"Is this scummy or is it acceptable?" At the size you are at (you probably have a pretty small footprint?) I don't think it matters what you get as an answer

"Is this scummy or is it acceptable?" At the size you are at (you probably have a pretty small footprint?) I don't think it matters what you get as an answer from people on HN (or your friends or some blogger) but rather how would your target audience feel? And more importantly even if they don't like it will that really impact the bottom line? Meaning will enough people care to stop using you and spread the word of your "scummy" practice? (So for example if you are promoting on HN then "live by the sword die by the sword" and you'd better care about appearing scummy. Otoh if you are selling hats to soccer mom's in the midwest it's a entirely different story, right?) My feeling is you can't go around worrying about being "scummy or acceptable". First everyone has a different opinion of where that line is. And 2nd all those people with opinions on what you should do aren't going to pay your bills are they? I remember back in the mid 90's people would ask "do people care if you ping them?" (meaning unix ping not "hey what's up") or not? I mean if they care what are they going to do?