

I'm not real because my facebook profile is private  - jasonlbaptiste
http://meta.maxkle.in/they-say-im-not-real-because-my-facebook-prof

======
blackwoodHolt2
(I tossed my login details but i'm the same guy who posted this
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1353050>)

The best lie is a half truth.

"Max" the reason people read your articles is because you've said you make
$40K a month from niche iphone apps.

Mark (lets drop the pretense) you sound like you have read Positioning by
Ries, A. and Trout,J ([http://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-
Ries/dp/044...](http://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-
Ries/dp/0446347949)). Your positioning this "Max" character as the idealized
serial entrepreneur. Globe trotting, living in 5 star hotel, identifying
markets, working out those niche products. I'm sure that idealized person is
something many people here want to replicate.

That's only half the story though isn't it? The reality is your $40K a month
is made from these apps ([http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/feather-moor-
ltd/id3053457...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/feather-moor-
ltd/id305345763?mt=8)) 1 star apps with content ripped from sites like
ehow.com. Lets not forget that feather+moor are your creation as well.

Would people read 37signals in the same light if they actually made their
money by running casino affiliate sites?

Would people read joel on software in the same light if he actually made his
money from porn sites?

Would people read Paul Graham articles in the same light if he actually made
his money selling teeth whitening ads?

You are not hiding your identity because of privacy, your hiding it because
the reality of your success doesn't fit with the image you've created for Max.

"Max" is not real because he is only half the story.

~~~
jallmann
> That's only half the story though isn't it? The reality is your $40K a month
> is made from these apps (<http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/feather-moor-
> ltd/id3053457...>) 1 star apps with content ripped from sites like ehow.com.

So what? HN also rabidly follows a guy that sells bingo cards. It's not about
what you do, what's interesting is how you do it, and the story you tell doing
that.

Project management and bug tracking software is pretty boring, if you ask me.
But the lessons from joel and 37s are anything but boring.

In fact, I would be very interested in blogs from someone who runs a sucessful
porn site, just because the challenges involved are emblematic of any startup
-- how do you acquire customers in such a commoditized market? How do you keep
them coming back, how do you monetize them? The technical side (scaling, etc)
would make for good reading, too.

~~~
blackwoodHolt2
I completely agree, the point i was trying to make with those examples was
that those people are up front in how they made their money. Mark is not, he
either outright avoids the question or claims that he is doing niche
applications and revealing them would destroy his business.

If he was upfront like patio11 (the bingo card guy) i would never of done any
digging. However everything i've seen from Mark seems like a calculated
manipulation to be viewed in a certain way.

patio11 appears to genuinely be here to share. Marks actions appear to be
about building an audience for some unknown future purpose (ebook?,conference
talks?,who knows).

~~~
jallmann
Yes, Max/Mark/whoever is maddeningly vague sometimes. I'm not disputing that.
I do think his paranoia is a bit unwarranted, but he does seems to value
privacy.

Now, if he just outright lied, well then that's shameful. I think the digging
that you have done is really interesting, but this whole thing is starting to
feel like a witch hunt. He might work under pseudonyms, sure, but at least his
apps/etc seem legit.

~~~
blackwoodHolt2
I think it becoming to feel like a witch hunt because "Max" has not directly
address whether he is Mark Essien, so everyone is speculating.

His apps are legit, in that they exist but they do appear to contain content
scraped from internet without any apparent attribution. Given the random mix
of sources i don't think he has written permission from demand media
(ehow.com) or the other random places the content comes from. His revenue
claims may or may not be true, or may HAVE been true.

I will point out one last thing.

This app (<http://appshopper.com/education/paintings-you-should-know>) now
deleted "Paintings you should know", was previously uploaded to the feather
moor account. The one app that appeared on Maxs now deleted "Cube Of M" site
was this "Art you should know" ([http://itunes.apple.com/app/art-you-should-
know/id356153267?...](http://itunes.apple.com/app/art-you-should-
know/id356153267?mt=8)) its obviously the same app.

Notice "Seller:Mark-Anthony Essien", so that links Max to Mark.

More importantly though his second name is Anthony not Max or Klein (like he
claims in that blog article).

This combined with Marks willingness to actually meet people in real life as
Max makes me question why he writes and his end goal with his writings and
half truths.

