Snip.ly
Web and SaaS
link shortener marketing
SHOW HN2014
How HN took it
4 positive, 8 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 9 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score -0.20.
Idea: 2 for, 6 againstExecution: 0 for, 1 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 1 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 againstPricing: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clean design and a good concept
From 2 comments
Nice work! The design is really clean and I really like the concept. Keep it up!
ShaneCurran on HNThis is a really great idea although slightly evil. Could be quite useful though. Nice job!
deft on HN
Useful for adding context to shared links
From 2 comments
I see your point, but I see it as providing context to the links. This is especially useful on Twitter where there is so little room for commentary. The message is not showing up…
rkuykendall-com on HNCool idea. I saw betakit using this the other day.
alizhd on HN
Objections
Clickjacking and framing other sites is a security concern
From 3 comments
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Clickjacking I'm not seeing how encouraging end users to engage in behavior that sites specifically turn off for…
opendais on HNI'm not. Marketing has a purpose like anything else. I'm more surprised and concerned by how few people commented on the fact it is relying on sites being vulnerable to…
opendais on HNI'm not sure about this. Mmm. My gut feeling is I wouldn't feel too cool about using it, and I'd guess that if you gave news sites the chance to opt-in to being framed, not many…
eliot_sykes on HN
Annoying overlay degrades the user experience
From 3 comments
I'm a bit surprised at the amount of positive response. This impresses me as rather obnoxious, probably effective, but obnoxious. Something between the pop-over ad and the…
incision on HNThis is not good. Consumers will eventually recognize that snip.ly links offer annoying experiences and they would not click on them over time. Thus, your conversion might…
electic on HNI am pretty sure, this service is not going to thrive, because people will never click snip.ly urls once they know what it is, and contains user-ad which hinders user-exprience…
frade33 on HN
Phishing risk since the destination is hidden
From 1 comment
How a user is supposed to know what site is behind the snip.ly URL? This is a phishing heaven.
mixedbit on HN
Looks like spam or link-bait ads
From 2 comments
I'm all for being creative in marketing... but this kinda seems like link bait spam. Interested in seeing if/how companies use it, but hoping it doesn't turn into ads for…
Elof on HNThat's really spammy and gross. You are what's wrong with the internet today.
BrainInAJar on HN
Questions
Is it really free to use?
From 1 comment
I like this idea. Is it really free to use?
ASquare on HN
Could the site owner sue over altered pages?
From 1 comment
Does anyone know what court precedents there are for a site owner O. suing companies C. that present altered versions of O's site to third parties T, without consent from O?…
ds9 on HN
Alternatives named
Other URL shorteners that add ads or interstitials
From 1 comment
This is hardly the first site to frame another site. It's hardly the first link shortener to do so and add a message or ad in another frame or interstitial either. There's enough…
dangrossman on HN
About.com adsense on external links
From 1 comment
I doubt it. About . com has been using a technique like this to put adsense ads on external links for years.
sandycheeks on HN