Hacker News Reader

You’ve figured us out! Damn it; it would have been such a great plan if we hadn’t decided to give DDoS mitigation services away for free. Dagnabit!

https://blog.cloudflare.com/unmetered-mitigation/

View on HN

I mean, I don't buy the conspiracy theory at all, but I would expect it to still be true that you benefit from DDoS attacks even if you offer protection for free. As the need for DDoS protection increases, you convert non-users to users, moving them one step closer to paying customers.

I'm sure that the fact that it's highly illegal and unethical are reason enough for Cloudflare to not sell DDoS capacity, but the perverse incentive is still there.

You want everyone to believe that none of us are capable of seeing the first derivative of an action and reaction?

Cloudflare facilitates DDoS, yet Cloudflare "mitigates" for free. "How could this EVER be a business model?", you disingenuously ask.

Simple - if DDoS are common, then more and more people and companies become afraid of them. After a while, everyone wants DDoS mitigation. More and more people move to Cloudflare.

Whether paid or not, you now control more people. Duh.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com