6 ms·

Save $9, Here Are The TechCrunch Staff’s Email Addresses

124 points by PhilipA 12y ago

slosh 12y ago
does someone want to make a more comprehensive list?
- minimaxir 12y ago
  That list is a list of all the authors at TechCrunch. I would not recommend e-mailing the administrative staff.
  - lnanek2 12y ago
    Maybe he means other sites.
anoncow 12y ago
Plain text? Isn't TC worried about spam?
- mey 12y ago
  They most likely have very good spam filters already in place. They are receiving "tips" already constantly.
  - devindotcom 12y ago
    tips are supposed to go to tips@techcrunch.com but when I was there it was a total firehose you had to filter out into a folder and wade through all at once. You'd probably be okay emailing a writer directly if you have a good reason to think they rather than someone else should be receiving your pitch.
    - taylorbuley 12y ago
      Word. I'll note for others that impressing a journo involves not looking up their most recent clips and figuring our how your topic is like those too, but rather understanding the needs of that particular writer in their particular beat and trying to add value for her while extracting some value of your own as well.
  - JohnTHaller 12y ago
    TechCrunch, being under the AOL umbrella, is using AOL's email systems. Not sure how good their spam filters are.
    - AustinDizzy 12y ago
      I'm using AOL's Project Phoenix with an @wow.com email address. I've seen a good amount of obvious spam flow past my spam box, so that oughta tell you enough.
- andrewljohnson 12y ago
  Modern spam filters (like GMail) make me comfortable putting my email address in plain text all over the web. I never have a problem.
  - maxdemarzi 12y ago
    Is this a feeling "most" people share?
- minimaxir 12y ago
  Look at the article URL. :)
- tomjen3 12y ago
  I don't know that that applies anymore. I mean I used to remember using javascript and other hacks to wrap emails so the spam bots wouldn't get them, but that was ages ago and spam sorters have gotten a lot better. Gmails is nearly perfect. It may be one of those things that we all assume we know for sure that just ain't so.
toni 12y ago
In other words, TC does not approve charging money for providing a set of useful email addresses (even if it's wrapped in a neat Bootstrap/Stripe gift box) and regards it as good old shady pro spammers. It leads to young startups sending mass emails and giving headache to everybody on their path. They prefer to share their email addresses with you openly and free of charge. Which brings us to the obvious question: Why is this on ProductHunt?
- dictum 12y ago
  "No subscription. No automatic renewal." As if...
ars 12y ago
If they are willing to do that, then I guess the age of email spam has passed.
- minimaxir 12y ago
  Most TechCrunch writers gave their email freely if you asked. This list is the inevitable conclusion.
- wldcordeiro 12y ago
  Spam filters have gotten very good.
dm2 12y ago
"Well, unless AOL messes up my email inbox again:" I thought that was a joke at first, but apparently they are owned by AOL. Are techcrunch employees required to use AOL Desktop? It looks the same as it did in 1998 http://daol.aol.com/software/aoldesktop97/ http://daol.aol.com/software/aoldesktop97/ AOL badly needs to rebrand themselves. It seems like the company has changed and is very profitable in recent years. They could offer, "the greatest thing in the world, by AOL", but it's not a company I would ever do business with, I don't have a logical reason for this. Fun fact: "at one point, half of the CDs manufactured worldwide had AOL logos on them" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/
- sebastianavina 12y ago
  It’s Convenient – With AOL Desktop you have access to your online world, all in one place.
  - spbaar 12y ago
    Just use AOL keyword INBOX.
- simcop2387 12y ago
  I love the requirements, 266MHz processor, 1gb ram recommended. That processor speed makes me think it hasn't been updated really in nearly 20 years.
  - dm2 12y ago
    Wikipedia says it was released at the end of 2011. Their target market for that application might have extraordinarily low-end computers (non-tech people who haven't bothered upgrading). It looks like they still support Windows 98 users and computers with 32 MB of ram: http://daol.aol.com/software/90vr http://daol.aol.com/software/90vr For comparison, Chrome requires 512 MB minimum. I only have 4 windows open and it's using about 4 GB of memory, and this is a very light day.
AznHisoka 12y ago
Most email addresses of these guys are easily inferred. Some even have them in their Twitter bio like Anthony Ha. Not a big deal.
- larrys 12y ago
  It's like stuffing envelopes. If you have to do 3 or 10 inefficiency doesn't matter that much. If you have to do 100 or 500 or 5000 all that extra time to guess name@ or name.last@ or nlast@ or n.last@ etc. is a big time waste. Paving to have the right address (even if some aren't correct because they've changed) is worth paying for.
bhartzer 12y ago
If you set up gmail filters correctly, there's really no reason why you shouldn't make your email address readily available.
kyro 12y ago
Is descending further down towards the bottom of the barrel to leech on more publicly available, easily harvested and/or less scarce items to sell at a markup a rising startup trend? It seems building novel value into a product is becoming less important to a segment of the startup industry. We now have selling of public parking spots, dinner reservations, and now email addresses. And while this model isn't new, there appears to be a popular reemergence of it.
- larrys 12y ago
  "easily harvested" I get your point regarding some of the things you mention but having to pay $9 to save time guessing or tracking down email addresses doesn't seem like a bad deal.
- thenmar 12y ago
  I think it's that we just enjoy the spectacle of companies that seem like terrible ideas or based around an ethically questionable action. Nobody gets excited about "tech startup grows revenue to $100k on niche, hard to understand product and delays investor round to avoid dilution"
mladenkovacevic 12y ago
This is just an email list? A more compelling product would connect a particular journalist with every story they've ever written, across all publications he/she's ever worked at. Then you could search articles by topic, type of product covered, sentiment towards particular vertical...etc and reach out only to the journalist that seem to have an interest in whatever story you're pitching.
- smackfu 12y ago
  "Seems like a lot of effort when you can just spam the whole list."
mgraczyk 12y ago
TC doesn't seem opposed to PressFarm's success as a business. From the comments (Tsotsis is an editor at TC): Wouter Smet : ...with this post you just gifted Press Farm, apparently a super tiny company/web site, the exposure and traffic startups can only dream about.... Alexia Tsotsis : Oh, yeah, you're right, we totally didn't think of that angle. Oops!
- toni 12y ago
  I don't see how you might conclude that "TC doesn't seem opposed to PressFarm's success as a business" based on that one line of comment. I read Alexia's response as "We considered the possibility that this post will give PressFarm a much unwanted exposure, and yet we went ahead and published it anyway, just to save you the ice creams money."

