
Why I Won’t Be Using BetaPunch for User Testing - dmor
http://www.daniellemorrill.com/2013/01/why-i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-testing/
======
jorde
Sadly Danielle's site is down so I can't read the original post. I also had
the pleasure of interacting with BetaPunch's Twitter account a while back:
they posted several tweets advertising that they were doing user testing for
our service. I thought my co-founder had signed up for them but I still felt
it was unethical to post details about clients publicly and asked them to tone
down the tweets. The result was that they called me a "silicon valley
douche"[1] which I can't help to find entertaining even still today. Only
afterwards I learned that nobody from our company had signed up for them and
they were using our name just to give the impression that we were using them.

[1]: <https://twitter.com/jorilallo/status/261977607757778944>

~~~
dmor
I'm really sorry about the site, it went down so hard that I can't even get a
cached version for Cloudflare to serve. Time to upgrade some things...
personal blog is so neglected.

Update: Google cached version:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1116&bih=603&sclient=psy-
ab&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-i-wont-be-
using-betapunch-for-user-
testing%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-
i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-
testing%2F&gs_l=hp.3..0l4.2394.8245.0.8494.10.9.1.0.0.0.228.798.2j3j1.6.0.les%3B..0.3...1c.1j2.uocrMlHI_x4&pbx=1)

~~~
jorde
I highly recommend Jekyll and other static generated blog engines as they can
handle high traffic and don't suffer from security problems. Hit me with an
email if you need any advice, happy to help out.

~~~
dmor
Thank you. I'll drop you a note, I think it is time. I've been on the same
Dreamhost box for 8 years!

~~~
paulitex
Another great solution that doesn't involved changing anything in how you run
your blog (or even moving off of Dreamhost), is a front-end cache like
<http://www.fastly.com/>.

It's really affordable for personal sites, and for static sites like yours
you'll be getting 98%+ cache hits – almost no traffic will ever hit your
Dreamhost box, it will all come from their highly optimized Varnish caches
around the world.

Learndot's blog is hosted on a ec2 small instance fronted by fastly, our
launch article was on HN/Techcrunch/etc... simultenously and we never went
over 10% cpu.

tl;dr: Use fastly.

~~~
graue
Wouldn't CloudFlare's free plan be just as good here?

Edit: Looks like Danielle thinks so... she signed up with them a few hours
ago.
[https://twitter.com/DanielleMorrill/status/28918229241967411...](https://twitter.com/DanielleMorrill/status/289182292419674112)

~~~
dmor
Yes, actually I have been a CloudFlare user for awhile but had paused it on my
blog while dealing with a vulnerability. By the time traffic spiked and I
turned it back on there was no way to reach the site to cache a copy. I also
use the paid version for the Referly site and blog, and love it.

------
Skywing
Personally, when I see a blog post like this I make a mental note about the
author and the accused. I generally avoid both of them in the future. Yes, it
says all of the bad things about the accused that the author lays out, but it
also tells me the the author likes to stir up drama. When I do business, I
like to do business with those companies that you often don't here about,
positive or negative. The ones that just "do work". Companies like Mixpanel,
for example. You only hear about them when they're offering some new feature.
They don't blog about how somebody on Twitter did something dumb. And I just
realized that this was dmor's personal blog, but hey guess what, I only have
ever seen her picture on her blog associated with her company, so those are
now linked and that's enough for me.

~~~
icambron
I couldn't disagree with this more. When people do something you find shady,
you should complain! Loudly! This "keep your head down and don't stir up
trouble" attitude is a huge part of why so many things never get fixed. And
pointing out that a business has poor practices isn't drama; it's more like a
review.

~~~
ricardobeat
I agree with you, but I think it's more about the tone. The naming and point
does give a bad impression for both sides.

------
ggoodale
Fascinating. A bit of digging suggests the founder, Ross Nochumowitz[1], has a
second business as well: Big Boyz Bail Bonds[2] (note the identical avatars).
He was CEO of the latter as recently as October[3].

Never having utilized the services of a bondsperson, I'm not qualified to
comment on the similarity of the two businesses. Perhaps Ross can comment
here!

