Comment by muxme | Hacker News Reader

Comment by muxme | Hacker News Reader

I'm running into this problem on my startup website (http://muxme.com). I've found that the more evidence I provide that the site is real, the more people start to question it. I.e. I post pictures of the receipt of purchase, open source the raffle code script, have a live drawing, post the winner's usernames (which reveal quite a bit about them if you google them, I encourage them to change their usernames), post USPS tracking numbers, post my phone number and address, and everyone still thinks the site is a scam. Out of every company / website I've worked on, I've never had people so skeptical of giving a name, email address and phone number. I've made websites where I charged money and had better growth!

This is some real feedback I've received:

"It sounds like a scam to me. If you want to try to scam people by getting them to click on your fake website, you should have enough common sense not to use the website as your username. Better luck next time!!!!"

"Scamming people on Christmas Eve using someone's else's platform. Tacky."

But yeah... this site isn't working. I'm thinking of scrapping it and writing an app/browser extension that automatically enters you into sweepstakes. Let's say Person A enters 10 sweepstakes on different websites. Person B enters 5 sweepstakes on different websites. When person C downloads the app, he will automatically be entered into the sweepstakes that Person A and Person B entered (via my magic backend system that I have yet to create). The more people that download the app and enter sweepstakes, the more sweepstakes everyone with the app will automatically be entered into. Now people will start winning prizes for literally doing nothing but downloading the app.

Interesting concept. The website makes a really scammy first impression to me too.

Firstly, because it uses the "count down to win something" mechanic that's primarily used by exploitative sites. People have to keep bidding in order to win, and loss aversion pushes them to pay more than they can intellectually justify for the product. If most sites that use the mechanic are evil, then the expectation is your site is no exception.

Secondly, the website looks really generic and based off a template. Like something that has been whipped up in a weekend to steal people's info. It would be trivial for somebody to create a scam version that's visually indistinguishable from your website. Having more content and a more polished appearance will help.

Thirdly, it's not clear what's in it for the operator of the site. If the products are given away then what's the catch? I understand you're giving away promotional items, but that's not enough to fix this first impression. You have to explain to people why the site exists. Is it a nonprofit? Are you getting paid? By who?

Finally, your explanation page makes no sense. Your target audience will never care about multiplexers. You've got to have at least a simple FAQ that answers questions like "Is this a scam?" "How does this site make money?" "Why is it free to enter?", and so on. A huge heading on the front page "Play for free to win promotional material. No catch." would probably help alleviate your visitor's concerns. But you'll have to do a lot more to make it seem less fishy.

Thanks for the feedback. This is great.

Hmmm, I'll try removing the countdown timer.

The site does use a template. I actually tried making it look generic because I went with the approach of "this website is owned by 1 person and you can trust him". That didn't work. I am going to redo the front-end and make it look like a company owns the site. I'm thinking something similar to how http://gusto.com looks.

I'm hoping to one day have companies pay to have their prizes featured on the site. It'd be like Google / Reddit advertising except the advertising is a prize, not an ad. I tried the non profit approach but everyone doubted me, so I changed it. But right now, everything is out of pocket for me.

Yeah I realize the "mux" was a mistake. I thought it was clever, but these people don't have the time to read what a multiplexer is. Literally every time I tell someone to go to my site "MuxMe" they say "Is that a porn site?". I can change the name in 2 seconds, I'm just thinking of what to change it to. I like the idea of a FAQ, I need to add that.

Currently users land on the prize page, and either register or they don't. They don't click the "how it works" or any other pages, so I'm focusing on optimizing the prize landing page right now. I think I might add a video avatar (like this http://www.pt-hr.co.uk/) that explains how the site works on the prize pages. I can see the Hacker News guys are interested in the "How it Works" page, but the typical user doesn't click that. I definitely need to update it with something that's easy to understand, it's on the list of a million things to do.

