Hacker News Reader

Comment by qdot76367 | Hacker News Reader

This thing has been an absolute nightmare since it was released 18 months ago. I've had a few people contact me (note: https://buttplug.io (NSFW) is my project, I get contacted about stuff like this all the time, someday I will write a book about various support stories) with their hardware stuck on.

There have been multiple security issues reported, and the company really seems to have no clue how to deal with the tech. Not only that, they're doubling down on their production of unsafe equipment, including their newest toy (Link NSFW): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001341771957.html

View on HN

Smart consumers won't buy a $10 memory card on Ali because it's likely to be a destructive fake, but people will buy Internet-controlled electronics for their favorite nether regions of their bodies. Amazing. I guess that's part of the thrill.

Being aware of specific marketplace corruption isn't the same as being smart, and vice versa. And there's no reason to believe that the set of people buying these devices is the same as the set of people not buying memory cards.

>I guess that's part of the thrill.

Yeah looking forward to the day where passing unit tests results in a Neuralink-induced orgasm

Until a sizeable chunk of the world's workforce is erotically DDOS'd into blissful oblivion.

Mmm cyberpunk.

We've got some azure pipelines tasks on buttplug.io in the works that may facilitate this.

Godforbid there is accidental race scenario

I mean, if it has a webhook, you can probably fire it on success or failure from Jenkins...

For as cheesy as 90's sci-fi was, Demolition Man was surprisingly prescient about little things like this. Physical coitus becomes a disgusting act akin to taking a shit, so it becomes a virtual shared experience that creates the feelings between two relative strangers without the various risks.

It's more about a lack of available reputational signals. There's little brand awareness and few people are willing to review such intimate products. With electronics you can go by manufacturer if nothing else, intimate products often don't even have branding.

On top of this, people don't usually shop around much for the best product when it comes to intimate devices. A lot of it is even specifically marketed toward impulse buys.

You can't even trust hardware manufacturers to get audio drivers right, why would you ever trust them with something like this?

the people buying these things mostly do not browse HN and have no idea what audio drivers are.

What would a sufficient reputational signal be?

The internet of things doesn't have any of the stigma that this has; and I still wouldn't trust it to run lightbulb.

With something that attaches to your body 24/7, it sounds like you would want something on the order of medical grade assurances because, if something goes wrong, it has the potential to cause medical problems.

And even some of the more reputable brands have a distinct hint of skeeziness to their branding. “Fun Factory” and “The Pleasure Chest” both sound super sketch, despite both being well respected companies with a good track record.

My only experience with Aliexpress was that I ordered $30 rubber feet replacements for my laptop, and they sent me a postcard with an advertisement for a fitness band written in German. When I complained with them, they told me to check the mailbox again and went silent. Got a refund eventually, but I can imagine fraud is a standard operating procedure there.

I think you lucked out or maybe didn't pay enough attention to the seller reputation. I probably ordered three dozen items from AE, ranging from cents to 600 euros, only thing not making it was a 10 dollar cable during the peak of the Spring covid wave in Europe, when logistics was seriously disrupted. Got my money back. I suspect it was lost, as tracking showed it strolling across the Far East back and forth.

And items were not up to spec sometimes, but also got my money back or the seller sent a replacement.

Is it the consumer buying them, or retailers/drop-shippers buying them to resell?

the article notes that it's 40k registered users as per the api.

A friend I know tells me that they ordered a cheap knock off magic wand vibrator off eBay and after 3 months it never showed so they went to a sex shop and paid 200$ for the real deal. The fake one finally arrives couple weeks later but comparing them the fake one is just as strong but also has added features like different pulsations and more speed control. The 184$ difference will easily sway people to buy such products.

There's a bit of a....risk profile difference between a vib and a chastity device.

If the vib plugs into the wall as a most-popular one in that price range does, that’s definitely still a true statement.

Even without electricity, there's plenty of horror stories about sex toys--particularly dildos--made with unsafe materials. Some materials can cause allergic reactions, others are carcinogenic.

The article says they sold 40,000 of these things

> someday I will write a book

That would make a great coffee-table book. Some image on one page and a short narrative on the opposing page.

Wow that product looks extremely dangerous! Sharp corners, pinch points, and a lock? Extremely irresponsible to manufacture that. I’m not sure if y’all appreciate how fragile that area is and the potential for serious injury from something like this.

Yeah, things like this used to be utilized as torture devices - with the apt name of the Pear of Anguish.