[1] <http://www.facebook.com/ross.nochumowitz>

[2] <http://klout.com/#/BigBoyzBail>

[3] [http://citypaper.com/news/big-boyz-bail-bonds-banned-from-
ce...](http://citypaper.com/news/big-boyz-bail-bonds-banned-from-central-
booking-1.1392414)

~~~
joshdotsmith
Ouch, from your third link: "Paul Nochumowitz used a racial slur during the
confrontation and, at one point, asked if Stansbury, who is African-American,
'wanted a banana.'"

~~~
rexreed
Same family, but different person - BetaPunch is lead by Ross Nochumowitz.
Same tree, but the apple might not fall in the same place.

~~~
joshdotsmith
They were both involved in the altercation I mentioned, and that was a family
business.

~~~
rexreed
You're right, just saying that the particular offensive quote was attributed
to another member of that family. Still, I see what you are saying about birds
of a feather.

------
eduardordm
I was like both of them. I was unable to solve a single problem without
arguing. Emotions were the main motive behind every single exchange of
arguments.

But I wasn't a CEO. I was just a teenager programmer unable to resolve
disputes and prone to let ego guide my actions. I got better by maturing,
studying and I even took a mediation course.

That said. Danielle, this is NOT how a CEO solve problems. Betapunch, what
happened? I'm a client and never had a problem, I actually have been
recommending your service to a lot of people.

Danielle and the betapunch employee who replied to her are unable to run
serious businesses right now. God, I remember being called SOB by customers
over the phone and replying 'Please, I'm sorry' even when the fault was not
even close to ours.

You guys really could use a mediation course.

~~~
markdown
> That said. Danielle, this is NOT how a CEO solve problems.

I'm obviously missing something here... what exactly did the author of the
blog post do wrong?

A person who trialled a free service was asked why she no longer used the
service, and she provided free feedback on why. They didn't like the answer
and got mean (publicly).

In what universe is she even remotely in the wrong here?

~~~
eduardordm
Conflict can always be avoided and, when you lead people, this is your daily
job. The blog post serves no purpose to Danielle. It might kill betapunch, but
it will die the same. Why would you do that? You just found an opportunity to
make something better!!! How great it would be if Danielle used her skills as
a CEO to make betapunch understand how f'up their twitter tactics are.

As a CTO/COO (not a startup, large company) it actually makes me HAPPY when I
turn _bad_ into something better. Changes do not come from sheer force,
influence or conflict, it usually comes from understanding.

There is pure evil, where changes are impossible and there is nothing you can
do, but this is not the case.

Edit: Read how jorde reacted to betapunch wrongdoing and, after that, a direct
insult. That's a CEO.

~~~
dmor
A CEO's job is not to avoid conflict. In fact, I think it is probably quite
the opposite. The startups that avoid conflict are usually full of yes men and
they usually end up dead, from my experience. Writing this post was probably
10x more helpful to BetaPunch than anything else I could have done, although
they seem so belligerent and willfully ignorant of their mistake that I am not
sure it will have any impact.

~~~
Skywing
Just some advice. It's not about "not being a yes man". It's about just laying
low. There's no reason not to, and all you've done with your responses is make
me want to avoid whatever you do, as well. No good can come from this type of
crap.

~~~
drivebyacct2
>all you've done with your responses is make me want to avoid whatever you do

I guess you're going to avoid me for wanting to have a dialog about this. But
you're right, only your opinion is valid, everyone is equally guilty and no
one is allowed to dispute it, else they fear the wrath of Skywing avoiding
them.

~~~
jspthrowaway2
There's nothing to be gained from following him around and badgering him
because he won't talk to you. You're stooping to his level, which is
satisfyingly ironic given the topic.

He disengaged you pretty unabashedly, so do the rest of us a favor and stop
beating him up over something mindlessly stupid. It reflects more on you than
him. Remember how I called you a troll in the past? Bingo.

~~~
drivebyacct2
I was wondering if I knew the rest of your username. Nice of you to continue
to stalk and harass me and call me names.

I made two whole comments in this thread (I didn't even realize they were the
same person until you said something. I don't keep a black book of users to
berate as you do). You just saw an opportunity to harass me some more. Leave
me alone. For the third or fourth time. Maybe you wouldn't need so many
accounts.

You literally contributed _nothing_ except for to try to harass me more. How
childish can you continue to be? Your little episode was like _7 months ago_
before you rage quit HN, it's time to let it go and get over your petty
grudge, jsprinkles.

