6 ms·

Free 18GB Dropbox account now possible through referrals

20 points by ukdm 15y ago

JonoW 15y ago
Or just create set up some Google Ads to do the hard-work for you, for a couple bucks (or free if you can get some AdWord vouchers): http://lifehacker.com/5854955/how-to-max-out-your-dropbox-referrals-with-google-adwords-for-free http://lifehacker.com/5854955/how-to-max-out-your-dropbox-re... If I were DropBox, I wouldn't mind this one bit, they're basically getting the public to pay for their ads. Genius on both fronts :)
- thehigherlife 15y ago
  There was an article posted to HN a while ago that said some people had problems with their Google AdWords account getting banned for doing that.
- imurray 15y ago
  A warning about that (someone who claims to have been banned from adwords as a result): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3575868 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3575868
  - JonoW 15y ago
    Ah crazy, didn't know that was against the AdWords T&Cs...
- gilrain 15y ago
  Mechanical Turk works just fine for this with no risk of bans. Maxed out my referrals in a day for about $10, and I was probably too generous.
  - korussian 15y ago
    Unfortunately, this only works for people with a US address.
- brianjolney 15y ago
  Just recently did this for about $20 - I targeted dropbox OSX as my keyword to get only those downloading the software and it worked really well. Sitting at 24gb/mo free.
gst 15y ago
Wonder if the plan to also double the space you get on https://www.dropbox.com/edu https://www.dropbox.com/edu
- hbhanu 15y ago
  I was also wondering that... it'd be nice if they did, and made it retroactive. I didn't know about the Google Ads link that JonoW posted, I'll have to look into that!
- lbbb 15y ago
  You just get double the space per referral, but you can not exceed the 18GB limit. That means you can get to 18GB faster, with fewer referrals. But I don't know if it works retroactively for refs you already have.
mcarrano 15y ago
I have 24GB of free Dropbox space: https://www.dropbox.com/gs https://www.dropbox.com/gs https://www.dropbox.com/free https://www.dropbox.com/free https://www.dropbox.com/edu https://www.dropbox.com/edu https://www.dropbox.com/referrals https://www.dropbox.com/referrals I also have the newest version where they implemented the camera import feature which gave you extra space.
ambirex 15y ago
Even better, it looks like it was retroactive (I just got a notice the my free space has increased)
Tichy 15y ago
Or you could get a real job and earn some money, so that you could just pay for storage with money rather than with tedious recommendation work.
- TomGullen 15y ago
  I got 19gb, for very little work. Our software has a backup option as a feature so we simply wrote a tutorial on how to use DropBox in conjunction with the backup feature with our referral link inside it. - Good for us because we get enough space to back up everything - Good for customers as they have a good tutorial on how to backup their games - Good for DropBox as they get more users
- stephengillie 15y ago
  Exactly. How much of your time is $10 worth? You can get 50gb a month for that.
  - thisishugo 15y ago
    If I spend half an hour maxing my free space and use Dropbox for a year that's $120 I didn't spend, which values my time at $240/hr. It's all relative.
- ja27 15y ago
  It's actually interesting psychology. People will go to great lengths for a perceived bargain.
- sixothree 15y ago
  For me it's just not worth the money. I pay for Jungle Disk, but I'm still going to max out my free DropBox so I can send crap files to my friends. Jungle Disk is hipaa compliant where dropbox is not. JD can also be less expensive and more secure.
aoprisan 15y ago
This is right before Google releases the Google Drive and there'll be a mass exodus to Google Drive.. Coincidence? I think not.
- joshbaptiste 15y ago
  The simple reason I love Dropbox has less to do with space, but ease of use on ALL my devices. Currently syncs my files on my Ipod touch,Nexus S,Linux boxes, and Android transformer prime tablet. I even use it as a trigger to kick off a reverse ssh tunnel from my VPS nodes, (since I allow Openssh to only listen on localhost). The way it seamlessly co-exists with my exiting setup and not get in the way is grand.
TomGullen 15y ago
One thing I'm a bit uncomfortable with on the Dropbox referal system is that once you refer someone you get their email address (https://www.dropbox.com/account/referrals https://www.dropbox.com/account/referrals). I'm not sure if that's really right as all our referrals come from clicks on a link on one of our tutorials and they will not be aware I now have their email address. It's a pretty good phishing opportunity (eg, thanks for installing DropBox yesterday at 1.30pm, please login here for extra free space!). I emailed DropBox about this a month or so ago but didn't get a reply. DropBox should be especially sensitive to opportunities for phishers in my opinion!
- mike-cardwell 15y ago
  I found that very weird too. I've used Dropbox referral links a couple of times in blog posts. When somebody clicks them and proceeds to sign up, Dropbox tells me their email address. That's clearly not ok. They shouldn't need to be told this. It should be obvious.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]

