5 ms·

Sadly Danielle's site is down so I can't read the original post. I also had the pleasure of interacting with BetaPunch's Twitter account a while back: they post

by jorde 14y ago

Sadly Danielle's site is down so I can't read the original post. I also had the pleasure of interacting with BetaPunch's Twitter account a while back: they posted several tweets advertising that they were doing user testing for our service. I thought my co-founder had signed up for them but I still felt it was unethical to post details about clients publicly and asked them to tone down the tweets. The result was that they called me a "silicon valley douche"[1] which I can't help to find entertaining even still today. Only afterwards I learned that nobody from our company had signed up for them and they were using our name just to give the impression that we were using them. [1]: https://twitter.com/jorilallo/status/261977607757778944 https://twitter.com/jorilallo/status/261977607757778944

cheald 14y ago
Wooooooooow. I don't know who is running things over there, but they need to be fired immediately. It's this kind of thing that makes you want to see a service fail, because that sort of behavior doesn't deserve any measure of success.
- josscrowcroft 14y ago
  Yeah – I was and still am super grateful for the free test I received from BetaPunch (implemented feedback from it, too) but after seeing that "silicon valley douche" tweet, I am very glad I didn't become a paying customer.
lukethomas 14y ago
But I thought this was what growth hackers do? ;)
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
dmor 14y ago
I'm really sorry about the site, it went down so hard that I can't even get a cached version for Cloudflare to serve. Time to upgrade some things... personal blog is so neglected. Update: Google cached version: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1116&bih=603&sclient=psy-ab&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-testing%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-testing%2F&gs_l=hp.3..0l4.2394.8245.0.8494.10.9.1.0.0.0.228.798.2j3j1.6.0.les%3B..0.3...1c.1j2.uocrMlHI_x4&pbx=1 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d...
- jorde 14y ago
  I highly recommend Jekyll and other static generated blog engines as they can handle high traffic and don't suffer from security problems. Hit me with an email if you need any advice, happy to help out.
  - dmor 14y ago
    Thank you. I'll drop you a note, I think it is time. I've been on the same Dreamhost box for 8 years!
    - paulitex 14y ago
      Another great solution that doesn't involved changing anything in how you run your blog (or even moving off of Dreamhost), is a front-end cache like http://www.fastly.com/ http://www.fastly.com/. It's really affordable for personal sites, and for static sites like yours you'll be getting 98%+ cache hits – almost no traffic will ever hit your Dreamhost box, it will all come from their highly optimized Varnish caches around the world. Learndot's blog is hosted on a ec2 small instance fronted by fastly, our launch article was on HN/Techcrunch/etc... simultenously and we never went over 10% cpu. tl;dr: Use fastly.
      - chacham15 14y ago
        $50 a month is expensive for a personal blog...
      - graue 14y ago
        Wouldn't CloudFlare's free plan be just as good here? Edit: Looks like Danielle thinks so... she signed up with them a few hours ago. https://twitter.com/DanielleMorrill/status/289182292419674112 https://twitter.com/DanielleMorrill/status/28918229241967411...
        dmor 14y ago
        Yes, actually I have been a CloudFlare user for awhile but had paused it on my blog while dealing with a vulnerability. By the time traffic spiked and I turned it back on there was no way to reach the site to cache a copy. I also use the paid version for the Referly site and blog, and love it.
eduardordm 14y ago
Being a (former) user of Betapunch, I'm speechless. Good job on your response.
joshdotsmith 14y ago
I have also interacted with this guy in the past. I remembered our interactions to be fairly pleasant, so I was really shocked to see some of this nastiness. Made me want to figure out what kind of person would pull stuff like this. Turns out he's a kind of serial entrepreneur[1]. And not that it matters, but he didn't build BetaPunch himself. [1]: http://www.marylandbailbondsblog.com/2010/05/big-boyz-bail-bonds-marketing.html http://www.marylandbailbondsblog.com/2010/05/big-boyz-bail-b...
- teej 14y ago
  He's a 28-year-old kid with a marketing degree, that's about it. I know a fair number of people in the Baltimore tech/startup scene and no one has ever heard of him before.
  - bmelton 14y ago
    As an added data point, I am sort of plugged in to the Baltimore tech scene, and I have never heard of him, but as I said, I'm only sort of plugged in.
  - joshdotsmith 14y ago
    Right, in our conversations he always referred to his "coder" and asked me if I wanted to freelance for him.
  - untog 14y ago
    I can only assume he didn't get a great grade at his marketing degree after this mess...
  - rexreed 14y ago
    Ross presented BetaPunch at the Baltimore TechBreakfast (you should come if you're in town - it's pretty awesome). Here's the video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAdI5mhpKsA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAdI5mhpKsA
    - dasil003 14y ago
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

by jorde 14y ago

cheald 14y ago

Wooooooooow. I don't know who is running things over there, but they need to be fired immediately. It's this kind of thing that makes you want to see a service fail, because that sort of behavior doesn't deserve any measure of success.