124 points by PhilipA 12y ago

slosh 12y ago

does someone want to make a more comprehensive list?

minimaxir 12y ago
That list is a list of all the authors at TechCrunch. I would not recommend e-mailing the administrative staff.
- lnanek2 12y ago
  Maybe he means other sites.

anoncow 12y ago

Plain text? Isn't TC worried about spam?

mey 12y ago
They most likely have very good spam filters already in place. They are receiving "tips" already constantly.
- devindotcom 12y ago
  tips are supposed to go to tips@techcrunch.com but when I was there it was a total firehose you had to filter out into a folder and wade through all at once. You'd probably be okay emailing a writer directly if you have a good reason to think they rather than someone else should be receiving your pitch.
  - taylorbuley 12y ago
    Word. I'll note for others that impressing a journo involves not looking up their most recent clips and figuring our how your topic is like those too, but rather understanding the needs of that particular writer in their particular beat and trying to add value for her while extracting some value of your own as well.
- JohnTHaller 12y ago
  TechCrunch, being under the AOL umbrella, is using AOL's email systems. Not sure how good their spam filters are.
  - AustinDizzy 12y ago
    I'm using AOL's Project Phoenix with an @wow.com email address. I've seen a good amount of obvious spam flow past my spam box, so that oughta tell you enough.
andrewljohnson 12y ago
Modern spam filters (like GMail) make me comfortable putting my email address in plain text all over the web. I never have a problem.
- maxdemarzi 12y ago
  Is this a feeling "most" people share?
minimaxir 12y ago
Look at the article URL. :)
tomjen3 12y ago
I don't know that that applies anymore. I mean I used to remember using javascript and other hacks to wrap emails so the spam bots wouldn't get them, but that was ages ago and spam sorters have gotten a lot better. Gmails is nearly perfect. It may be one of those things that we all assume we know for sure that just ain't so.

toni 12y ago

In other words, TC does not approve charging money for providing a set of useful email addresses (even if it's wrapped in a neat Bootstrap/Stripe gift box) and regards it as good old shady pro spammers. It leads to young startups sending mass emails and giving headache to everybody on their path. They prefer to share their email addresses with you openly and free of charge. Which brings us to the obvious question: Why is this on ProductHunt?