20 points by ukdm 15y ago

JonoW 15y ago

Or just create set up some Google Ads to do the hard-work for you, for a couple bucks (or free if you can get some AdWord vouchers): http://lifehacker.com/5854955/how-to-max-out-your-dropbox-referrals-with-google-adwords-for-free http://lifehacker.com/5854955/how-to-max-out-your-dropbox-re... If I were DropBox, I wouldn't mind this one bit, they're basically getting the public to pay for their ads. Genius on both fronts :)

thehigherlife 15y ago
There was an article posted to HN a while ago that said some people had problems with their Google AdWords account getting banned for doing that.
imurray 15y ago
A warning about that (someone who claims to have been banned from adwords as a result): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3575868 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3575868
- JonoW 15y ago
  Ah crazy, didn't know that was against the AdWords T&Cs...
gilrain 15y ago
Mechanical Turk works just fine for this with no risk of bans. Maxed out my referrals in a day for about $10, and I was probably too generous.
- korussian 15y ago
  Unfortunately, this only works for people with a US address.
brianjolney 15y ago
Just recently did this for about $20 - I targeted dropbox OSX as my keyword to get only those downloading the software and it worked really well. Sitting at 24gb/mo free.

gst 15y ago

Wonder if the plan to also double the space you get on https://www.dropbox.com/edu https://www.dropbox.com/edu

hbhanu 15y ago
I was also wondering that... it'd be nice if they did, and made it retroactive. I didn't know about the Google Ads link that JonoW posted, I'll have to look into that!
lbbb 15y ago
You just get double the space per referral, but you can not exceed the 18GB limit. That means you can get to 18GB faster, with fewer referrals. But I don't know if it works retroactively for refs you already have.

mcarrano 15y ago

I have 24GB of free Dropbox space: https://www.dropbox.com/gs https://www.dropbox.com/gs https://www.dropbox.com/free https://www.dropbox.com/free https://www.dropbox.com/edu https://www.dropbox.com/edu https://www.dropbox.com/referrals https://www.dropbox.com/referrals I also have the newest version where they implemented the camera import feature which gave you extra space.

ambirex 15y ago

Even better, it looks like it was retroactive (I just got a notice the my free space has increased)

Tichy 15y ago

Or you could get a real job and earn some money, so that you could just pay for storage with money rather than with tedious recommendation work.

TomGullen 15y ago
I got 19gb, for very little work. Our software has a backup option as a feature so we simply wrote a tutorial on how to use DropBox in conjunction with the backup feature with our referral link inside it. - Good for us because we get enough space to back up everything - Good for customers as they have a good tutorial on how to backup their games - Good for DropBox as they get more users
stephengillie 15y ago
Exactly. How much of your time is $10 worth? You can get 50gb a month for that.
- thisishugo 15y ago
  If I spend half an hour maxing my free space and use Dropbox for a year that's $120 I didn't spend, which values my time at $240/hr. It's all relative.
ja27 15y ago
It's actually interesting psychology. People will go to great lengths for a perceived bargain.
sixothree 15y ago
For me it's just not worth the money. I pay for Jungle Disk, but I'm still going to max out my free DropBox so I can send crap files to my friends. Jungle Disk is hipaa compliant where dropbox is not. JD can also be less expensive and more secure.

aoprisan 15y ago

This is right before Google releases the Google Drive and there'll be a mass exodus to Google Drive.. Coincidence? I think not.

joshbaptiste 15y ago
The simple reason I love Dropbox has less to do with space, but ease of use on ALL my devices. Currently syncs my files on my Ipod touch,Nexus S,Linux boxes, and Android transformer prime tablet. I even use it as a trigger to kick off a reverse ssh tunnel from my VPS nodes, (since I allow Openssh to only listen on localhost). The way it seamlessly co-exists with my exiting setup and not get in the way is grand.

TomGullen 15y ago

One thing I'm a bit uncomfortable with on the Dropbox referal system is that once you refer someone you get their email address (https://www.dropbox.com/account/referrals https://www.dropbox.com/account/referrals). I'm not sure if that's really right as all our referrals come from clicks on a link on one of our tutorials and they will not be aware I now have their email address. It's a pretty good phishing opportunity (eg, thanks for installing DropBox yesterday at 1.30pm, please login here for extra free space!). I emailed DropBox about this a month or so ago but didn't get a reply. DropBox should be especially sensitive to opportunities for phishers in my opinion!

mike-cardwell 15y ago
I found that very weird too. I've used Dropbox referral links a couple of times in blog posts. When somebody clicks them and proceeds to sign up, Dropbox tells me their email address. That's clearly not ok. They shouldn't need to be told this. It should be obvious.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]