4 ms·

I think, trying to read through the pettiness and petulance of it all, that Marco has a fine point to be argued. He just makes it in a really insufferable way.

by kmfrk 14y ago

dasil003 14y ago
He had a fine point to be argued until he brought it into his app functionality. Seriously, not only is that is ridiculously childish, but it's totally unnecessary—he has the audience to make his point in full editorial glory. If it's libel then sic a lawyer on them, don't play games with your user base, most of whom don't and shouldn't give a fuck.
- kmfrk 14y ago
  Blocking someone describing your product as tantamount to illegal activity (scraping) is cheaper than lawyering up. Marco's current problem is that he's put himself in such a bloviating position that relenting and whitelisting 9to5Mac is going to make him look like a huge idiot. Someone with a thicker skin would probably have asked the guys whether they really thought Instapaper was illegal, and whether Marco should disable Instapaper support for them. That way, he wouldn't be editorializing his articles. This measure also creates a precedent where site owners can petition him to disable support for their website - which, taken far enough, is going to make Instapaper very undesirable to prospective users. Those of us who've paid Marco money would rather that he didn't take a service we've paid money for to use as a bargaining chip.
  - REdmanta 14y ago
    9to5Mac isn't the first site to describe Instapaper as scraping NyTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/magazine/04FOB-medium-t.html?_r=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/magazine/04FOB-medium-t.h... Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/419326/why-instapaper-will-never-be-booted-from-the/ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/419326/why-instapaper-w... BusinessInsider: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-23/tech/30193029_1_business-insider-instapaper-rss http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-23/tech/30193029...
    - kmfrk 14y ago
      Worth saying is that at the time, The New York Times's idea of scraping was very inclusive: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1414235 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1414235.

I think, trying to read through the pettiness and petulance of it all, that Marco has a fine point to be argued. He just makes it in a really insufferable way.

by kmfrk 14y ago

I think, trying to read through the pettiness and petulance of it all, that Marco has a fine point to be argued. He just makes it in a really insufferable way.

dasil003 14y ago

He had a fine point to be argued until he brought it into his app functionality. Seriously, not only is that is ridiculously childish, but it's totally unnecessary—he has the audience to make his point in full editorial glory. If it's libel then sic a lawyer on them, don't play games with your user base, most of whom don't and shouldn't give a fuck.

kmfrk 14y ago
Blocking someone describing your product as tantamount to illegal activity (scraping) is cheaper than lawyering up. Marco's current problem is that he's put himself in such a bloviating position that relenting and whitelisting 9to5Mac is going to make him look like a huge idiot. Someone with a thicker skin would probably have asked the guys whether they really thought Instapaper was illegal, and whether Marco should disable Instapaper support for them. That way, he wouldn't be editorializing his articles. This measure also creates a precedent where site owners can petition him to disable support for their website - which, taken far enough, is going to make Instapaper very undesirable to prospective users. Those of us who've paid Marco money would rather that he didn't take a service we've paid money for to use as a bargaining chip.
- REdmanta 14y ago
  9to5Mac isn't the first site to describe Instapaper as scraping NyTimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/magazine/04FOB-medium-t.html?_r=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/magazine/04FOB-medium-t.h... Technology Review: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/419326/why-instapaper-will-never-be-booted-from-the/ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/419326/why-instapaper-w... BusinessInsider: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-23/tech/30193029_1_business-insider-instapaper-rss http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-23/tech/30193029...
  - kmfrk 14y ago
    Worth saying is that at the time, The New York Times's idea of scraping was very inclusive: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1414235 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1414235.