38 ms·

Dear Tiny Post, please stop the shady practices

46 points by dave1619 14y ago

flipstewart 14y ago
I signed up for but never used Tiny Post, and I'm still getting emails about people following me. People with very similar accounts to the ones Dave mentioned. For example, check out this profile: http://tinypost.co/users/jonig/#tab1 http://tinypost.co/users/jonig/#tab1 If you go through the list of people that "Joni" follows, you'll see that most of them don't seem to have posted anything either.
- dave1619 14y ago
  Yeah, that profile has the same stats as the people following me: 4 posts, around 3000 likes and 7000 following. Plus the user looks like an attractive model. I wonder how many of these fake profiles they have going. I would love to hear what Tiny Post was/is thinking.
- mcantelon 14y ago
  I am amused by whatever they've concocted to create those paint-by-numbers hipster meme-y images.
  - flipstewart 14y ago
    The images seem to be lifted from Pinterest(Google Image search found a lot of the photos on the fake profiles on Pinterest, among other sites, but Pinterest was the common one).
- drivebyacct2 14y ago
  Linked to from there is: http://tinypost.co/users/abhishek888/#tab1 http://tinypost.co/users/abhishek888/#tab1 It's like a self-growing ghost town.
- processing 14y ago
  this doesn't look good. Reverse image on that profile pic and it comes up with a person not called Joni Gilbert. http://lookbook.nu/look/3792401-Sport-chic http://lookbook.nu/look/3792401-Sport-chic
  - flipstewart 14y ago
    I was about to post the same thing. Both the posts and the profile pictures seem to come from Pinterest.
DanBlake 14y ago
Before you jump to conclusions, please be aware its definitely possible that TP isnt doing this directly but that it is a bot doing this to get these users more followers or something. Keep in mind most networks have this problem ( twitter, fb, etc.. ) where users will follow anyone/anything to get themself more followers or traffic.
- dave1619 14y ago
  Valid point. I'll update my blog post. But it's difficult to believe that 3rd parties would be that interested in Tiny Post. I can understand 3rd parties interested in gaining followers on Twitter, Pinterest, etc. But Tiny Post? I would imagine they're facing more a traction problem (trying to get users using their app) vs 3rd parties trying to gain more followers.
  - michaelkscott 14y ago
    If you were a 3rd party spammer/marketer company, and you thought Tiny Post was gonna be huge, you'd probably jump on it fast and spam the *$^% out of it. So it's very possible it could be a spammer getting on board early.
    - dave1619 14y ago
      True, but as a 3rd party spammer/marketer company why would you think Tiny Post is going to be huge? Usually you'll need some indication that this is the next big thing, or at least that this app is taking off. I just don't see Tiny Post hyped in the press at all. Also, looking at all the people these fake users are following, most of them aren't active and haven't posted much. Doesn't seem like a flourishing ecosystem where 3rd party marketers would be attracted to. But then again, I could be wrong. I've added this point to my post and also I've tweeted the Tiny Post founders as well, hoping to hear a reply.
Cogito 14y ago
Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't see how it was 'obvious [that] Tiny Post is running these fake accounts as bots in order to fool their users.' The argument seems to be 'Accounts which look like bots are posting on my otherwise dormant account, therefore the service provider is using shady practices to try and re-engage me.' It is not a stretch to believe that this is the case, however it is equally plausible (to me) that the alleged bot accounts are run by a third party. I might have missed some aspect of the argument, however.
nostromo 14y ago
The too-hip photos give them away as fakes. Looks like they are all from models and fashion blogs: http://seedofstyle.com/manila-streets/ http://seedofstyle.com/manila-streets/ http://www.iamgalla.com/2012/07/70s-groove.html http://www.iamgalla.com/2012/07/70s-groove.html http://kolonelmustard.tumblr.com/image/28952930859 http://kolonelmustard.tumblr.com/image/28952930859 I'm not saying you should do this kind of astroturfing (please don't)... but if you wanted to, a more realistic feeling way would be to use the FB Graph API and randomly select names and photos from there. Example: https://graph.facebook.com/4?fields=picture,id,name,first_name,last_name,username,gender,locale https://graph.facebook.com/4?fields=picture,id,name,first_na...
- gojomo 14y ago
  The backlash from using real private-individual photos on a service without their permission would be large than using model shots (for which there's a chance TinyPOst has the rights).
intellegacy 14y ago
Can someone explain the USP of tiny post? It looks like it's a pinterest clone.
petercooper 14y ago
This is why I think CAN-SPAM shouldn't exempt "transactional or relationship messages" (and I send over 75,000 e-mails a week..!) Every automated/transactional mail, commercial or otherwise, should have an unsubscribe link or mechanism these days due to the noise.
ingridlunden 14y ago
Hi. I'm at TechCrunch and this is an FYI. I saw this and reached out to Tiny Post and got a response. Short version: it was a test they were running and is now being taken down. Slightly longer story here http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/20/tiny-post-bot/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/20/tiny-post-bot/
- dave1619 14y ago
  Awesome, thanks for investigating and writing the story!

