4 ms·

Not open source and you require a subscription to run a scraper from the user's own device? Edit: I see that it's free for now but still

sebestindragos 3y ago
What's wrong with that?
- boredemployee 3y ago
  We basically don't know who the author is or what are they intentions, no available info anywhere.
  - sebestindragos 3y ago
    Fair enough and you see open sourcing the code as the only way? Or any other options?
    - boredemployee 3y ago
      think about the user experience: 1) they go to your website, you have links to social websites like linkedin. 2) user goes to your linkedin page and there's no single person associated with it. conclusion: using "internet best practices" it sounds like a scam to me. so in a forum like HN i would expected you could open source it _or_ tell who you are, what data is being sent and collected, etc.
      - sebestindragos 3y ago
        never thought about it that way. I'm a shy person so don't usually like putting my name out there. Also, personally, I've never cared who's behind a product, if I like it, I'll use it.
        pdimitar 3y ago
        Your personal traits do not invalidate the arguments given to you. You have to admit that not putting any identify forward AND not making it open-source is making it hard to discern from scam services whose only goal is to farm people's emails and web visiting preferences. I'd like to use your thing but you must show a bit more goodwill first.
        sebestindragos 3y ago
        Don't get me wrong, but feel free to not use it if that's a MAJOR issue for you. I don't want to make the source code public because it will be a comercial product. As for my personal info, the username I use here is actually my lastname + firstname if you want to dig me up on linkedin. I do not want to put my name on the app, it's just how I am.
        pdimitar 3y ago
        I hope you don't get me wrong as well. I and others are pointing out to you that being shy and undercover (so to speak) involuntarily mixes you in with actual shady folk (who keep information vague for darker purposes). I've bookmarked your project and will keep a look on it. I don't mind paying for convenience if the product works but for now I'll just monitor and see how it develops.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- hnenjoyer_93 3y ago
  Aside from what the sister comment said, the app being closed source means we can't reliably check what it actually does, how it uses the data and whether it will get us IP bans on the job websites. Paying a subscription for using our own computer's resources and network to scrape the sites is just wrong, I wouldn't complain if it was some web service running in a cloud that just sent notifications though
  - adrianmsmith 3y ago
    > Paying a subscription for using our own computer's resources and network I agree with the rest of your comment, but not sure this part is accurate. People pay for Microsoft Word or Photoshop etc., and then run them entirely on their own computer using their own computer's resources and network.
    - hnenjoyer_93 3y ago
      I should have really worded it better connecting that to the above statements. The problem is that in this particular case a cloud solution would be a better choice for this exact task (unlike for Word or Photoshop). Also the author said they might consider that in another comment
  - sebestindragos 3y ago
    That makes sense in theory, but I'm not sure most people would bother reading the source code. Regarding your IP banning concerns, since the app only scrapes the links you save it's just like you would manually refresh them in Chrome so don't think this would be an issue (no data to back this up tho, other than my own PC which is running the app continuously and has a ton of links saved for testing). I made it a desktop app to avoid needing to run expensive cloud resources for scraping (which also includes IP proxies to get around bot detection limits). This would have meant a higher cost for the end user, which I absolutely did not want since it's targeting also unemployed people. A lot of people have had that complaint and I'm considering building a cloud version with a higher price point, but not a priority right now.

sebestindragos 3y ago

What's wrong with that?

boredemployee 3y ago
We basically don't know who the author is or what are they intentions, no available info anywhere.
- sebestindragos 3y ago
  Fair enough and you see open sourcing the code as the only way? Or any other options?
  - boredemployee 3y ago
    think about the user experience: 1) they go to your website, you have links to social websites like linkedin. 2) user goes to your linkedin page and there's no single person associated with it. conclusion: using "internet best practices" it sounds like a scam to me. so in a forum like HN i would expected you could open source it _or_ tell who you are, what data is being sent and collected, etc.
    - sebestindragos 3y ago
      never thought about it that way. I'm a shy person so don't usually like putting my name out there. Also, personally, I've never cared who's behind a product, if I like it, I'll use it.
      - pdimitar 3y ago
        Your personal traits do not invalidate the arguments given to you. You have to admit that not putting any identify forward AND not making it open-source is making it hard to discern from scam services whose only goal is to farm people's emails and web visiting preferences. I'd like to use your thing but you must show a bit more goodwill first.
        sebestindragos 3y ago
        Don't get me wrong, but feel free to not use it if that's a MAJOR issue for you. I don't want to make the source code public because it will be a comercial product. As for my personal info, the username I use here is actually my lastname + firstname if you want to dig me up on linkedin. I do not want to put my name on the app, it's just how I am.
        pdimitar 3y ago
        I hope you don't get me wrong as well. I and others are pointing out to you that being shy and undercover (so to speak) involuntarily mixes you in with actual shady folk (who keep information vague for darker purposes). I've bookmarked your project and will keep a look on it. I don't mind paying for convenience if the product works but for now I'll just monitor and see how it develops.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
hnenjoyer_93 3y ago
Aside from what the sister comment said, the app being closed source means we can't reliably check what it actually does, how it uses the data and whether it will get us IP bans on the job websites. Paying a subscription for using our own computer's resources and network to scrape the sites is just wrong, I wouldn't complain if it was some web service running in a cloud that just sent notifications though
- adrianmsmith 3y ago
  > Paying a subscription for using our own computer's resources and network I agree with the rest of your comment, but not sure this part is accurate. People pay for Microsoft Word or Photoshop etc., and then run them entirely on their own computer using their own computer's resources and network.
  - hnenjoyer_93 3y ago
    I should have really worded it better connecting that to the above statements. The problem is that in this particular case a cloud solution would be a better choice for this exact task (unlike for Word or Photoshop). Also the author said they might consider that in another comment
- sebestindragos 3y ago
  That makes sense in theory, but I'm not sure most people would bother reading the source code. Regarding your IP banning concerns, since the app only scrapes the links you save it's just like you would manually refresh them in Chrome so don't think this would be an issue (no data to back this up tho, other than my own PC which is running the app continuously and has a ton of links saved for testing). I made it a desktop app to avoid needing to run expensive cloud resources for scraping (which also includes IP proxies to get around bot detection limits). This would have meant a higher cost for the end user, which I absolutely did not want since it's targeting also unemployed people. A lot of people have had that complaint and I'm considering building a cloud version with a higher price point, but not a priority right now.