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There was a similar discussion with a very interesting comment regarding their use of mongodb: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428382 https://news.ycombin

by sheetjs 13y ago

There was a similar discussion with a very interesting comment regarding their use of mongodb: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428382 PG's reply in the thread is very telling: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428372 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428372

joezydeco 13y ago
I've been keeping my mouth shut here about Coinbase after starting that thread 9 months ago. I feel bad for someone that can't put a finger on his 30K, but I can't feel that bad if he didn't do a little research here first. Hopefully on the next bubble people will be a little more enlightened.
- sheetjs 13y ago
  As highlighted in the thread and in PG's reply, the default response to criticism of Coinbase is to nuke the conversation. As PG wrote: > Strictly speaking I should have killed the post entirely Now, it's possible that other complaints on HN were nuked by PG or some other moderator, making it difficult for someone to find it.
  - kbenson 13y ago
    As highlighted in the thread and in PG's reply, the default response to criticism of Coinbase is to nuke the conversation As PG wrote: > Strictly speaking I should have killed the post entirely That's not why he said that. He explains further down thread: HN is a news site, not a customer support forum for companies funded by YC, and in fact the site guidelines explicitly ask that it not be used that way
    - anonymoushn 13y ago
      This objection is pretty flimsy. HN is very frequently used as a customer support forum for large tech companies not funded by YC. A policy that it is okay to use HN as a customer support forum for Google, Amazon, and Facebook but not for Coinbase does not look very good.
      - kordless 13y ago
        HN is run by YC. While it may feel like a public forum, it is owned by a private entity. I'm OK with a benevolent dictator taking care of matters here, and trust PG to do the right thing by all of us.
        eclw 13y ago
        Then you are an awfully silly individual.
        kudu 13y ago
        On HN, there is an expectation of a certain degree of impartiality and free speech. Of course, YC doesn't have to provide it, but that's irrelevant: it's just something that is expected.
        yeukhon 13y ago
        Why would you trust pg in the first place? I wouldn't trust him.
  - jessedhillon 13y ago
    Apparently, referring to a thread which is highly critical of Coinbase, while participating in another critical thread, is proof enough for you that Coinbase criticism is silenced. I hope when I frame it like this, you understand how stupid it is, what you wrote.
    - sheetjs 13y ago
      What's apparent is the fact that you are incapable of analysis. If you bothered to read the other thread, you'll see parallels to the current situation: - transaction delays on the order of 1 week - Coinbase is blaming technology (last time it was a database migration, this time server upgrades) - Customer support has been silent (znowi described it as "information vacuum" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5427985 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5427985) - Online account system called into question, users unaware of current positions (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428090) If this were the first time, you can cut some slack if Coinbase responded appropriately and took steps to prevent this from happening in the future. Based on what played out recently, it's not clear if Coinbase actually learned anything from the previous issues. And in the future, if you ever do decide to start a company and find yourself in a similar situation, I hope you would be a bit more communicative and proactive than Coinbase was in this case.
      - jessedhillon 13y ago
        You're changing the subject to something which is not in dispute. You said that the standard approach on HN is to silence criticism -- a stupefying statement, given that at the time you posted it, this conversation had maybe 100+ comments and had been on the front page for a while. Also, in that same comment, you linked to another voluminous thread criticizing Coinbase. Amazingly, the existence of your comment strongly mitigates against your thesis being true. I think you must realize this at some level, as you have chosen to employ the age-old tactic of the inescapably wrong: quietly change subjects and hope nobody notices.
        sheetjs 13y ago
- makomk 13y ago
  If you're to believe the press they've received, Coinbase are basically the most reputable and trustworthy company in Bitcoin and the one that's going to bring it into the mainstream.
  - Asparagirl 13y ago
    Scariest comment of the thread, surely.
  - gigq 13y ago
    If you've dealt with any of the bitcoin exchanges you'd realize Coinbase is the most reputable and trustworthy. It's either deal with them, trust Magic the Gathering Online Xchange or the Russian mobsters over at btc-e.com. Seriously this is a sector that is in desperate need of more legitimate players but so for this is the best we have.
seldo 13y ago
Holy cow, that's amazing. Q: Does MongoDB support transactions? A: MongoDB does not provide ACID transactions. ( http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/faq/fundamentals/#does-mongodb-support-transactions http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/faq/fundamentals/#does-mongod... ) It is crazy to be doing financial stuff in a DB that doesn't provide transactions. It completely blows my mind that anybody would do this.
- TylerE 13y ago
  Not really. Financial transactions are really almost never implemented with database transactions.
  - girvo 13y ago
    A lot of people truly don't understand how financial companies do stuff. Hell, Financial companies are ones who are adopting Mongo and the like themselves. We all assume it's one way, when it's actually done another....
    - jboggan 13y ago
      I'd love for you to expound on this point. I'm curious, what are they doing?
    - gaadd33 13y ago
      What financial companies are adopting Mongo for accounting/customer transaction storage? I've heard of somewhere like ADP using it but they are using it as an analytics database, not for actual payroll processing.
    - grogenaut 13y ago
      They're really only doing that for hipster cred. That way they can easily write articles titled "How I made (really simple/trivial application) with (really fledgling technology)" such as "how I made a twitter client with node.js" or "how I put 2 sprites on the screen with webgl" or "how I managed 2tps with java". We know all financial companies use databases running on tandem or tuxedo. But that's not cool sounding. How are they supposed to get fun jobs doing nothing with catered lunches? HOW, HOW I ASK!

