Comment by maxklein | Hacker News Reader

Comment by maxklein | Hacker News Reader

This is chronically unfair. So now the people who have money and are already part of an elite get better service and get their complaints resolved faster? And normal people don't? What is being built here - some type of tech aristocracy where the YC alumni get to be at the top of the pecking order? Those people did not get in there by sheer ability, they got in there by already belonging to some good schools and nicely middle class parents.

Technology should be fair to all.

Back before I even knew that facebook had guidelines I had a facebook app disabled (and associated facebook account). It was not spamming or anything, just inviting people in strongly worded language to download the app. I have sent about 10 emails so far to their accounts, and I have NEVER received a reply back. I've tried pleading, I've tried angry, nothing works.

I just gave up and made another account, that first account is still disabled. I don't care about it anymore - but the lasting impression of this whole situation is this: facebook does not care about developers.

Microsoft have always had frontline people interacting with the developers. Every problem I had during my microsoft days was quickly resolved by some guy working on the product. It never took long and it was never complicated.

Apple is different - because there senior executive take care of major problems. I've sent an email to steve and had the manager of iTunesConnect call me. Schiller has emailed me to solve problems. You can call and talk to a reviewer. Apple cares about their developers and they care about quality, and they will try their best to handle both.

But facebook - so far I've not found a way to break this wall of silence that they have. I guess when we get big and famous, they will start to care - but you know what? Microsoft cares about me even though I am not rich or famous or anything. Same with Apple - even if they have a harder task, as they care a lot about quality.

And no, I don't want the problem resolved anymore, I've moved on and am content being an unimportant small player on the facebook platform. If there is an issue I'll work it out myself or give up - I know there is no way to talk to them.

All of us here on HN are helping promote YC companies to the disadvantage of other startups. HN is an amplifier of pg's already formidable megaphone in the industry. YC has used HN's buzz machine to fantastic effect and is starting to have a real disruptive effect on silicon valley. Whether by design or not pg's empire is working synergistically. And you good sir, as well as all of us here, are part of it.

> Back before I even knew that facebook had guidelines I had a facebook app disabled (and associated facebook account). It was not spamming or anything, just inviting people in strongly worded language to download the app.

The exact same thing happened to me in Jun '06 when facebook platform launched. The application was /ireadit I used to respond to each and every post on our wall, sometimes a long message encouraging users to invite other book readers, few emails to moderators of book clubs. Most of these messages were ofcourse similar. I had sent anywhere up to 20 such emails and my account got blocked day 3. The application was registered through my account (then only the owner can add other developers), it was growing at exponential rate, and we were so scared the app would stop working.

They unblocked the account in next one day. I guess that was only because our founder knew someone higher up in facebook.

I don't know what you think about YC alumni, but you don't get in by having money or having gone to a good school (though the last never hurt). Our founders were not upper middle class and between the 3 of us had 2 degrees from Akron U. I didn't get the impression that pedigree was a big part of their selection process.

But you are US-based, aren't you? That's one kind of pedigree.

Some YC teams are from overseas. Web startups have a highly US-based bias.

OK, I'll concede that the 'prior' is also US-heavy.

Rather than lamenting the unfairness of it all, a more productive response might be to hack the system. As I recall, you have a blog post or two about convincing people to give you what you want. (Simplest way: convince them they want to give you what you want.) This is closely related.

All hackers should know how to network, wear a suit (or not), ask for things, make people from outside your socioeconomic background feel like they grew up with you, etc. You will be astonished how much those matter.

> a more productive response might be to hack the system

Yes and no - for those of us not currently involved with Facebook, a more productive response might simply be to steer clear of a system where it's all about who you know - if it is indeed like that and this isn't just an unfortunate blip. "Choose your battles" and all that.

I'm not sure why you feel socio-economic background is relevant here. And I'm not sure what relevance a suit has here. I'm not trying to raise investment from Zuckerberg or get invited to a dinner with Paul Graham. I'm not trying to launch in career in silicon valley, or get the attention of a venture capitalist.

I'm trying to recover my facebook password! That's all!

I should not need to make people from facebook "feel like I grew up with them", just so they can re-enable my account.

Tales like this are exactly the reasons I haven't even CONSIDERED developing for FB. I'd always heard their support was atrocious.

This is very enlightening as to WHY people I know were completely ignored -- they weren't YC Alumni. I'll be sure to forward this to them, so they realize why they were denied support. I'm sure they'll be interested.

If you think facebook is bad try getting a response from a 'live human being' out of google.

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