The .feedback scam
everythingsysadmin.com
The .feedback scam
1–10 of 171 posts
Re: The .feedback scam
#2Wow, the author is not exaggerating when saying it is a scam.
Looking at the .feedback page for Stack Overflow, it says at the top, in fairly large letters "We make Stack Overflow, where the world's developers get answers, share knowledge & find jobs they love. Also proud builders of the @stackexchange Q&A network."
Then at the absolute bottom, in small, washed out print it says "Disclaimer: This site is provided to facilitate free speech regarding Stack Overflow. No direct endorsement or association should be conferred."
So, users are not supposed to confer that a page claiming to be by the makers of stack overflow, are associated with SO? Beyond any reasonable doubt, the people behind that site are trying to scam visitors.
If the creators of the .feedback pages are also the TLD owners, it seems obvious to me that they should face legal charges and be stripped of the TLD.
Re: The .feedback scam
#3I wonder how they can get away with this, and not be sued into oblivion.
On an amusing note, the pages barely load for me. Could this be the first time the HN hug of death took down a whole TLD?
Re: The .feedback scam
#4Wow, the author is not exaggerating when saying it is a scam. Looking at the .feedback page for Stack Overflow, it says at the top, in fairly large letters "We make Stack Overflow, where the world's developers get answers, share knowledge & find jobs they love. Also proud builders of the @stackexchange Q&A network." Then at the absolute bottom, in small, washed out print it says "Disclaimer: This site is provided to…
Consumers will eventually learn, as they always do. Try to educate anyone you meet that brings up .feedback. If anyone on social media talks about it, link them this article.
Re: The .feedback scam
#5Wow, the author is not exaggerating when saying it is a scam. Looking at the .feedback page for Stack Overflow, it says at the top, in fairly large letters "We make Stack Overflow, where the world's developers get answers, share knowledge & find jobs they love. Also proud builders of the @stackexchange Q&A network." Then at the absolute bottom, in small, washed out print it says "Disclaimer: This site is provided to…
> So, users are not supposed to confer that a page claiming to be by the makers of stack overflow, are associated with SO?
Yes, pretty clearly trademark infringement IMO. Confusingly similar, their websites purport to be run by the very organizations they're trying to extort. The disclaimer is IMO not sufficiently clear.
SO is humorously classified as a "local business". NYC HN-ers, could you drop by the SO offices and ask a Python question for me? I keep getting these `ImportError`s...
Re: The .feedback scam
#6Wow, the author is not exaggerating when saying it is a scam. Looking at the .feedback page for Stack Overflow, it says at the top, in fairly large letters "We make Stack Overflow, where the world's developers get answers, share knowledge & find jobs they love. Also proud builders of the @stackexchange Q&A network." Then at the absolute bottom, in small, washed out print it says "Disclaimer: This site is provided to…
well, technically anyone with a stackoverflow account can claim that.
Re: The .feedback scam
#7Ick. In a way, it is a sort of corporate version of those mugshot sites.
I understand a lot of other scams. (Not condone, but I see the attraction of running it.) This one just seems like a lot of work to put into something that I really don't see the targeted companies choosing to go along with. Seems like borrowing a ton of grief - at the very least, they'll be hearing from a bunch of crabby lawyers.
Re: The .feedback scam
#8Wow, the author is not exaggerating when saying it is a scam. Looking at the .feedback page for Stack Overflow, it says at the top, in fairly large letters "We make Stack Overflow, where the world's developers get answers, share knowledge & find jobs they love. Also proud builders of the @stackexchange Q&A network." Then at the absolute bottom, in small, washed out print it says "Disclaimer: This site is provided to…
Consumers will eventually learn, as they always do. Try to educate anyone you meet that brings up .feedback. If anyone on social media talks about it, link them this article.
You must be joking or have no experience beyond 1 or 2 people. The vast majority of the online population does not learn nor care about these details. The massive amount of scams that continue to exist and grow is evidence enough.
If people did something as simple as confirming the domain listed in the address bar is the site they should be on, we would see a major decrease in malware, but alas the situation continues.
Re: The .feedback scam
#9Wow, the author is not exaggerating when saying it is a scam. Looking at the .feedback page for Stack Overflow, it says at the top, in fairly large letters "We make Stack Overflow, where the world's developers get answers, share knowledge & find jobs they love. Also proud builders of the @stackexchange Q&A network." Then at the absolute bottom, in small, washed out print it says "Disclaimer: This site is provided to…
> So, users are not supposed to confer that a page claiming to be by the makers of stack overflow, are associated with SO? Yes, pretty clearly trademark infringement IMO. Confusingly similar, their websites purport to be run by the very organizations they're trying to extort. The disclaimer is IMO not sufficiently clear. SO is humorously classified as a "local business". NYC HN-ers, could you drop by the SO offices a…
I haven't done too much looking, but that seems fairly common so far. Microsoft is also a "local business", and Google is an ISP. I mean, Google Fiber is really cool, but that's not how most people use it
Re: The .feedback scam
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consumers will eventually learn, as they always do. Try to educate anyone you meet that brings up .feedback. If anyone on social media talks about it, link them this article.
You must be joking or have no experience beyond 1 or 2 people. The vast majority of the online population does not learn nor care about these details. The massive amount of scams that continue to exist and grow is evidence enough. If people did something as simple as confirming the domain listed in the address bar is the site they should be on, we would see a major decrease in malware, but alas the situation continue…
The flipside of this is that if nobody visits .feedback domains, they won't be able to scam anyone. Users don't need to learn anything to avoid them, because they probably won't ever hear about them in the first place.
If they have no audience, they can be safely ignored. No reason to pay $600/yr for hypotheticals.
All I meant was, the moment someone brings up a .feedback domain or "Google's new feedback service," just let them know it's a scam and move on.