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Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

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Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#911
Replit isn’t just about the tech. It’s about scale and marketing. They have to protect both of these if they want to be the place to go for online coding.

Sure, you can plug Monaco into some backend in a weekend. Good for you.

Can you support 100,000x active-last-minute on the same platform?

Can you build a brand that means you even have to be able to handle 100k ALM?

There are better ways Amjad could’ve handled this, but if you’re repulsed by the motive then HN is an odd place to air that revulsion.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#912
post #831

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was no ethical lines crossed. If you have proof that he copied code from your repo then that is illegal. But if he copied the idea, there's nothing ethically wrong with that. The one who crossed an ethical line is you. You can't protect ideas, only actual code. What is ethically wrong is bullying a former intern with legal threats. You need to learn this, I guess the hard way.

Not just legal threats, the whole line about being “the most demanding intern we’ve ever had” was an ad hominem attack that was completely out of line. It was cruel, mean, unnecessary, and unprofessional.

Well even if they was "demanding" behaviour (whatever that even means), there would be no real way for the outside to check if it was true, without relying on the statements of persons involved.

This is why such a statement should have been avoided altogether, especially if the other side seemes to be cooperating.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#913
post #879

Hopefully a Russian is reading this right now, and cloning Replit bit by bit. (Don't like bullies, especially new money guys.) Never thought I would have to say that as an American, but it seems like wealthy plaintiffs win too often, and it's not worth the risk? Hell--this jerk sounds like he might threaten you next with a Libel lawsuit. Think about deleting this post? If they do sue, and win you have a judgment agai…

>Hopefully a Russian is reading this right now, and cloning Replit bit by bit. I'm taking notes

You made my day

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#914

> Naturally, I took down my project right away... So a CEO bullied you. He threatened to have lawyers look at something, accused you of behaving poorly, and accused you of being difficult. He is being manipulative. He is trying to guilt / scare you into stopping. And it worked. For all readers... do not be afraid of lawyers. Especially if nobody has even talked to them yet. Lawyers do not like to lose cases, so will…

Counterpoint: be afraid of lawyers. They may not be able to win s judgment against you, but they can easily bankrupt you. Remember the case where a man criticized Proctorio and was hit with a SLAPP lawsuit aimed to silence him. He ended up spending 100k on legal costs and the case is only beginning. He would have been bankrupt despite being 100% legally in the right. Fortunately for him, EFF decided to support him af…

Note: Ian Linkletter, the one who had spent 100k in april, is not the guy being backed by EFF.

Linkletter has a gofundme here: https://ca.gofundme.com/f/stand-against-proctorio

I've donated, and would recommend others do the same.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#915

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was no ethical lines crossed. If you have proof that he copied code from your repo then that is illegal. But if he copied the idea, there's nothing ethically wrong with that. The one who crossed an ethical line is you. You can't protect ideas, only actual code. What is ethically wrong is bullying a former intern with legal threats. You need to learn this, I guess the hard way.

Many people would say it's ethically wrong to copy an idea. In fact, it is common to see people up in arms on HN about it, when the power dynamic is reversed.

Is Google copying your idea ethically really the same as you copying Googles idea?

If they copy your idea they can literally destroy your existence given their resources, size, visibility, infrastructure, etc. If you copy their idea you first have to make many things better than them before even scratching on their turf.

And before anyone says power dynamics are not relevant in ethics: In my philosophy studies I also studied ethics and yes — power dynamics are very relevant for ethics.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#916
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, this was a marketing opportunity. They could've asked nicely if he'd be willing to link to repl.it for anyone who wants something more solid and scalable. It sounds from the early e-mails as if OP started out very positively predisposed towards them. Instead they've now broadcast to their potential customer base that they're litigious and petty.

> litigious and petty The unfortunate truth is that this doesn't matter. Oracle, as one recent example, is still wildly successful - even in the open source space.

Are they, though? I’ve never come across Oracle Linux used for any other purpose than running Oracle software on it. MySQL and Java were very popular before Oracle bought them, and people’s distaste for Oracle has pushed many users towards alternatives like PostgreSQL or MariaDB. Google famously wrote their own Java implementation to avoid having to deal with Oracle.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#918
on a seriously technical point of view. It is obvious the person kept the code repository and when making a new project the commit history (or part of it) moved together. So excluding how the CEO acted, it is obvious the intern has the codebase (or part of it) and I am pretty sure that under their contract they are not allowed to do what they did.

As for the way they approach things, ye the CEO is from YC getting praised from PG on twitter, his Ego is beyond the moon and acts like it, dont expect anything more. Also Replit is INSANELY overvalued as a product.

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#919

All these battles over IP where there's an enormous power imbalance strike me as problems of ego. In college, I made a website and I thought another student "stole" the idea. I considered my legal options, but I'm glad I stopped there, even if I did have a case. The other student was never a serious threat to my idea and in fact lost interest in the idea next year. So the only harm I suffered was to my ego that thoug…

[deleted]

Re: Replit used legal threats to kill my open-source project

#920
post #757

Hey everyone, I want to apologize for the inappropriate use of power here. While I do believe there is an ethical line that was crossed here, I should have called him to understand his point of view and work it out. Which is what I'll try to do now, and see if we can get his project back up again. I'm sorry Radon. The lesson for me here is to internalize how I'm no longer the struggling kid from Jordan fighting for m…

Now that you got some money, you're showing your real self, and it's not pretty.

What did this kid steal from you, by the way?

I remember when repl.it was a black shell that evaluated Java expressions. It was quicker to Google your page and type some Java one liners, than to create a main.java file and use javac. Once you added that ugly online code editor, it was all downhill. Now it's some kind of online coding platform. Gone are the days of that quick and useful repl.

That said, I think behind the 20MM and the shiny designer buttons, the core tech boils down to that same little black shell, which must be why you felt so threatened by a junior dev with too much time on their hands.

And if we are being honest here, 20MM from investors is not that much. I routinely see investments of 500M or more in various startups, so sit down and focus on your core product, before another intern decides to run compilers in a docker instance.

You let investors get into the head of that kid from Jordan long enough to become the litigious villain.

For shame.

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