dictum 12y ago
"No subscription. No automatic renewal." As if...

ars 12y ago

If they are willing to do that, then I guess the age of email spam has passed.

minimaxir 12y ago
Most TechCrunch writers gave their email freely if you asked. This list is the inevitable conclusion.
wldcordeiro 12y ago
Spam filters have gotten very good.

dm2 12y ago

"Well, unless AOL messes up my email inbox again:" I thought that was a joke at first, but apparently they are owned by AOL. Are techcrunch employees required to use AOL Desktop? It looks the same as it did in 1998 http://daol.aol.com/software/aoldesktop97/ http://daol.aol.com/software/aoldesktop97/ AOL badly needs to rebrand themselves. It seems like the company has changed and is very profitable in recent years. They could offer, "the greatest thing in the world, by AOL", but it's not a company I would ever do business with, I don't have a logical reason for this. Fun fact: "at one point, half of the CDs manufactured worldwide had AOL logos on them" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/27/aol-discs-90s/

sebastianavina 12y ago
It’s Convenient – With AOL Desktop you have access to your online world, all in one place.
- spbaar 12y ago
  Just use AOL keyword INBOX.
simcop2387 12y ago
I love the requirements, 266MHz processor, 1gb ram recommended. That processor speed makes me think it hasn't been updated really in nearly 20 years.
- dm2 12y ago
  Wikipedia says it was released at the end of 2011. Their target market for that application might have extraordinarily low-end computers (non-tech people who haven't bothered upgrading). It looks like they still support Windows 98 users and computers with 32 MB of ram: http://daol.aol.com/software/90vr http://daol.aol.com/software/90vr For comparison, Chrome requires 512 MB minimum. I only have 4 windows open and it's using about 4 GB of memory, and this is a very light day.

AznHisoka 12y ago

Most email addresses of these guys are easily inferred. Some even have them in their Twitter bio like Anthony Ha. Not a big deal.

larrys 12y ago
It's like stuffing envelopes. If you have to do 3 or 10 inefficiency doesn't matter that much. If you have to do 100 or 500 or 5000 all that extra time to guess name@ or name.last@ or nlast@ or n.last@ etc. is a big time waste. Paving to have the right address (even if some aren't correct because they've changed) is worth paying for.

bhartzer 12y ago

If you set up gmail filters correctly, there's really no reason why you shouldn't make your email address readily available.

kyro 12y ago

Is descending further down towards the bottom of the barrel to leech on more publicly available, easily harvested and/or less scarce items to sell at a markup a rising startup trend? It seems building novel value into a product is becoming less important to a segment of the startup industry. We now have selling of public parking spots, dinner reservations, and now email addresses. And while this model isn't new, there appears to be a popular reemergence of it.

larrys 12y ago
"easily harvested" I get your point regarding some of the things you mention but having to pay $9 to save time guessing or tracking down email addresses doesn't seem like a bad deal.
thenmar 12y ago
I think it's that we just enjoy the spectacle of companies that seem like terrible ideas or based around an ethically questionable action. Nobody gets excited about "tech startup grows revenue to $100k on niche, hard to understand product and delays investor round to avoid dilution"

mladenkovacevic 12y ago

This is just an email list? A more compelling product would connect a particular journalist with every story they've ever written, across all publications he/she's ever worked at. Then you could search articles by topic, type of product covered, sentiment towards particular vertical...etc and reach out only to the journalist that seem to have an interest in whatever story you're pitching.

smackfu 12y ago
"Seems like a lot of effort when you can just spam the whole list."

mgraczyk 12y ago

TC doesn't seem opposed to PressFarm's success as a business. From the comments (Tsotsis is an editor at TC): Wouter Smet : ...with this post you just gifted Press Farm, apparently a super tiny company/web site, the exposure and traffic startups can only dream about.... Alexia Tsotsis : Oh, yeah, you're right, we totally didn't think of that angle. Oops!

toni 12y ago
I don't see how you might conclude that "TC doesn't seem opposed to PressFarm's success as a business" based on that one line of comment. I read Alexia's response as "We considered the possibility that this post will give PressFarm a much unwanted exposure, and yet we went ahead and published it anyway, just to save you the ice creams money."