I'll leave it there, people have the information that is out there and that
was my only goal posting these messages, to inform.

------
epi0Bauqu
So... a) did you move to China; b) are you really doing 5 months work from
home, one month work in a 5 star hotel; c) get in a knife fight?

I don't mind privacy at all, but I like to know if what I'm reading is fact or
fiction or some combination thereof.

[a] <http://maxkle.in/giving-up-on-europe/>

[b] [http://maxkle.in/my-company-5-months-work-from-home-one-
mont...](http://maxkle.in/my-company-5-months-work-from-home-one-month/)

[c] <http://maxkle.in/your-high-iq-will-kill-your-startup/>

~~~
nanijoe
I used to think the Max Klein posts were somewhat inspirational, but at this
point I just assume he's pulled a '419' on everyone. There's a healthy dose of
fiction mixed into whatever facts may be contained in his blog posts.

~~~
maxklein
Why do you describe my blog as '419'?

~~~
sliverstorm
In case you are not aware, '419' refers to Nigerian scammers.

419 = scam/fake/fraud (loosely)

------
camworld
Just because he's figured out how to spam Hacker News with his navel-gazing,
amateurish blog posts does not mean you should listen to him. If he's too
chicken to post under his real name and stand by what he has to say, then he's
not someone I'm going to listen to. His posts are very trollish in nature.
Stop giving him the attention he so craves and the traffic that is fueling his
profits.

Update: Looks like "Max Klein" is voting this comment down using his numerous
HN accounts. How pathetic.

~~~
maxklein
Don't be hasty to criticize people - it may feel good in the short term, but
over the long term it always turns out bad. And upvotes and downvotes really
don't matter, you know.

------
shrikant
Sorry this is (well, somewhat) totally off-topic, but:

Has anyone else noticed that the HN news items now show the sub-domain in
select cases? Or has it always done this for 'popular' blogging platforms?
Currently I can see this for Blogspot, Wordpress, Blogs.com and Posterous.

And, peripherally related, for this item as well. Which confuses me a
little...

~~~
akkartik
It's done this for wordpress et al since the first public release of the
source code:
[http://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/81576aed622d560fdb3c96a26bb5...](http://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/81576aed622d560fdb3c96a26bb56691b1b9aa9c/news.arc#L1231)

Around last July's release it started showing subdomains anytime they aren't
'www'. Compare <http://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/arc3/news.arc#L1550> with
<http://github.com/nex3/arc/blob/arc3.1/news.arc#L1556>

~~~
shrikant
Thanks for the info, mate.

I believe you're slightly mistaken with your second line though - in this case
it's showing the subdomain because the TLD is .in, and the 'www' bit is to
just strip that particular bit from submitted links that might just be
'www.[blogspot|posterous|wordpress|blogs|etc].[in|jp|uk|za|etc]'.

[Further aside: I don't do much code any more, but it was fun to tickle that
part of my brain! Thanks again!]

~~~
akkartik
Ah, you're right. So crazy domain names get a subdomain to show up on HN. Very
cool.

------
scott_s
By blogging regularly, you invite people to pay attention to you. It seems
natural then that you would want to carve out a private "don't look at me"
space on the internet.

Most people don't have this problem, though, because most other people don't
care about them. They don't need to carve out a private space on the internet
because no one is paying attention anyway.

Personally, I share very little on Facebook because my Facebook social network
is very close to my _actual_ social network. My actual social network is quite
varied, and there's little I have to say that is appropriate to every person I
know.

------
webwright
You can have a private facebook profile without using a fake name/identity.

------
jackolas
The "public" sphere is dead there is only the private sphere that is
accessible by everyone. The notion of public is slowly eroding, see the death
of print news media.

------
Mz
I've seen this type thing before on the 'net and, to a lesser degree, been on
the receiving end of it. Wondering if people would be willing to toss out
their two cents worth concerning what signals "authenticity" to them and what
signals "fake" to them in the online world (preferably without further
trashing the individual in question, which is not a conversation I really want
any part of). I can think of legitimate reasons for doing things like not
posting photos on the 'net (and have, in fact, taken photos of me off the 'net
to stop the influx of unwelcome, highly personal e-mails).

Any takers?

Thanks in advance.