~~~
natrius
I'm assuming this whole thread is performance art to tie in with the whole
"don't take grudges public" point.

~~~
drivebyacct2
I have no way of contacting him out of band and he follows me around calling
me names about something that upset him months ago. I guess I should be turn
the cheek and ignore him.

~~~
jspthrowaway2
You know my identity but not my e-mail? jed@jedsmith.org. Fire away.

I'm realizing I might regret this, but if you want to contact me out of band,
I'm offering the opportunity. I also don't expect that you will.

------
jacalata
Wow, 'ungrateful'? What do they expect exactly if I were to use their one free
test today? A thank-you card, or just attribution somewhere if I were to
release the product one day? Could they put that up front please, so I don't
get surprised later on by a grudge held by their social media intern?

~~~
jacalata
Actually, having now gone through some twitter history, @betapunch says "The
public test was posted for less than 1 hour then deleted / apologized and sent
2 additional tests as a make-up and not a single thanks.."

So they actually wanted her to say thanks for trying to make up for the way
they screwed up in the first place. I guess at least I'm clear if I were to
just use their service and they don't screw up?

~~~
jmharvey
As icing on the cake, it appears that their tweets discussing the results of
Danielle's user test are still public:
<https://twitter.com/BetaPunch/status/256384610529857536>

------
kt9
Rule number 1 of business: No matter what, regardless of who is right or
wrong, never, ever antagonize or nurture a conflict with anyone. Especially
not a potential customer.

If you can't get someone onboard as a customer, work on figuring out why and
building a relationship so maybe you can get them onboard later.

Edit: Also wanted to add that if someone uses your beta product you should be
thanking them for taking the time to try out your new product (and hopefully
giving you feedback) rather than expecting them to thank you.

~~~
aneth4
That is rule number 1 of business like "be nice" is rule number 1 of dating.

Many great personal brands and businesses are launched and made with
antagonism. Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Richard Branson, Larry Flynt, Steve
Ballmer, Rush Limbaugh, George W Bush, ... the list goes on of characters who
have used antagonism successfully for personal and corporate marketing, and to
divide the world between strong followers and detractors instead of a sea of
disinterest.

If you are right or interesting, there is nothing wrong with being a little
antagonistic. Intelligently picking a fight can bring much needed attention.

That said, this is not a case of being right or interesting - only immature
and asinine. They did successfully get a major influencer to write about them,
and if the old adage about any press applies, then it was a success. This is
not the way I would want to appear or conduct business, but it may actually be
better than being ignored.

~~~
larrys
"They did successfully get a major influencer to write about them, and if the
old adage about any press applies, then it was a success."

Exactly. It's like WD40. The carrier wears off and the active ingredient
remains and does the work.

------
eterpstra
Does anyone see the irony here? The whole point of the BetaPunch service is to
elicit critical feedback.

I kid you not, the quote below is taken directly from their site as
instructions for site testers:

"Be as critical as possible when reviewing a website. It's ok to be positive
but don't just talk about how great you think their site is. These websites
sign up for BetaPunch because they know they have things that can be improved
upon. They want you to be as honest as possible with them as to your feelings
about their website. Figure out what makes sense to you and what doesn't. And
be sure to VOICE your opinions as you navigate the site."

~~~
chrisgoodrich
It doesn't sound like they really understand the point of user testing.

User testing is not about being critical/positive, it's about if the user can
complete the and if not why?

I don't care what my user testers think; I care what they are thinking. A very
important distinction.

------
ncavig
Cached link:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-
i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-
testing%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.daniellemorrill.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fwhy-
i-wont-be-using-betapunch-for-user-
testing%2F&aqs=chrome.0.57j58j61j60l2.1349&sugexp=chrome,mod=0&ie=UTF-8)

------
avree
BetaPunch is a funny company. They have web recording software they've
licensed and find 'testers' exclusively from reddit.com/r/beermoney. Danielle
mentions that she 'hopes this is a social media intern' - BetaPunch is
certainly a one-man shop, and you can see some of the guy's postings here:
<http://www.reddit.com/user/betapunch>

~~~
rexreed
You can see for yourself Ross Nochumowitz pitching BetaPunch at the Baltimore
TechBreakfast: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAdI5mhpKsA>. This is from
just a month and a half ago.

