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Replying to this comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8000928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8000928 As a journalist, I don't want my infor

Replying to this comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8000928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8000928 As a journalist, I don't want my information on some random website like this. I'd rather see you work for those contacts so you know I'm the right person you want to reach out to about your startup. A better approach would be to create a database for journalists to enter their information in case they want to be contacted for this reason, and tagging their contact info appropriately so PR folks know they have a good match. There's actually a biggish startup that does this already. It's called MuckRack: http://muckrack.com/ http://muckrack.com/ Time is not just precious for entrepreneurs—it's also precious for most journalists, and they will ignore emails that are off-target. This adds to the noise of their inbox because they will have to ignore another 50 emails from someone who didn't do their homework. I write a ton of stories every day. I _am_ looking for cool stuff, but I'd rather know the person who's bugging me actually spent five minutes bothering to look at my story coverage to understand why I cover what I do. Liked the idea initially, but when I read this reply, I got an instant red flag. Abort. Abort.

eli 12y ago
I get what you're saying... but as a journalist you are surely aware that you're already on at least a few dozens commercial PR lists that you never asked to be on, right?
- filmgirlcw 12y ago
  Right. And there's absolutely no difference between an actual PR person I develop a relationship with a some jackass who wants to sell my email to people who are too dumb to properly Google. Downvote all you want. This is grotesque and insulting.
  - eli 12y ago
    Sure, there's a huge difference. But I bet most of the pitches you get are from people who spent just as little time gathering your contact info, but a whole lot more cash through something like Cision. And I don't downvote people I merely disagree with.
    - filmgirlcw 12y ago
      And actually, in this case I would argue that spending more cash is a decent way of filtering the people who are serious from the amateurs. Look, JigSaw, et. all piss me off too. When I get phone calls from people on my cell phone (personal) pitching me stuff I know it's usually because DEMO or the CEA or someone sold my phone number years ago. And that makes me EXTREMELY angry. Like, livid. If you have my phone number, it's because I trusted you enough with it. Otherwise I have a desk phone that I don't even print on my business cards because it would be asking for trouble. But if you pay hundreds of thousands a year for my info -- as gross as I may find that -- chances are, the person paying is more serious about their job than someone who pays $9 a month. It's sort of like having a fee for developer's for the App Store. $100 is a super-low barrier to entry -- and it's low enough that it means plenty of terrible stuff makes its way to the store. But it's not so low (zero dollars) that there is NO barrier to entry. And that's an important distinction.

eli 12y ago

I get what you're saying... but as a journalist you are surely aware that you're already on at least a few dozens commercial PR lists that you never asked to be on, right?

filmgirlcw 12y ago
Right. And there's absolutely no difference between an actual PR person I develop a relationship with a some jackass who wants to sell my email to people who are too dumb to properly Google. Downvote all you want. This is grotesque and insulting.
- eli 12y ago
  Sure, there's a huge difference. But I bet most of the pitches you get are from people who spent just as little time gathering your contact info, but a whole lot more cash through something like Cision. And I don't downvote people I merely disagree with.
  - filmgirlcw 12y ago
    And actually, in this case I would argue that spending more cash is a decent way of filtering the people who are serious from the amateurs. Look, JigSaw, et. all piss me off too. When I get phone calls from people on my cell phone (personal) pitching me stuff I know it's usually because DEMO or the CEA or someone sold my phone number years ago. And that makes me EXTREMELY angry. Like, livid. If you have my phone number, it's because I trusted you enough with it. Otherwise I have a desk phone that I don't even print on my business cards because it would be asking for trouble. But if you pay hundreds of thousands a year for my info -- as gross as I may find that -- chances are, the person paying is more serious about their job than someone who pays $9 a month. It's sort of like having a fee for developer's for the App Store. $100 is a super-low barrier to entry -- and it's low enough that it means plenty of terrible stuff makes its way to the store. But it's not so low (zero dollars) that there is NO barrier to entry. And that's an important distinction.