E253p1m2s priceless.
- shareme 16y ago
  wait I know these guys..they spammed me as well
  - enjo 16y ago
    +1 for me. A couple of calls a week.

dpcan 16y ago

This felt demeaning and mean to me. I was very uncomfortable watching it. It looks like one of the company's employees showed up... possibly one of the people you claim may already be getting mistreated? Now what happens to this person after they come back to work having wasted an hour with you? If it had been the CEO, then I would see some humor possibly. Where's the line? The CEO of GoDaddy kills an elephant in Africa to feed a village and save its crops and the world shits bricks. Another company goes out of their way to trick and be mean to another fellow human being and it's funny? What the hell am I missing?

randall 16y ago
I think it's turnabout here. Spamming, being crappy business people, I think this is their 74 minute way of getting the people to never call them again.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- jm4 16y ago
  Only problem is it backfired on them the moment they set up the in person meeting. The offshoring company doesn't know they were being played. Anybody who would agree to an in person meeting- hell, these guys even initiated it- is a hot lead. On top of it, the "CTO" looks like an easy mark. They are going to receive calls for probably the next three years. Sleazy move on their part, and not at all smart if the objective is to stop the sales calls.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - bullrunbear 16y ago
    any suggestions to stop the sales calls?

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

bsergean 16y ago

It's lame to name something an April Fool. On April first you pretty much expect anything twisted to be an April fool !!

jcr 16y ago

"If I'm here and you're here, doesn't that make it our time?"

reitzensteinm 16y ago

This reminds me of something a friend's game development company did in the 90s. They kept getting fax spam from some local print shop, and after calling them back repeatedly asking them to stop, they decided enough was enough. So at about 9pm, when they figured everyone would have gone home, they taped together two or three bits of paper to make a loop inside the fax machine, and faxed it back to the company - it went all night. I have visions of mountains of paper strewn across the floor, but more likely the other fax machine would have had a couple hundred sheets loaded at most and probably quite a bit less. Still, apparently the print shop was annoyed enough to call the cops, but as you'd expect, nothing ever came of it.

bertil 16y ago

Was there anything funny in there? Yeah, they collage buzzwords, mock Louisiana and the blurry guy approves—but how is that funny?

JacobIrwin 16y ago

Well played

rdl 16y ago

Uh, wow dudes. Assuming this happened in California in the recent past (post 1994), and the annoying outsourcing guy was not aware he was having audio recorded, congratulations -- you've just violated state law! (California v. Gibbons, 215 Cal. App. 3d 1204 (Cal Ct. App. 1989).) This is California Penal Code SS 630-638. Up to $2500 fine, 1 year in jail. (any covert audio recordings of telephone/electronic conversations are also illegal in California; it's an all-party consent state, although you can disclose and report recording all business calls as a routine thing (you play a "we record all calls" at the beginning of the call, and staying on is implied consent). ) IANAL, but YGANVP.

oomkiller 16y ago
They could have overlooked this, but it would not seem odd to say it's being recorded, for whatever reason. Or even having a sign that says "audio and video recording in use" would probably suffice.
- rdl 16y ago
  Yes, it's one party consent, two party notification. There was clear expectation of privacy (it wasn't a public meeting in a cafe, or a press conference). Hiding the identity of the outsourcing guy might legally change things -- I actually have no idea. The firm is trivially identifiable, but it might be enough. Regardless, it's irresponsible. More ice blocks and real guerilla marketing, less bragging about violating employment laws or wiretapping vendors, please.