------
petroica
Wow. BetaPunch really doesn't know when to quit and apologize:
<https://twitter.com/BetaPunch/status/289178660366348288>

~~~
drivebyacct2
This is soooo cringe worthy.

------
AnthonyJoseph
I am going to play devils advocate here, as I loved the book, "Trust Me, Im
Lying", and a lot of what is written in there pertains to this "drama". The
person controlling that twitter account is probably a little too emotionally
invested, and probably a little immature. I don't necessarily see that as a
bad thing, its passion, just misdirected (not everyone is passionate about
their product, no matter what gets said on these types of forums). I would be
curious about the internet habits of people who do not want their tests shared
(a TOS/Disclaimer should have been listed on the site), but I would guess
between gmail/facebook etc, betapunch is the least of their worries. I just
assumed that a tech-savvy audience assumes that anything they put online is
fair game...because...well, it is. On the other hand, its better to be
emotionally invested in something you have built, but never reveal those
emotions I would think.

tldr; if you can raise ANY doubt about who is in the right, and who is in the
wrong, and get a shit load of hits, controversy may not be such a bad thing.

------
egfx
I have mixed feelings on this. One the free video test revealed a gaping bug
that I was only made aware of through the video. And I'm thankful for that.
But I didn't know these tests were promoted to the public! Not cool Betapunch.
And anyways, checkout <http://criticue.com> for their free service. I'm
getting 3-5 helpful reviews a nite. They only reqiuire you to test other sites
for a one to one return.

~~~
dools
Critcue sounds a bit like feedback roulette.

------
hahla
I found it interesting when an unrelated twitter user posted that they
shouldn't insult a "influencer" as it would just hurt their reputation. For
some reason this struck a wrong chord with me, while the BetaPunch guys
handled this entirely the wrong way, if they were in the right and a
"influencer" didn't like what they had to say I wonder what would happen.

~~~
josscrowcroft
I think it strikes the wrong chord because it shouldn't matter whether the
person is an "influencer" or not — that's just not the way to talk to anybody
when you're trying to build a brand, unless your brand is built on public
spats

~~~
radicaldreamer
Exactly, treat every one of your customers with respect and if they choose a
competing product, attempt to understand why instead of demanding, in a very
passive aggressive way, that they become your customer or are grateful/thank
you for some free service which you unilaterally provided.

------
tolvak
BetaPunch needs to revoke the access of whoever is responsible for writing
tweets and have a PR focused person handle tweeting. They were too emotionally
invested, and it just made them look petty. Definitely not the sort of
discussion you want potential customers to read when researching about you.

~~~
lwat
It's probably a one-man-show...

------
josscrowcroft
Wow... speechless. I was geared up for an unfair dismissal of a
very–early–stage product, but this made me cringe. Saved with a hint of irony
in my _Social Media Ideas_ folder

------
coloneltcb
Don't blame you for shining a light on them. A top post on Hacker News is a
tough way, but if they are to have any future success, this is a lesson they
need to learn.

~~~
natejenkins
I think it is kind of amazing that "don’t be mean to customers" is a lesson
that would ever need to be learned. I guess nothing is obvious.

------
eranation
I think everyone agrees - never say anything nasty to any potential customer,
but if you do this mistake, at least don't do that publicly on a social
network or anything that can be recorded.

On the other hand, there is no such thing as bad publicity, maybe it's their
weird way to get recognition, by treating their customers like they owe them
something.

After all I'm sure most of the readers will go to their website, just to see
what it is, and even try their service.

So in the end, the bad customer service led to a blog post by the customer
that was being badly treated, which might give them more traffic than if they
were just nice, ironic.

~~~
rscale
They're not in a position of power. They're offering a commodity service, and
they're positioning themselves as "the option with poor customer service."

I don't think that's going to attract much in the way of customers, or
investment.

I don't wish them ill; but they really need to stop digging, and they haven't
figured that out yet.

~~~
jessaustin
I'm not disagreeing with you, but I'm curious: if this is a "commodity
service", what competitors of BP would you recommend? I don't mean just some
consultant: where can I go where the process will be similar, in that I don't
have to talk to anyone and I don't have to hire anyone but I just have to
enter my particulars and pay for what I want?

~~~
simonw
User Testing was mentioned in the OP <http://usertesting.com/>

------
mingpan
That was some serious WTF factor. However, I'm not so sure I agree that public
shaming is the correct response.

