Hacker News Reader

Comment by bosch | Hacker News Reader

If Posterous wants to be a STAND UP company, they'll post information and a tool(not just XML or API) on how to migrate away FROM Posterous. Then they can go and write importers for other sites.

I'm sick of all these companies talking shit but not being able to back it up when they say they're looking out for the user!

View on HN

Ok here you go:

http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/posterous-importer/

There's information and a direct link to a plugin that lets you export your site out of Posterous to Wordpress.

We think we're a better service than they are, but we aren't afraid of data portability. Users can switch as much as they want and choose the best service

Why don't you mention this in any of your announcements? It'd be worth mentioning to people that not only can you import their information from X service, but if they try it and don't like it you can upload any changes to their old service? That would reduce potential customers fears of data lock-in and give them another reason to try Posterous?

Whoa, let's calm down and think rationally here.

Is it really a web app company's responsibility to actually write importers for competitors? It's certainly a responsible practice to document the API well, but you're basically asking for your landlord to pay for your moving van when you move out.

Well if they're truly going to back data portability then writing data importers for competitors would not only be true to the ideal, it would be a ballsy move!

well said

Convinced. Thanks for clarifying your side of story. Characterizing other platforms as dead kind of tickled me. sorry.

Freedom of speech allows them to do so. It's up to the users to decide if there is any merits in their claim.

If you were defending tumblr or trying to make posterous look bad, I don't think you did any good here.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com