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Ask HN: Redditors detected my attempt to promote my startup. What should I do?

9 points by roddit ↗ HN
On friday, I started discussion in one of the most popular subreddits, about the problem that my startup( currently in private beta)is trying to solve. I was not planning anything, I was just trying to understand what people are feeling about it.

Luckily, my post created great interest among the community and quickly jump to the front page. I was not sure to post my startup as a solution, since it's not ready yet but at some point - I think there were 20+ comments were already submitted from the community, saying they are also having the same problem - I posted it with a different username(this is the mistake I've made). And told them to send me an email to get a direct access.

Afterwards, everything went like a crazy. My comment, promoting my startup quickly became the top comment in the discussion. The discussion became the top post within the subreddit and as the discussion got more attention, my startup got more traffic.

After the first hour of the hype, someone dig into my profile and saw some earlier posts about my startup, and posted it under the discussion. And I started to get hate messages. Then my post and my account is removed from reddit.

It stayed on the frontpage for an hour. I received 300+ personal emails requesting a direct access to private beta and few hate emails regarding of my unwarranted attempt to promote my startup. 2000+ people visited our webpage and 41% left their email and signed up for the private beta.

I provided direct access to people who sent me emails, and all started using the product and liked the solution that we are providing. But now our reputation on reddit is totally bad. I've made a big mistake, as a long time redditor, I feel really bad.

I'm not sure what to do next. Do you have any ideas ? How can I gain the respect of the community and let them understand me ?

Thanks.

12 comments

[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 35.6 ms ] thread
gus_massa
You can try to promote it in HN, but be careful because sockpuppets are also not welcome here and will get downvoted .

Another possibility is to try to keep it honest and submit a "Show HN" and making it clear in the answers that you are related to the startup. But read the ShowHN guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

> Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. [...] For example, blog posts, email signups, and fundraisers can't be tried out, so they don't count as Show HNs.

opless
I guess owning up and apologising would go a long way to remedy your situation.

Dont be sleazy in your wording. you'll still have some haters at the end of it all, but those you'll probably not get back on-side anyhow.

Good luck!

S4M
I honestly don't understand what he did wrong. Why does he need to apologize? In couple of weeks it will be all forgotten and he will be able to post his startup under another account.
ohashi
He posted posing a question under one account and then posted under another account offering his startup as the solution. If you can't understand how people might see that as manipulative/unethical then I think you may need to check your moral compass.

I'm one of the mods in /r/startups and see this shit all the time. I don't blame people for being upset at this tactic. If I saw this behavior it would probably be a very quick way to the banlist.

brudgers
Learn from your mistakes and your successes. The success was in generating interest and acquiring users. The mistake was overplaying your hand. It's not how many chips you have in an hour but how many you cash out at the end of the night.

People using your software is valuable. Maybe the cost was too high. Maybe in the long run it wasn't. Your business is your product not your reputation on Reddit. As Opless suggests, apologizing on Reddit is a good step toward lowerng the long term cost.

Good luck.

charlesdm
It doesn't matter.

What matters is that you discovered there's a genuine need for your product, as proven by the 300+ mails you received & the 800+ people who left their email address.

Now launch the damn thing, so you can capture the momentum. :)

steven2012
How can your reputation be bad if they removed the post from reddit? They can't even google it or your comments anymore.

This is an opportunity. Stop worrying about your reddit profile and work with those 300+ people to make a fantastic product that more people want

bradhe
> reputation on reddit

Oh boy...

tapirl
Which subreddit?

Your post is deleted, then it must be done by a moderator. Generally reddit needs to submit 9 other links to submit one your own link.

And what? you account is also deleted? I don't know what happened. I don't think moderators of subrediits have the right to delete accounts. It must be done by the moderators of website level.

Finally, there are really many assholes on reddit. You should get used to it.

So, just create another account. You can even create many accounts, reddit doesn't forbit this.

a3n
I'd forget about the incident and removal of the post itself. As steven2012 advises, work with those 300+ people that contacted you, and do something great.

As for losing your longtime account, I understand that you probably feel bad about that. I would try to appeal, and if unsuccessful, allow yourself a day or so to mourn, then move on.

You can always lurk, and if you feel compelled to converse, you can open another account. Back (way back) when I used to still read Reddit after abandoning my account, if I felt compelled to participate I would just open a throwaway account for that conversation; the username would be whatever was in the signup captcha.

tmaly
I am curious to know what problem you are solving. Have you considered producthunt or betalist?
anon3_
I do agree to owning up sincerely, and reiterate your startup's goals and the value you bring.

Don't let professional agitators control the frame, recast their attacks.