3 ms·
Ask HN: Evil but brilliant business models?
Think Swoopo (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001196.html) or Demand Media (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_demandmedia).
Do you know any other examples? What do you think about the evilness of these? Is it unethical or is it a normal use of free markets?
- noodle 17y agoautomatically generated spam blogs. i hate running across them, but people make some serious $ off of them.
- mtholking 17y agoGet Satisfaction http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1650-get-satisfaction-or-else
- raquo 17y agoNote that it "hijacks" search engine result pages just like Demand Media does... The source of evilness is different though.
- ErrantX 17y agoI cant decide over Demand Media; I mean as I read it they dont necessarily provide really bad content (though not great content either). On the other hand they are employing a reasonable number of people and spreading some good money around (so it's not like they treat the content providers wholly unethically). It feels like one of those borderline business models which is actually ok but could very easily slide the wrong way.
- callmeed 17y ago"Is it unethical or is it a normal use of free markets?" Are those mutually exclusive? Are you asking about business models that are unethical/immoral but legal? Those are pretty good examples with regards to Internet companies. I think you can find just as dubious actions in the finance industry. From charging $30 for a $1 overdraft to raising credit card interest rates at whim ... hopefully, new regulations will change that.
- raquo 17y agoNot necessarily legal, just brilliant (the majority are legal I think). From finance you reminded me about these nifty tricks: http://www.themistrading.com/article_files/0000/0348/Toxic_Equity_Trading_on_Wall_Street_12-17-08.pdf http://www.themistrading.com/article_files/0000/0348/Toxic_E...
- mbrubeck 17y agoScientology.
- wmf 17y agoEvil regulatory arbitrage is in the news thanks to AT&T and Google: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/googles-response-to-fcc-inquiry-we-now-restrict-calls-to-less-than-100-phone-numbers/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/28/googles-response-to-fcc...
- earl 17y agoThe domain tasting companies -- I read a profile of one, whose name I unfortunately have forgotten, but this company seemed to have a ~$17MM annual run rate by bulk purchasing domain names, running ads on them, and returning the ones that didn't generate enough income during a trial week. Really really scummy business, and stupidly lucrative -- the founder was running the operation with himself and two employees.
- JimmyL 17y agoI recall something about ICANN changing the rules to prevent this from working anymore, no?
- Sapient 17y agohttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=761235 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=761235 which links to http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10309051-38.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10309051-38.html
- joeycfan 17y agoah - the Goldman Sachs thread...
- JimmyL 17y agoInkjet printer cartridges/Gillette Fusion razors/battery-powered electric toothbrushes/etc. (all the same model in different guises)