Reminds me of my visit to the Museum of Torture in Italy. Quasi-NSFW-ish but nothing gory, still, proceed with caution if you are squeamish.

http://www.torturemuseum.it/en/

I went there with my girlfriend about 5 years ago. We still laugh that it made us feel a bit unwell and had to leave.

Would still recommend.

Buttplug.io is officially my new favourite domain name.

Even the TLD choice is apropos.

This is a case where the right TLD makes all the difference. If it were .biz, no one in their right mind is going to click that. Org must have already been taken.

Now now, we are surely spoiled for choice these days [1]. A savvy operator could easily have snagged buttplug.holdings. Or even my personal favorite -- buttplug.fishing.

[1] https://www.hover.com/domains/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=buttp...

My personal buttplug domain collection includes:

http://buttplug.engineer - My personal website

http://butt.engineering - My company website (http://nonpolynomial.com)

buttplug.zone/games/cam/online/tech/work/app - Going to point to various parts of my Intiface product line at some point. Games should probably be pointed at https://intiface.com/ghr for now.

> http://buttplug.engineer

Fantastic domain name. Too bad it's too long for a license plate :-)

No buttpl.ug?

Ugandan registry holds that one. :(

Dare I ask why?

Hold on, I need to go find a very smart-looking book to be holding now just in case I die laughing at buttplug.loans

Aww thanks. :D

primo.af is pretty good, too.

> link

“According to local laws and regulations, this item could not be shown.”

Dare I ask?

Buttplug that expands outwards, and has bluetooth.

Reminiscent of the medieval pear of anguish.

For those that are intrigued, here is image of the device (nothing graphic). It’s only partially open...

https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads...

I will assert that whether or not an image is graphic is a matter of imagination.

Where are you that you're having your Internet censored?

aliexpress does that for anything on mobile that it thinks is sex related, which is occasionally annoying when it gets something wrong, but is definitely not wrong in this situation.

I can access that link just fine on mobile. You probably live in a more prude part of the world if you can't access that link on mobile.

I’m in Berlin. The spinny billboards arrive here advertise brothels, the fly posters say “Bleib Ruhig und Dildos benutzen” and “There is no I in anal”, and one of the largest hotels has a neon sculpture of Leda and the Swan, at least two stories tall, out front.

In the UK, the AliExpress mobile site gets me to click "Yes, I am over 18" before letting me open it.

Not sure if I understand you correctly. Do you mean that you can't access the link either and that living in a more prude country therefore is not a relevant factor here?

> living in a more prude country

I think they're trying to say that given there's open advertising of various sex related things, that Germany isn't exactly prudish.

Yes I understood that. I am asking what he's trying to say by mentioning that. If I were to read between the lines it'd mean that a more prude culture is not a factor because he's in Germany and he gets a warning or can't access the link on mobile. He didn't specifically write that however and I'm therefore trying to clear up the ambiguity.

A previous poster had suggested he lived in a prudish country where sexual content is censored on the internet. He said he was in Germany, and gave examples of the lack of prudishness there (in case someone didn't know what Germany is like).

The implication is that Germany is an unlikely place for that kind of censorship.

Right, thanks. Sometimes the HN format isn't exactly conducive to easily see who wrote what in reply to who if there is not a direct relationship. My original assertion regarding the prudishness of the culture being a driving factor was not correct.

Just to confirm, this interpretation is correct.

A german thing that made our papers was when the prostitute equivalent of the IEEE announced their new industry-wide covid safety measures, and invited local politicians to "check them out personally."

(Germans, on the other hand, marvel that our sex shows habitually offer discounts for students and seniors.)

I am in Czechia, the country with second most pornstars per 10 million inhabitants. Park your car on a street near the city centre and a prostitute will approach within a few minutes. There are huge and well known strip clubs and sex hotels. And there definitely are not any laws that would force Aliexpress to this.

It's a Reverse-Ratcheting Self-Sealing Stem Bolt.

You won't find a better one in the quadrant!

Here's an archived version: https://archive.is/7JKCH

That thing is horrific. It looks so dangerous and how would one ever remove it when it’s locked in someone’s body and can’t be unlocked?

You don't hear this much because people don't want to admit it but its almost always possible to remove these things with a bit of effort and maybe some lube.

The mind boggles at the possibilities.

while body parts shrink after reading "lock and clamp"

Ok that made my day 'buttplug.io' what a hilarious name!! Thanks

Nightmare fuel.

> stuff like this

Do tell!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com