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Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#51

Post by minimaxir »

mandeepj wrote: post #44
tyleo wrote: post #14

Wow, this doesn’t even look like the normal “hiring”/jobs post. Just a funnel straight into a potential scam :/ Shocking to see it here. It looks like they might be using a loophole since their product is training for jobs they are using that as a substitute for, “we’re hiring.”

> Just a funnel straight into a potential scam They claim that they do not charge you anything. So, how can they scam you? Of course, besides your hours and the potential outcome (code). Just curious.

Research the issues Lambda School had, particularly how "free" turned out to not be free.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#52

Post by Uncle_Brumpus »

pbjerkeseth wrote: post #28

Funny seeing that post, looking into it, asking the same question, and arriving here. Grifters gonna grift.

I saw the original post first and thought it looked fishy so wanted to see what the comments looked like. My muscle memory for immediately clicking the last link on the right under the post to check out the comments just hid the post, and I figured nothing of value was lost and moved on (to this post which was right underneath it).

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#54

Post by minimaxir »

dang wrote: post #47

From https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html : Another kind of job ad is reserved for YC-funded startups. These appear on the front page, but are not stories: they have no vote arrows, points, or comments. They begin part-way down and fall steadily. Only one is on the front page at a time. The rest are listed at https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs. Also, from https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html : Please…

> because technically it wasn't a job ad

Were steps taken to disincentivise Gauntlet AI from posting a similar not-a-job-ad again? If there's one company that will gladly exploit that gray area, it's them.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#55

Post by nozzlegear »

pseudalopex wrote: post #42
deadbabe wrote: post #7

Needs to be a post mortem on how this was allowed to happen.

Gauntlet AI was a mask of BloomTech initially at least.[1] BloomTech was a mask of Lambda School. Y Combinator funded Lambda School. And Paul Graham admired Austen Allred's persistence to scam people.[2] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42761972 [2] https://xcancel.com/paulg/status/2019770359830949961

The sycophancy in the replies to Graham gives me second-hand embarrassment. I haven't used Twitter since the mid naughties, but I see that startup culture of ingratiating yourself to whomever is successful in the space is still alive and well.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#56

Post by mandeepj »

pqtyw wrote: post #48
mandeepj wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just a funnel straight into a potential scam They claim that they do not charge you anything. So, how can they scam you? Of course, besides your hours and the potential outcome (code). Just curious.

To be fair they also claim they will give you $200k...

Not cash!

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#57

Post by dredmorbius »

pqtyw wrote: post #48
mandeepj wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just a funnel straight into a potential scam They claim that they do not charge you anything. So, how can they scam you? Of course, besides your hours and the potential outcome (code). Just curious.

To be fair they also claim they will give you $200k...

Hijacking your comment to reply to a dead post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48506817>

The proper way to deal with such issues is to email the mods at hn@ycombinator.com.

This is in the HN guidelines: "Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something. Send it to hn@ycombinator.com."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

The post yours linked to appears to have been removed, so the immediate problem has been resolved.

(Not a mod, just an active participant.)

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#58

Post by mystraline »

minimaxir wrote: post #54
dang wrote: post #47

From https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html : Another kind of job ad is reserved for YC-funded startups. These appear on the front page, but are not stories: they have no vote arrows, points, or comments. They begin part-way down and fall steadily. Only one is on the front page at a time. The rest are listed at https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs. Also, from https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html : Please…

> because technically it wasn't a job ad Were steps taken to disincentivise Gauntlet AI from posting a similar not-a-job-ad again? If there's one company that will gladly exploit that gray area, it's them.

"Email us" versus a public Ask HN does not exude confidence in stopping a HN-backed scammer.

Thankfully, theres enough sites and accounts that scrape HN, that all new posts are immediately posted via @hackersnews@mastodon.cesium.pw

So damage control (ala deletion/hiding) can be found.

Now, YC should consider cleaning their ranks from companies that use their name for legitimacy in running scam operations.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#59

Post by sangupta »

jddj wrote: post #37
sangupta wrote: post #32

I can vouch that this is not a scam. My wife enrolled with them and went through the first weeks of their program, though she couldn't complete due to some exigency. They were trained on how to vibe-code, and then asked to build complex apps using AI with all the costs borne by Gauntlet. Her friends did fly to Austin and went through the complete program.

...and are all now on 200k, right?

A few of them have jobs at other places. No idea of their salary. But, they didn't had any binding clause - you could attend the course to your best and could leave without any penalty. They didn't ask my wife to refund any expense when she dropped midway - nor did my wife pay anything.

PS: My wife joined their cohort an year back. Folks today may have different experiences.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there some sort of a scam website being advertised on HN?

#60

Post by dang »

mystraline wrote: post #58
minimaxir wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because technically it wasn't a job ad Were steps taken to disincentivise Gauntlet AI from posting a similar not-a-job-ad again? If there's one company that will gladly exploit that gray area, it's them.

"Email us" versus a public Ask HN does not exude confidence in stopping a HN-backed scammer. Thankfully, theres enough sites and accounts that scrape HN, that all new posts are immediately posted via @hackersnews@mastodon.cesium.pw So damage control (ala deletion/hiding) can be found. Now, YC should consider cleaning their ranks from companies that use their name for legitimacy in running scam operations.

There are mirrors of HN all over the place, and nobody is trying to hide anything.

We don't do things that aren't defensible to the community [1], unless we make a mistake, and in that case we acknowledge, correct it, and try not to make it again. As we've been at this for 15+ years, it happens more rarely than it used to.

There are a couple of reasons why we run HN this way. First, the only value HN has is the community, meaning community goodwill is our only real asset. Second, if we don't, we never hear the end of it until we do, and operant conditioning is a hell of a drug. [2]

[1] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

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