46 points by dave1619 14y ago

I signed up for but never used Tiny Post, and I'm still getting emails about people following me. People with very similar accounts to the ones Dave mentioned. For example, check out this profile: http://tinypost.co/users/jonig/#tab1 http://tinypost.co/users/jonig/#tab1 If you go through the list of people that "Joni" follows, you'll see that most of them don't seem to have posted anything either.

dave1619 14y ago
Yeah, that profile has the same stats as the people following me: 4 posts, around 3000 likes and 7000 following. Plus the user looks like an attractive model. I wonder how many of these fake profiles they have going. I would love to hear what Tiny Post was/is thinking.
mcantelon 14y ago
I am amused by whatever they've concocted to create those paint-by-numbers hipster meme-y images.
- flipstewart 14y ago
  The images seem to be lifted from Pinterest(Google Image search found a lot of the photos on the fake profiles on Pinterest, among other sites, but Pinterest was the common one).
drivebyacct2 14y ago
Linked to from there is: http://tinypost.co/users/abhishek888/#tab1 http://tinypost.co/users/abhishek888/#tab1 It's like a self-growing ghost town.
processing 14y ago
this doesn't look good. Reverse image on that profile pic and it comes up with a person not called Joni Gilbert. http://lookbook.nu/look/3792401-Sport-chic http://lookbook.nu/look/3792401-Sport-chic
- flipstewart 14y ago
  I was about to post the same thing. Both the posts and the profile pictures seem to come from Pinterest.

DanBlake 14y ago

Before you jump to conclusions, please be aware its definitely possible that TP isnt doing this directly but that it is a bot doing this to get these users more followers or something. Keep in mind most networks have this problem ( twitter, fb, etc.. ) where users will follow anyone/anything to get themself more followers or traffic.

dave1619 14y ago
Valid point. I'll update my blog post. But it's difficult to believe that 3rd parties would be that interested in Tiny Post. I can understand 3rd parties interested in gaining followers on Twitter, Pinterest, etc. But Tiny Post? I would imagine they're facing more a traction problem (trying to get users using their app) vs 3rd parties trying to gain more followers.
- michaelkscott 14y ago
  If you were a 3rd party spammer/marketer company, and you thought Tiny Post was gonna be huge, you'd probably jump on it fast and spam the *$^% out of it. So it's very possible it could be a spammer getting on board early.
  - dave1619 14y ago
    True, but as a 3rd party spammer/marketer company why would you think Tiny Post is going to be huge? Usually you'll need some indication that this is the next big thing, or at least that this app is taking off. I just don't see Tiny Post hyped in the press at all. Also, looking at all the people these fake users are following, most of them aren't active and haven't posted much. Doesn't seem like a flourishing ecosystem where 3rd party marketers would be attracted to. But then again, I could be wrong. I've added this point to my post and also I've tweeted the Tiny Post founders as well, hoping to hear a reply.

Cogito 14y ago

Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't see how it was 'obvious [that] Tiny Post is running these fake accounts as bots in order to fool their users.' The argument seems to be 'Accounts which look like bots are posting on my otherwise dormant account, therefore the service provider is using shady practices to try and re-engage me.' It is not a stretch to believe that this is the case, however it is equally plausible (to me) that the alleged bot accounts are run by a third party. I might have missed some aspect of the argument, however.

nostromo 14y ago

The too-hip photos give them away as fakes. Looks like they are all from models and fashion blogs: http://seedofstyle.com/manila-streets/ http://seedofstyle.com/manila-streets/ http://www.iamgalla.com/2012/07/70s-groove.html http://www.iamgalla.com/2012/07/70s-groove.html http://kolonelmustard.tumblr.com/image/28952930859 http://kolonelmustard.tumblr.com/image/28952930859 I'm not saying you should do this kind of astroturfing (please don't)... but if you wanted to, a more realistic feeling way would be to use the FB Graph API and randomly select names and photos from there. Example: https://graph.facebook.com/4?fields=picture,id,name,first_name,last_name,username,gender,locale https://graph.facebook.com/4?fields=picture,id,name,first_na...

gojomo 14y ago
The backlash from using real private-individual photos on a service without their permission would be large than using model shots (for which there's a chance TinyPOst has the rights).

intellegacy 14y ago

Can someone explain the USP of tiny post? It looks like it's a pinterest clone.

petercooper 14y ago

This is why I think CAN-SPAM shouldn't exempt "transactional or relationship messages" (and I send over 75,000 e-mails a week..!) Every automated/transactional mail, commercial or otherwise, should have an unsubscribe link or mechanism these days due to the noise.

ingridlunden 14y ago

Hi. I'm at TechCrunch and this is an FYI. I saw this and reached out to Tiny Post and got a response. Short version: it was a test they were running and is now being taken down. Slightly longer story here http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/20/tiny-post-bot/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/20/tiny-post-bot/

dave1619 14y ago
Awesome, thanks for investigating and writing the story!