~~~
sachingulaya
IMHO it reflects poorly on both parties involved.

~~~
markdown
How so?

Are we only supposed to share positive experiences on our blogs and social
media accounts?

User testing is a service I see myself using quite often over the next year.
I'm always grateful for reviews or comments on the services that exist out
there.

~~~
sachingulaya
No, sharing negative experiences is ok. But reading the exchange between them
I see some snarky comments back and forth. Its not the reporting that irks me
but the choice of language.

"i'm annoyed" "that's something you should think but probably not actually
say" "And BetaPunch, you’re welcome for the traffic… enjoy the SEO, too."

It feels a bit too vindictive and that isn't a flattering quality. Some people
like that image and it works for them professionally. Personally, it turns me
away.

I don't think its a stretch to say that it could have been handled more
professionally. Dmor took an opportunity to showcase her professionalism and
instead sunk to their level. That's my impression at least.

~~~
markdown
> I don't think its a stretch to say that it could have been handled more
> professionally. Dmor took an opportunity to showcase her professionalism and
> instead sunk to their level. That's my impression at least.

Of course it could be handled more 'professionally', but I much prefer an
honest, human expression of annoyance than putting some bullshit corporate
'professional' facade on things.

This wasn't a press release by a department of some faceless corp, this is a
blog post by a human being.

~~~
sachingulaya
Well, I suppose this is where we respectfully disagree.

To the person who flagged my response--if I'm asked to clarify my position and
I take the time to do so respectfully then a flag is inappropriate. Flags are
not downvotes.

~~~
markdown
> I suppose this is where we respectfully disagree.

The best form of disagreement :)

FYI, I didn't and wouldn't flag your comment.

------
peeplaja
Now when you google "betapunch", the blog post ranks high for the keyword.
People might forget, but Google won't. They've made their life very difficult.
It never pays to be a righteous __*hole.

------
dools
We used BetaPunch extensively whilst testing our latest Decal CMS tour/on-
boarding process[1] and I have nothing but good things to say about the
service and Ross himself who was very pleasant and responsive. I've
recommended the service to everyone I've met since. For the type of user
testing you get, you just can't beat the price.

Although some of the testers weren't exactly in the "target market", by having
some people that weren't designers or developers muddle through our demo, we
were able to fix some really critical bugs.

I even met some people through the service (testers) that were willing to jump
on Skype with me to discuss the product and who were interested in taking the
beta process further.

I'd highly recommend you try them out. The social strategy Ross is going for
here may be a little misguided, but the product itself, and indeed Ross (as
far as I've dealt with him) are hard to fault.

[1]<http://www.decalcms.com/>

~~~
jfarmer
Sorry, but come on, "social strategy?" What is that, exactly? Antagonizing
your potential customers?

~~~
dools
I dunno, could just be that he's antagonistic by nature but also could just be
that he wanted to get a lot of publicity for betapunch. I'd assume a lot of
people who have never heard of betapunch, have heard of it now and he'll
probably get a few users out of it.

~~~
larrys
You're getting downvoted but you are correct and he could very possibly have
used this as a strategy. Anyone who doesn't recognize or even consider that
possibility doesn't fully understand the nuances of PR.

~~~
chris_wot
Using PR to lose customers is some mighty nuanced PR!

~~~
larrys
"Using PR to lose customers"

The idea is that there is a net gain. People will remember the name and forget
the bad rep. The amount of people who remember or stop doing business is less
than the amount gained by the bad publicity.

------
howeyc
You guys must have seen something other than I did, all I saw was childish
bickering from both sides in public for all to see. Here's what I saw:

D: Company A is awesome.

B: Company B is better and cheaper, use us! (Spam)

(Could have ended here!! I can not emphasize this enough!!)

D: You suck Company B, go away and die!

B: Wut?? You used our service FOR FREE to improve your product, you ungrateful
nincompoop.

D: Correct, you suck and now everyone knows you suck because I said so,
hahaha. Now I will write blog post, everyone else will agree with me and
Google search will say you suck too. lol, I F'd your public image yo. BAM!

