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“give a shit” This language is such a turn-off. Very few organizations can use that type of flippant language successfully, especially in a serious email like
by MichaelApproved 13y ago
“give a shit”
This language is such a turn-off. Very few organizations can use that type of flippant language successfully, especially in a serious email like this. Now's not the time to try to be hip or cool. This is a serious issue and the writer should be just as serious.
Edit: Their site is down now so here's a copy of their post
Many of you received our email or saw online that name.com was hacked. The truth is that it's one of the more painful admissions that can be made on the Internet. We want you to know that when we say that we “give a shit” we truly mean it. In an effort to maintain the open, honest, and transparent reputation we’ve built for ourselves, we’re going to give you the lowdown on what happened and what we did in response.
Our security team alerted us that unauthorized individuals had accessed our database. After doing some digging we found that the attack seemed to be geared toward a few specific accounts. The hackers had a target and name.com was a means to that end.
The information that was accessed includes usernames, passwords, physical addresses, email, hashed passwords and encrypted credit card data. EPP codes (required for domain name transfers) are not stored in the same place so those were not compromised. For the techies who are wondering, the encryption on the credit card information is 4096 bit RSA. Since the password hashes were compromised we took proactive steps and initiated a site-wide password reset (hence the email, apologies for the inconvenience).
We are genuinely sorry for the annoyance and the scare. We’re taking this incredibly seriously and are doing everything possible to continue to improve the security of our systems. We greatly appreciate the support across the web and over the phones.
- Mz 13y agoI agree. I am prone to "swearing like a sailor" but in public (including the internet), I try to keep it pg-13-ish most of the time. Even on my personal blog, where some folks think I say waaay too much about my (lack of a) sex life, I try to limit the swearing. If I can figure out that this does not make a good impression, one would hope that "business people" could too (though perhaps not). (Also, fwiw, I am grossed out by casual references to poop, no matter how nicely they say it, but especially when using the S word. I am very prone to F bombs, but, then, I actually like sex. But references to poop have me envisioning it. No thanks. Ick. Y'all are disgusting. And, though perhaps not the norm, I am probably not the only person who dislikes having images of poop forced upon them, even if others don't necessarily have the quirk of finding it more offensive than the F word.)
- prawn 13y agoFor someone who dislikes references to "poop", you certainly mention it a lot.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- larrys 13y agoMeanwhile in looking to re-read that language I get this error: "You don't have permission to access /blog/general/2013/05/we-got-hacked/ on this server. Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request."
- rallison 13y agoSame here. Given that they got hacked, given some of the other comments about the content of the post, and given that they apparently can't build a site that can handle a hackernews frontpage, I think I will continue to avoid them as a registrar. Edit: And, their bulk domain search still appears to be broken for entering more than five domain names: http://www.name.com/names http://www.name.com/names Edit2: The new error with their blog post: The webpage at http://www.name.com/blog/general/2013/05/we-got-hacked/ http://www.name.com/blog/general/2013/05/we-got-hacked/ has resulted in too many redirects.
- SkyMarshal 13y agoThat plus their DNS hijacking [1]. I really loved their UI, but have been moving my domains off Name.com as they come up for renewal. [1]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=name.com+dns+hijack https://duckduckgo.com/?q=name.com+dns+hijack
- jervisfm 13y agoCurious, where have you been moving your domains to ?
- SkyMarshal 13y agoNamecheap. Seems to be the favorite among the HN crowd. Also, they donate to EFF. Oh, and gandi.net for TLDs I can't get from namecheap, like .io, .cx. http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/29/25000-eff-donation/ http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/29/25000-eff-don...
- rammark 13y agoI don't think I'd want to use a domain registrar run by people who think that using the mustache meme on their "About Us" page [1] is professional. I'm not usually prudish about language or jokes, but hosting and domains are serious business. [1]: http://www.name.com/aboutus#/ourTeam http://www.name.com/aboutus#/ourTeam
- MichaelApproved 13y agoI can understand why you'd be turned off by that but at least it's on a page that doesn't necessarily have to be serious. You're learning about the company and this is part of their culture. In fact, that's a great example of a company showing personality without resorting to crude language.