Even your comment makes it look scammy, without even knowing exactly what your site does. Your account is fairly new, and every comment you have ever made includes a link to your site. You are talking about raffles and winnings, and using bots to enter sweepstakes. The negative feedback you shared here looks like reasonable feedback, and nothing you say contradicts it.

That's fair feedback. I appreciate it. The website is what I do for fun, so there's no professionalism. I literally make no money from the site. If you think the site is a scam (or if you just want to say Hi), you're free to call me at the phone number listed in the footer.

If I wanted to sell email addresses, I'd just use the GitHub API (https://api.github.com/users/codingdave).

I have no idea why you are talking about selling email addresses, making money, or linking to a github account that contains no email and, fyi, is not even mine.

You sound less and less legit the more you post.

I think this site and the amount of hate/doubt I've received is driving me insane. Sorry.

I'm thinking of scrapping it And (from another comment of yours)

I think this site and the amount of hate/doubt I've received is driving me insane. Sorry.

If you do not have an extremely compelling reason to stick it out, then I suggest you scrap it promptly. Go spend your time on something that doesn't get you hate and make you insane. You should only put up with that if you honestly have absolutely no other choice, no means to walk away.

Once you have been backed into a mental corner of the sort you are in, it is incredibly hard to find a path out. If you are unable to be objective, not take it personally, not get defensive and so on, there is almost no hope that you can figure out how to effectively reposition this site. It will probably go much better to just ditch it and start over and view it as a learning experience.

I considered signing up for your site. I could certainly use more free resources. I also considered posting it to my homeless website. But that runs into the question of conflict of interest. If I want to win, I am better off not sharing it. That only increases the competition. So, perhaps the model of the site is fundamentally broken.

I can't quite put my finger on the reason, but I can see why people are sceptical. Few possible reasons, which may or may not be large factors:

- Non-obvious business model - It's not obvious how you profit from the raffles, whereas charging money is generally easier/quicker to understand

- Use of memes (e.g. http://muxme.com/giveaways/56-25-toys-r-us-gift-card ) doesn't inspire confidence (may be a personal quirk of mine)

- Layout/design - My initial reaction when the page loaded was "Oh, it's a penny auction site", which are known for being borderline scams. Obviously it isn't, but that gut reaction is difficult for you to overcome (I'm thinking of sites like swoggi.co.uk when I say penny auctions)

Only problem is charging money is illegal. I was thinking of "implying" that you may have to pay one day, and having the register button say "Sign up for your free trial", which will be an infinitely long free trial. But then again, the site is all about trust, and you've already tricked them from the start with this method.

Yeah I tried the approach of a quirky, 1 owner website, and it didn't work. I'm still trying to clean up all the jokes, memes, etc.

Hmmmm, yeah I can see how a first impression is that the site is a penny auction site. I definitely need to rethink the front end design and UX flow. Maybe don't even show the prizes until they've registered.

Yeah the giant table of "win this! win that!" seems enormously scammy. Maybe because scam ads just display something so similar. And, key thing with yours and theirs, no context and leaves me wondering "what's the catch?".

Even if you just added a short paragraph explaining the concept (since otherwise when I get to your site I look around to see what it does, and see nothing but scam ads all over = scam site; if you actually say what the site's for the prizes have context) and how it works (otherwise I'm like, "sure, effectively free cash, yeah right" = scam site), and then have the prize list, it would make a big difference in first impressions. Maybe have any list of prizes on the front page not be a countdown of upcoming prizes, but a list of selected featured prizes ("including these brands!").

On the other hand, the long list of terms and conditions on the Toys R Us gift card actually makes it feel more legit somehow. ("Ahh, there's the catch"?) Maybe have the front page end with that list, or the intersection of all terms, or a similar terms and conditions for muxme itself, rather than "many pages of EVEN MORE PRIZES".

You're saying the picture with the bank statement? Or are you talking about the Official Rules portion?

Hey, muxme, stop trying to scam people by pretending you're a HN user! We won't fall for it!!!

(of course I am joking)

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