Hacker news: Yay! Go D, B sucks ass, thanks for letting us know.

~~~
benaiah
Actually, it seemed to be more like this: D: Company A is awesome. B: Why not
use our product? It's cheaper! [Spam] [Certainly, it could have ended here.
But they asked the question - why is it wrong to answer them why you don't use
it? Perhaps they don't realize their public posts are alienating customers,
and the feedback would be helpful. Perhaps she might want to give them another
chance if they 'fess up and apologize (Perhaps not, she has no obligation to
do so). At this point, she is not being mean at all (not that she is later,
either). At this point, _there is no argument to end_. It's still just a
conversation.] D: I _did_ use your product. You inappropriately and publicly
broadcast private information. [Answering the question they _asked_ , honestly
and without pulling punches - something advocated constantly by popular and
applauded posts on HN, I might add.] B: Yeah? Well you didn't _thank_ us for
the _free trial_ of a service we were trying to _sell you_. _whine whine
whine_ [Completely inappropriate and rude. This is the first sign of actual
_hostility_ , as opposed to _honesty_.] D: This is why I'm not using you
[Again, answering their question. Rhetorical or not, they asked it.] You
probably should not say that publicly. [Helpful and useful criticism. Again,
something recommended by HN on a public basis.]

Now, I'm not saying she wasn't pissed by the end. She probably was (I would
be). But she never said anything rude or explicitly hostile. In addition, she
didn't escalate it to public status. Twitter is a _public forum_ , and they
started accusing her of... not thanking them for their sales pitch? Her
response on Twitter was entirely appropriate.

As to the blog post, this is the exact same thing that something like Amazon
reviews does - publicly states the quality (in this case, in regards to
courtesy) of a company or product. She is the _customer_. This has no bearing
on her relationship with her customers (which I will not comment on, having
never experienced it). This only affects her relationship with someone trying
to sell her something - and the onus of making the interaction positive is
entirely on the salesman, who completely screwed up.

She was never _rude_. Since she is not the seller in this situation, common
courtesy (as you'd give a stranger you were talking to) is the only obligation
she has, and she meets it.

------
Kiro
I remember a thread on 2+2 where the founder of BetaPunch were getting sued by
BetaBait for copying their site.

------
DanBC
A great man once said:

> _be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others._

The TCP Robustness Principle from Jon Postel applies nicely to a lot more than
TCP.

------
stevoski
Oh the irony: I went to the homepage of betapunch.com, where they proudly
promote their "raw unbiased user" testing, and some text on their home page
renders incorrectly. Even more ironically, the problematic rendering includes
this text: "Receive feedback and discover problems."

Even if the "all publicity is good publicity" concept applies here, they are
wasting that publicity, at least on me, with their site problems.

------
thomasbk
FWIW, the founder has informally responded here:
[http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=36587703...](http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=36587703&postcount=33)

------
vasco
Wonder how this is relevant for Hacker News. Is this soap-opera tuesday?

~~~
eterpstra
A little colorful drama never hurts. You can only read so many articles about
Lisp...

~~~
TallboyOne
Well I dunno about that .____.

------
briandear
Maybe this is off topic, but Referly looks suspiciously similar in design to
Fab. Even down to similar image overlays. Perhaps I could write a blog
explaining why I won't be using Referly due to a pretty unoriginal design and
equally uninspiring concept. But, I've been up all night with a crying baby,
so perhaps I'm being unnecessarily hostile.

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jqueryin
The unfortunate tragedy of this is that BetaPunch is getting attention out of
this, for better or for worse. I would err to say they likely got at least a
few parties to test them out. It's definitely undeserved attention.
Professionalism is everything when it comes to social networks.

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rrrhys
I did some work for BetaPunch last year.

It's sad to see such an error of judgement (a big one, but nonetheless) which
will really hurt after slowly gaining steam.

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venturebros
I always thought BetaPunch was some sort of scam. I see them posting on
r/forhire every week hiring people to record vids for $5.

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ia
ah, public shaming. the easiest and most low-brow way to sway opinions on the
interent.

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chuckreynolds
lol sigh

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vanillapod
This poster is using bad service she received into SEO juice for herself,
while robbing another company of further business. Because I find this
practise distasteful, I won't be using refer.ly. On the other hand, I would
wait and see if Betapunch learned their lesson, and will use them. The person
who posted this is too clever for her own good.