- kintamanimatt 13y agoTo me it's really not a turn off at all. I'd rather they swear away and have a personality than be a starchy, try-not-to-offend-anyone bland corporate drone.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoSwearing is not the only way to show personality. In fact, it's one of the cheapest ways to do so. It's easy to say "fuck" and "shit" to break free form the usual generic writing but you can actually write a personal and honest message without cursing. Edit: here's a great way to show personality without being crude http://www.name.com/aboutus#/ourTeam http://www.name.com/aboutus#/ourTeam
- kintamanimatt 13y agoIs the word "shit" really that big of a deal? "Give a shit" is a colloquial way of saying they care without sounding like they're regurgitating some polished corporate-speak. It's not like they called the hackers cock-juggling thundercunt scriptkiddies while telling them to "bring it" now that they've fixed the problem. There's no element of juvenility in how they said what they said, and they're not using grown-up words to call people names for the sake of it. I sense no element of posturing. In all cases I'd rather deal with real people than whitewashed "employees". In many ways I'm glad they offended someone over the word "shit" because it means they're being at least a little true to themselves.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoI agree that sterile generic corporate speak is not good but it sounds like you're saying that the only way they could be true to themselves or to appear as real people is to use shit. I disagree.
- nostromo 13y agoI actually liked the blunt honesty. It's so much better than the usual "Your call is very important to us" corporate double speak.
- ErrantX 13y agoNah, it's just hipster double speak :)
- MichaelApproved 13y agoBlunt honesty does not have to be crude. Also being crude is not the only way to avoid being generic. Blunt honesty without being crude: We screwed up, we're sorry. Avoiding being generic without being crude: We want you to know that when we say that this matters to everyone in the company, we truly mean it.
- kintamanimatt 13y ago> Avoiding being generic without being crude: We want you to know that when we say that this matters to everyone in the company, we truly mean it. If that doesn't sound like whitewashed corporate-speak, I don't know what does. It sounds like an empty platitude and I wouldn't even believe it if someone said that to me.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoSure. I spent 30 seconds on it but are you saying the only way to show you care and not sound generic is to curse?
- kintamanimatt 13y agoIt's not the only way, it's just a damn good way!
- PakG1 13y agoNah, I've experienced plenty of situations where cursing just makes me lose respect for someone/thing. I'm not saying I'm against cursing (though I don't really curse much myself). I'm saying that cursing shouldn't be used flippantly. It loses its power if it is. This sounds flippant to me, especially when they put it in quotes.
- escaped_hn 13y agoDammed if you do, dammed if you don't.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoWhat do you mean? Who damns a company that doesn't curse in their press releases?
- cjh_ 13y agoI read this as 'give a shirt' so I was reading the article the whole time wondering 'who gets the shirt?'.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoProbably because you'd sooner expect the word "shirt" in a message like this than the word "shit".
- X-Istence 13y agoIt's their tagline: "Name.com is a fully accredited ICANN domain name registrar. In addition to great pricing and service, we offer SSL certificates, web hosting, premium and expired domains. Most importantly, we've been giving a $#*! since 2003!"
- jonmrodriguez 13y agoGood find, it looks like most people on this thread missed this.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- MichaelApproved 13y agoHoly shit, you're right! I thought this was a joke at first. Even after jonmrodriguez confirmed it, I thought he was continuing the joke but it's true. They actually say: "Name.com is a fully accredited ICANN domain name registrar. In addition to great pricing and service, we offer SSL certificates, web hosting, premium and expired domains. Most importantly, we've been giving a $#*! since 2003!" I still don't think it comes off well but, in that context, I guess it's not as bad as I originally thought. And that's probably why they put it in quotes in the message. It makes more sense now. Thank you!
- austengary 13y agoHonestly, I don't like the use either. It is a serious issue. They know that. The writer knows that. Nevertheless the writer, while perhaps in poor judgment, assessed the situation in need of a slight touch of relief. They're trying to calm their customers. It looks like this is where they shall begin. This commentary though, it is unnecessary. They are making an attempt of remain open and communicate with their customers. Responses like these aren't going to aid further such attempts of similar observers. Others are going continue as many still do: skating by with such breaches unreported. Your data will be out there and you won't have a clue. Would that be better? This very view has been much of what is wrong with HN these days. Comments with this air of pseudo-intellectual, overly-critical analysis over the inherent nature of intentions (and word use).