josscrowcroft 14y ago
Yeah – I was and still am super grateful for the free test I received from BetaPunch (implemented feedback from it, too) but after seeing that "silicon valley douche" tweet, I am very glad I didn't become a paying customer.

lukethomas 14y ago

But I thought this was what growth hackers do? ;)

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

dmor 14y ago

I'm really sorry about the site, it went down so hard that I can't even get a cached version for Cloudflare to serve. Time to upgrade some things... personal blog is so neglected. Update: Google cached version: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1116&bih=603&sclient=psy-ab&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-testing%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-testing%2F&gs_l=hp.3..0l4.2394.8245.0.8494.10.9.1.0.0.0.228.798.2j3j1.6.0.les%3B..0.3...1c.1j2.uocrMlHI_x4&pbx=1 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d...

jorde 14y ago
I highly recommend Jekyll and other static generated blog engines as they can handle high traffic and don't suffer from security problems. Hit me with an email if you need any advice, happy to help out.
- dmor 14y ago
  Thank you. I'll drop you a note, I think it is time. I've been on the same Dreamhost box for 8 years!
  - paulitex 14y ago
    Another great solution that doesn't involved changing anything in how you run your blog (or even moving off of Dreamhost), is a front-end cache like http://www.fastly.com/ http://www.fastly.com/. It's really affordable for personal sites, and for static sites like yours you'll be getting 98%+ cache hits – almost no traffic will ever hit your Dreamhost box, it will all come from their highly optimized Varnish caches around the world. Learndot's blog is hosted on a ec2 small instance fronted by fastly, our launch article was on HN/Techcrunch/etc... simultenously and we never went over 10% cpu. tl;dr: Use fastly.
    - chacham15 14y ago
      $50 a month is expensive for a personal blog...
    - graue 14y ago
      Wouldn't CloudFlare's free plan be just as good here? Edit: Looks like Danielle thinks so... she signed up with them a few hours ago. https://twitter.com/DanielleMorrill/status/289182292419674112 https://twitter.com/DanielleMorrill/status/28918229241967411...
      - dmor 14y ago
        Yes, actually I have been a CloudFlare user for awhile but had paused it on my blog while dealing with a vulnerability. By the time traffic spiked and I turned it back on there was no way to reach the site to cache a copy. I also use the paid version for the Referly site and blog, and love it.

eduardordm 14y ago

Being a (former) user of Betapunch, I'm speechless. Good job on your response.

joshdotsmith 14y ago

I have also interacted with this guy in the past. I remembered our interactions to be fairly pleasant, so I was really shocked to see some of this nastiness. Made me want to figure out what kind of person would pull stuff like this. Turns out he's a kind of serial entrepreneur[1]. And not that it matters, but he didn't build BetaPunch himself. [1]: http://www.marylandbailbondsblog.com/2010/05/big-boyz-bail-bonds-marketing.html http://www.marylandbailbondsblog.com/2010/05/big-boyz-bail-b...

teej 14y ago
He's a 28-year-old kid with a marketing degree, that's about it. I know a fair number of people in the Baltimore tech/startup scene and no one has ever heard of him before.
- bmelton 14y ago
  As an added data point, I am sort of plugged in to the Baltimore tech scene, and I have never heard of him, but as I said, I'm only sort of plugged in.
- joshdotsmith 14y ago
  Right, in our conversations he always referred to his "coder" and asked me if I wanted to freelance for him.
- untog 14y ago
  I can only assume he didn't get a great grade at his marketing degree after this mess...
- rexreed 14y ago
  Ross presented BetaPunch at the Baltimore TechBreakfast (you should come if you're in town - it's pretty awesome). Here's the video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAdI5mhpKsA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAdI5mhpKsA
  - dasil003 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]