4 ms·

yep I'm the only woman who was at FeeFighters and I respect Ayn Rand but I've never said anything about objectivism publicly...in fact, I would never recommend

yep I'm the only woman who was at FeeFighters and I respect Ayn Rand but I've never said anything about objectivism publicly...in fact, I would never recommend any philosophy for entrepreneurs as it is in fact, against my philosophy. So maybe you're getting me confused with someone else?

whit537 14y ago
Can you shed any light on the future of FeeFighters and Samurai? How can users get their data out?
- startupstella 14y ago
  Alas, I cannot although I wish I could. I was not interested in working for a big company post-acquisition...hence the name "startup stella." I do hope the guys respond as we always respected the HN community and depended on it greatly. Whatever happened, hopefully the situation can be rectified.
  - whit537 14y ago
    Thanks for weighing in, Stella. I've just heard from Sheel via email with an apology, and now I've just gotten off the phone with Sean. He apologized for the support requests that have been dropped during the transition to GroupOn. At his request, I've removed the "Reflection" part of my piece, which admittedly engaged in unfounded speculation. I apologize. I'd also like to apologize to Sean and the team for not trying harder to contact them personally. For example, there is an email address and other contact info listed for Sean on the FeeFighter's About page (I had been looking at the Samurai About page): http://feefighters.com/about http://feefighters.com/about I believe that Sean and his team are making a good-faith effort to integrate FeeFighters with GroupOn. I've suggested to him that bringing back the three advertised support channels could be a good next step to maintain trust (the toll-free number, the Campfire chatroom, and the ZenDesk). I freely admit that I've tried to "make lemonade" from what otherwise was a bad situation for Gittip, by publishing this piece and submitting it to Hacker News. I appreciate Sean for calling me and working through the issue together at a personal level. I have no hard feelings towards him and his team, and I wish them all the best as they try to tame the complexity of a significant acquisition, for which, in the end, they are to be congratulated.
    - jusben1369 14y ago
      I worry that this sentence: "I freely admit that I've tried to "make lemonade" from what otherwise was a bad situation for Gittip, by publishing this piece and submitting it to Hacker News." is perhaps the most important here. It wouldn't be such a big deal if this was a rant against an established brand like a large technology company. But to target individuals and name names - only to then do essentially a complete 180 after one phone call - is problematic and perhaps everything that's wrong with the power of forums like this and twitter.
      - programnature 14y ago
        And he removed the big name-calling rant section after the phone call... the one set off by a loss of 51 dollars. Looks more like a publicity stunt rather than righteous outrage.
        whit537 14y ago
        Publicity stunt or righteous outrage? I'll have the salmon.
        I_Smell_Lawyers 14y ago
        $51 or $51,000,000 a client is a client, and you have a contract (or you fucking should do) to provide a service. 3 weeks is breach, esp. without informing your clients so that they can at least investigate other avenues / allow them to mitigate your issues as a business. This isn't high school ~ running around saying "But he's only posting to get attention, waaa waaa" is pathetic, and not how businesses (should be) run. ~ General levels of business acumen here are severely lacking.
    - pavel_lishin 14y ago
      > I'd also like to apologize to Sean and the team for not trying harder to contact them personally. That sounds like an odd thing to apologize for. You should not have to dig up personal contact information to get minimal customer service.
1123581321 14y ago
Apologies, but I believe you did recommend Atlas Shrugged to a room full of entrepreneurs and students. I shouldn't have read so much into your recommendation but I am still not surprised by the sale and the results of it.

whit537 14y ago

Can you shed any light on the future of FeeFighters and Samurai? How can users get their data out?

startupstella 14y ago
Alas, I cannot although I wish I could. I was not interested in working for a big company post-acquisition...hence the name "startup stella." I do hope the guys respond as we always respected the HN community and depended on it greatly. Whatever happened, hopefully the situation can be rectified.
- whit537 14y ago
  Thanks for weighing in, Stella. I've just heard from Sheel via email with an apology, and now I've just gotten off the phone with Sean. He apologized for the support requests that have been dropped during the transition to GroupOn. At his request, I've removed the "Reflection" part of my piece, which admittedly engaged in unfounded speculation. I apologize. I'd also like to apologize to Sean and the team for not trying harder to contact them personally. For example, there is an email address and other contact info listed for Sean on the FeeFighter's About page (I had been looking at the Samurai About page): http://feefighters.com/about http://feefighters.com/about I believe that Sean and his team are making a good-faith effort to integrate FeeFighters with GroupOn. I've suggested to him that bringing back the three advertised support channels could be a good next step to maintain trust (the toll-free number, the Campfire chatroom, and the ZenDesk). I freely admit that I've tried to "make lemonade" from what otherwise was a bad situation for Gittip, by publishing this piece and submitting it to Hacker News. I appreciate Sean for calling me and working through the issue together at a personal level. I have no hard feelings towards him and his team, and I wish them all the best as they try to tame the complexity of a significant acquisition, for which, in the end, they are to be congratulated.
  - jusben1369 14y ago
    I worry that this sentence: "I freely admit that I've tried to "make lemonade" from what otherwise was a bad situation for Gittip, by publishing this piece and submitting it to Hacker News." is perhaps the most important here. It wouldn't be such a big deal if this was a rant against an established brand like a large technology company. But to target individuals and name names - only to then do essentially a complete 180 after one phone call - is problematic and perhaps everything that's wrong with the power of forums like this and twitter.
    - programnature 14y ago
      And he removed the big name-calling rant section after the phone call... the one set off by a loss of 51 dollars. Looks more like a publicity stunt rather than righteous outrage.
      - whit537 14y ago
        Publicity stunt or righteous outrage? I'll have the salmon.
      - I_Smell_Lawyers 14y ago
        $51 or $51,000,000 a client is a client, and you have a contract (or you fucking should do) to provide a service. 3 weeks is breach, esp. without informing your clients so that they can at least investigate other avenues / allow them to mitigate your issues as a business. This isn't high school ~ running around saying "But he's only posting to get attention, waaa waaa" is pathetic, and not how businesses (should be) run. ~ General levels of business acumen here are severely lacking.
  - pavel_lishin 14y ago
    > I'd also like to apologize to Sean and the team for not trying harder to contact them personally. That sounds like an odd thing to apologize for. You should not have to dig up personal contact information to get minimal customer service.

1123581321 14y ago

Apologies, but I believe you did recommend Atlas Shrugged to a room full of entrepreneurs and students. I shouldn't have read so much into your recommendation but I am still not surprised by the sale and the results of it.