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I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

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Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#21

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

mskvsk wrote: post #12
jwildeboer wrote: post #11

TL;DR "I scrape content from others and sell them without any credit to or rewards for the original creators" AFAICS.

Kindly read the article.

Okay, I went and read it, and GP appears to be right. The basis for the whole thing is "a little tool to help me scrape the posts of my competitors and publish them to my group on a regular basis" upgraded and offered to others in a SAAS model. Don't get me wrong, the engineering is decent, the marketing is brilliant (if questionable - if you mention that you're exploiting a loophole to message clients, maybe you are actually spamming), and the whole thing is well executed. None of that gets around the fact that this is all built around a tool that literally exists to automate plagiarism.

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#22

Post by gbuk2013 »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #20
mskvsk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kindly read the article.

edit: similar thread exists

> Copyright is also a legitimate concern

Spoken like someone with no understanding of the local market. ;)

Just as an example, until not that long ago VK was used to post music and films without any restrictions. I think this has now been stopped (not a VK user but there was a court case a few years ago about it and the government has since tightened copyright enforcement) but should give you an idea about how little concern people attach to copyright.

You should also keep in mind that copyright didn't exist in the Soviet Union as such, so the idea is quite alien to people and they are still getting used to it.

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#23

Post by mskvsk »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #21
mskvsk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kindly read the article.

Okay, I went and read it, and GP appears to be right. The basis for the whole thing is "a little tool to help me scrape the posts of my competitors and publish them to my group on a regular basis" upgraded and offered to others in a SAAS model. Don't get me wrong, the engineering is decent, the marketing is brilliant (if questionable - if you mention that you're exploiting a loophole to message clients, maybe you are…

You are absolutely right, the entire ecosystem facilitates plagiarism. And I don't mean Postio only, Vk.com and all other Russian social platforms do very little to protect copyrighted content. In fact, they do nothing.

However, even in this ecosystem, I tried to do my best to deal with that issue by paying at least some attention to crediting the authors back by means of watermarks and negotiating the conditions upon which their content is taken.

This is the reason I asked to reread the article. Remember, it's the Russian market, and some things that will apply in the global market, simply don't apply there. Whether it's good or bad is besides the point of this article.

Thanks for the raising the question, it's absolutely legit.

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#24

Post by mskvsk »

gbuk2013 wrote: post #22
aaron-lebo wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edit: similar thread exists

> Copyright is also a legitimate concern Spoken like someone with no understanding of the local market. ;) Just as an example, until not that long ago VK was used to post music and films without any restrictions. I think this has now been stopped (not a VK user but there was a court case a few years ago about it and the government has since tightened copyright enforcement) but should give you an idea about how little…

Exactly. Thanks for the clarification. I should have addressed this issue in the article, though.

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#25

Post by mskvsk »

jwildeboer wrote: post #18
mskvsk wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kindly read the article.

I did: "[I] decided to make a little tool to help me scrape the posts of my competitors and publish them to my group on a regular basis." And "I had created a spicy mix of public domain content, some supposedly copyrighted content from unknown authors, [...]" I found this particularly striking: "Usually it was the content of some authors that were difficult to track and attribute to. Sometimes it was blatant plagiari…

Yes, you're right. But my point was that it's not difficult to address this issue. It's impossible in the Russian market.

That's why I asked you to reread the article (sorry, I should be more precise on the reason).

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#27

Post by mskvsk »

jsumrall wrote: post #26

Plagiarizing and stealing content is immoral and unethical. "This is just how we do things in Russia" is not an excuse. We shouldn't be promoting this behavior. Anyone with half a brain can make money stealing stuff and serving it via an API.

This is very strong words and you're right. I welcome you to come over and fix this country. And the rest of the developing world, while you at it.

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#29

Post by rayalez »

mskvsk wrote: post #27
jsumrall wrote: post #26

Plagiarizing and stealing content is immoral and unethical. "This is just how we do things in Russia" is not an excuse. We shouldn't be promoting this behavior. Anyone with half a brain can make money stealing stuff and serving it via an API.

This is very strong words and you're right. I welcome you to come over and fix this country. And the rest of the developing world, while you at it.

The issue here is not with your country but with your personal behavior. People in this thread are criticising you for actively contributing to the problem (building a tool for stealing stuff), and you're brushing it off, blaming it on your "market".

Instead of warping your mind with a set of rationalizations that excuse your behavior, maybe try to accept the responsibility.

Re: I used LAMP to make a SaaS app with $3700/month profit

#30

Post by humanrebar »

jeffehobbs wrote: post #28

"Anyway, I always hated manual labor and decided to make a little tool to help me scrape the posts of my competitors and publish them to my group on a regular basis.” Other things you must hate: morality and ethics.

> I’d also removed the posts that were obviously copyrighted.

I'm not a lawyer, but in American copyright law, anything published is assumed copyrighted by someone, though it may not be clear exactly who.

I'm especially not an international copyright lawyer, so I can't say how typical that is. Point being, you'll get in legal trouble for doing this. You might win a lawsuit if what you are scraping is not copyrightable (raw facts).

Anyway, OP might not be in the US, so maybe all this doesn't apply, but it's generally good manners to ask someone before you copy their work, yes.

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