Offerpal Tries Out A New CEO. Shukla Out. Garrick In. | Hacker News Reader

Offerpal Tries Out A New CEO. Shukla Out. Garrick In.

techcrunch.com

32 pointsandrewpbrett8 comments

I like it when TechCrunch does something like this. This is good journalism. They broke a story that most people didn't even know existed, highlighted the arrogance of one of the key players, and brought about positive change. Now I wouldn't award Arrington a Pulitzer for online journalism just yet but I would say this is a step in the right direction.

Too often we criticize TechCrunch (and rightly so) for what are basically attempts at gaining readership and ratings. It is good to see them actually going after the tech companies that hurt users.

The problem: every company who uses offerpal/gambit knows they are inviting their users to get scammed. The response from management at offer brokers is usually "We know they are scams (and that some of them auto-install viruses and trojans using IE exploits), but you have to make money somehow."

When marketing people talk about this scam issue, the response is typically "Video Professor and $9.99-per-month-in-the-fine-print SMS horoscopes advertise on late night TV. We're just doing what they do, so it can't be wrong."

We're in a strange time where users aren't customers. They just want to do something online and are exceedingly transient. No matter how much you abuse them, you can still make money if you convince 3% of your traffic to sign up for CPA scams.

Mike did a good job of shining a light on the issue, but everybody using an offer broker for a revenue boost knows users will be scammed (and virus'd).

Disclaimer: I work at a company offering these scams and free viruses to their users through offer brokers. I'm just a cog in the machine so my moral outrage goes unacknowledged. After all, companies need to make money.

Shit, Doubleshit...and Bullshit!

[Sorry...I had to say it, even if snark doesn't play well on HN ;-) ]

I'm sure she'll land a new scam job in no time with her pleasant personality and quiet professionalism.

at first i was surprised by how quickly this happened. but then i saw they've raised 20M in funding in the last 2 years. i think its obvious the VCs run the company.

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/offerpal-media

VCs will gladly take the reins of a company that is losing customers to an uncaring and dismissive CEO.

she was very unprofessional and condescending towards arrington's concerns, which were completely valid. i think the correct response from a ceo should have been: "wow, thanks for bringing that to our attention, that's going to the top of my priority list after i leave this conference."

Harsh but fair.

Whats with that title "Queen of Scams" on the page? Old habits??

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