Wow. Why the hell would anyone use Venmo?
People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
61–70 of 209 posts
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#62It takes a few clicks to make everything private. Either way, I deleted my account last week because Venmo is killing their website and forcing Android/iOS only. I'm not even sure why Venmo caught on, it is the worst option out of all the possible payment systems (fb, Google pay, sq cash...) since they don't deposit cash received into your bank account and rather hold it interest free.
This!! Why why why do people even like Venmo? It is such a bad product and the basic premise of social payments is just totally nuts.
I’ll tell you one reason why, and maybe your curiosity will lead you down further rabbit holes.
I use Venmo exclusively for sending money to girls from Tinder. If you look at my stream, you’ll see transactions sending money to tons of babes, often with suggestive comments. Other girls sometimes see this, and decide they too want in on the action.
Pretty great what giving out some dollars on the internet can do for your rep. For a developer making six figures in Silicon Valley, it should be no big deal at all.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#63It takes a few clicks to make everything private. Either way, I deleted my account last week because Venmo is killing their website and forcing Android/iOS only. I'm not even sure why Venmo caught on, it is the worst option out of all the possible payment systems (fb, Google pay, sq cash...) since they don't deposit cash received into your bank account and rather hold it interest free.
I was one of the early adopters of Venmo. Here's my take on it:
* Venmo launched the first out of all the systems you mentioned
* Venmo was one of the few (maybe only) system that allows you to pay users who are not on their system. Say you need to pay Joe and you were a Venmo user but Joe wasn't. You could still "pay" them on venmo and they would get a text back saying if they signed up they would get the payment. No one else did this well when they launched
* Venmo integrated with facebook so many of the people I needed to pay were already in the system
* Venmo was the first free system to use
* Venmo was the first mobile friendly system to use. It was the first major system where I could split the bill real time at a restaurant
* Venmo paid early adopters to join (I think I received $2 to make my first payment)
It seems like a clear case of first mover advantage. I'm sure the systems you mentioned are now better, but at the time Venmo had the best UX and now that everyone I need to pay is on it, why would I switch? The few cents of interest loss I lose every year isn't worth finding out if everyone I need to pay is on one of the alternative systems.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#64It boggles my mind that anyone would want to stream their payment history publicly.
Why not? It seems to be a pretty popular feature -- lots of people post things to be funny and/or brag about their lives. Most of social media exists for people to broadcast their experiences.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#65It boggles my mind that anyone would want to stream their payment history publicly.
Hmm, I think most people use it to pay friends back for brunch or drinks. It's not like you're streaming all your credit card purchases. It's kinda like checking in on Foursquare with friends... it's a public way to expose your social graph a bit. It may not be for you, but people love social media. To put it a different way: it's so successful because, despite there being lots of ways to pay back friends, none of th…
Ugh.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is so ridiculous that the comment for a payment would be used against someone. Writing jokes in the 'for' line on a check is a time honored tradition when paying your friends money. I don't want to live in a world where I am not allowed to make jokes because it might get me a visit from the FBI.
Making jokes in private is fine. But publicly declaring an intent to violate the law is a joke that is going to get attention from law-enforcement unless they can be convinced it's a joke.
The very point in question is about whether this information is public.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#67> Some users seem to forget that their transactions are public by default, and their payment activity provides an unfiltered paper trail of what’s really happening in their lives.
This is it in a nutshell - nobody pays attention to privacy settings, and they don't think about the consequences of the fact that they can see other people payments scroll by on their screens.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to write vulgar stuff in the memo line like “hookers” or “blow”. Stupid college shit. One day my bank called me and said if I did it again they’d cancel my account. I asked the rep her name and promised to stop... I wrote “fuck you sarah” for two years until I changed banks.
What an odd thing for a bank to do, police how someone uses a memo line in a check. At least you got your revenge on them.
It's my understanding that Venmo will flag transactions with certain words in the memo.
"I Tried to Venmo $12.66 for 'ISIS' and the Government Was Pissed
It turns out the Treasury Department doesn't appreciate my sense of humor."
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5gqyzd/i-tried-to-venmo-1...
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#69> Some users seem to forget that their transactions are public by default, and their payment activity provides an unfiltered paper trail of what’s really happening in their lives. This is it in a nutshell - nobody pays attention to privacy settings, and they don't think about the consequences of the fact that they can see other people payments scroll by on their screens.
I agree. I think there may be social pressure (implied, inherent, made-up) or laziness or unawareness that perpetuates this. You can make private the default setting. The idea of broadcasting your finances only makes sense for social messaging/indicating.
Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is so ridiculous that the comment for a payment would be used against someone. Writing jokes in the 'for' line on a check is a time honored tradition when paying your friends money. I don't want to live in a world where I am not allowed to make jokes because it might get me a visit from the FBI.
I used to write vulgar stuff in the memo line like “hookers” or “blow”. Stupid college shit. One day my bank called me and said if I did it again they’d cancel my account. I asked the rep her name and promised to stop... I wrote “fuck you sarah” for two years until I changed banks.
You should have used her manager's name instead.