by sheetjs 13y ago

joezydeco 13y ago

I've been keeping my mouth shut here about Coinbase after starting that thread 9 months ago. I feel bad for someone that can't put a finger on his 30K, but I can't feel that bad if he didn't do a little research here first. Hopefully on the next bubble people will be a little more enlightened.

sheetjs 13y ago
As highlighted in the thread and in PG's reply, the default response to criticism of Coinbase is to nuke the conversation. As PG wrote: > Strictly speaking I should have killed the post entirely Now, it's possible that other complaints on HN were nuked by PG or some other moderator, making it difficult for someone to find it.
- kbenson 13y ago
  As highlighted in the thread and in PG's reply, the default response to criticism of Coinbase is to nuke the conversation As PG wrote: > Strictly speaking I should have killed the post entirely That's not why he said that. He explains further down thread: HN is a news site, not a customer support forum for companies funded by YC, and in fact the site guidelines explicitly ask that it not be used that way
  - anonymoushn 13y ago
    This objection is pretty flimsy. HN is very frequently used as a customer support forum for large tech companies not funded by YC. A policy that it is okay to use HN as a customer support forum for Google, Amazon, and Facebook but not for Coinbase does not look very good.
    - kordless 13y ago
      HN is run by YC. While it may feel like a public forum, it is owned by a private entity. I'm OK with a benevolent dictator taking care of matters here, and trust PG to do the right thing by all of us.
      - eclw 13y ago
        Then you are an awfully silly individual.
      - kudu 13y ago
        On HN, there is an expectation of a certain degree of impartiality and free speech. Of course, YC doesn't have to provide it, but that's irrelevant: it's just something that is expected.
      - yeukhon 13y ago
        Why would you trust pg in the first place? I wouldn't trust him.
- jessedhillon 13y ago
  Apparently, referring to a thread which is highly critical of Coinbase, while participating in another critical thread, is proof enough for you that Coinbase criticism is silenced. I hope when I frame it like this, you understand how stupid it is, what you wrote.
  - sheetjs 13y ago
    What's apparent is the fact that you are incapable of analysis. If you bothered to read the other thread, you'll see parallels to the current situation: - transaction delays on the order of 1 week - Coinbase is blaming technology (last time it was a database migration, this time server upgrades) - Customer support has been silent (znowi described it as "information vacuum" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5427985 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5427985) - Online account system called into question, users unaware of current positions (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5428090) If this were the first time, you can cut some slack if Coinbase responded appropriately and took steps to prevent this from happening in the future. Based on what played out recently, it's not clear if Coinbase actually learned anything from the previous issues. And in the future, if you ever do decide to start a company and find yourself in a similar situation, I hope you would be a bit more communicative and proactive than Coinbase was in this case.
    - jessedhillon 13y ago
      You're changing the subject to something which is not in dispute. You said that the standard approach on HN is to silence criticism -- a stupefying statement, given that at the time you posted it, this conversation had maybe 100+ comments and had been on the front page for a while. Also, in that same comment, you linked to another voluminous thread criticizing Coinbase. Amazingly, the existence of your comment strongly mitigates against your thesis being true. I think you must realize this at some level, as you have chosen to employ the age-old tactic of the inescapably wrong: quietly change subjects and hope nobody notices.
      - sheetjs 13y ago
makomk 13y ago
If you're to believe the press they've received, Coinbase are basically the most reputable and trustworthy company in Bitcoin and the one that's going to bring it into the mainstream.
- Asparagirl 13y ago
  Scariest comment of the thread, surely.
- gigq 13y ago
  If you've dealt with any of the bitcoin exchanges you'd realize Coinbase is the most reputable and trustworthy. It's either deal with them, trust Magic the Gathering Online Xchange or the Russian mobsters over at btc-e.com. Seriously this is a sector that is in desperate need of more legitimate players but so for this is the best we have.

seldo 13y ago

Holy cow, that's amazing. Q: Does MongoDB support transactions? A: MongoDB does not provide ACID transactions. ( http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/faq/fundamentals/#does-mongodb-support-transactions http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/faq/fundamentals/#does-mongod... ) It is crazy to be doing financial stuff in a DB that doesn't provide transactions. It completely blows my mind that anybody would do this.

TylerE 13y ago
Not really. Financial transactions are really almost never implemented with database transactions.
- girvo 13y ago
  A lot of people truly don't understand how financial companies do stuff. Hell, Financial companies are ones who are adopting Mongo and the like themselves. We all assume it's one way, when it's actually done another....
  - jboggan 13y ago
    I'd love for you to expound on this point. I'm curious, what are they doing?
  - gaadd33 13y ago
    What financial companies are adopting Mongo for accounting/customer transaction storage? I've heard of somewhere like ADP using it but they are using it as an analytics database, not for actual payroll processing.
  - grogenaut 13y ago
    They're really only doing that for hipster cred. That way they can easily write articles titled "How I made (really simple/trivial application) with (really fledgling technology)" such as "how I made a twitter client with node.js" or "how I put 2 sprites on the screen with webgl" or "how I managed 2tps with java". We know all financial companies use databases running on tandem or tuxedo. But that's not cool sounding. How are they supposed to get fun jobs doing nothing with catered lunches? HOW, HOW I ASK!