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Comment by markdown | Hacker News Reader

> Bit of a shameless plug

It's a pity that this has become a 'get out of jail free' card for jerks.

Don't be a dick, Heroku guy. Stay classy and promote on your own product announcement thread.

I reckon that "Hey, we just launched a similar product that might deal with some of your problems, have a look!" is a totally legitimate and constructive bit of information to provide.

> is a totally legitimate and constructive bit of information to provide.

Constructive to whom? The marketer most certainly, and the prospective customer.

But that doesn't make it any less of a classless move. Send the guy a PM/email if you feel you just have to do that to keep your marketer badge.

In this instance I think it's perfectly acceptable...

1> this is the only Go hosting service I could find that has a free tier

2> we just announced official support yesterday on Heroku

The second comment adds value because it corrects the first commenter's understanding about the state of things. What's wrong with that?

Raising awareness of relevant products/services in a space with very few products/services is a good thing, I reckon. I don't think it matters that he's from Heroku or what his role there is, as long as the comment is relevant. Heroku is one of the closest competitors to App Engine. This is relevant, as both relate to Go support. It's also not as though he went through every comment thread here mentioning it; it was just one comment.

I think you'd be right if he did it in some kind of obnoxious way, but he didn't.

I think that it is a jerk thing to do if your service is exactly the same as the one in the thread, however in this case the first poster has identified some annoying problems with Google's system, so pointing out your own system which (I assume), doesn't have these problems is constructive advice (In my opinion).

Constructive for whom?

I never said it wasn't useful information to have. Just that it was a classless thing to do. Let your customers speak for you, or blow your own horn in your own announcement thread.

God I hate marketers. Crapping on social norms and basic manners for a quick buck every day of the week.

The guy is not a marketer, hes a product guy at Heroku. He has over 15k karma and a member of HN for ~6 years. This is far from "some spammer decided to hijack a thread about a competitors product".

I really don't get what you're talking about here. It's constructive for anyone that is looking for a free tier of Go hosting, which we know is at least one person.

Yes, I hate over the top marketing as much as anyone, but this isn't that.

I guess it's just me then. The way I see it, this is like the guy who proposes in front of everyone at a wedding. It's not your day, don't come and try and steal the limelight.

Heroku guy should have just pulled the other marketer trick... get a stooge to post a thread asking "Can someone compare GAE and Heroku". This way he could promote his product without looking like a jerk.

In someone else's product announcement thread, STFU about your product. If it's good enough, your customers will mention it. Basic manners really.

As you can see, I've gone way overboard on this. This will be my last post. I'm just pissed because EVERY hn announcement thread is like this. Someone does something and announces it, and you'll see "oh I did it first... and mine is better and cheaper, ignore his".

You ask "I really don't get what you're talking about here."

Well heroku guy knows what I'm talking about... that's why he prefaced his self-promotion with "shameless plug" like all the others that do.

Except saying "shameless plug" doesn't make it any less shameful.

Most people coming to view this are interested in Go hosting support. The fact that Heroku just added this support (with a free tier) is pretty awesome and I don't think I would have found out about it without the "shameless plug." I bet you would have gotten upset at any of the "customers" if they would have posted about Heroku in this thread. I think it's very different than your wedding example.

> Heroku guy should have just pulled the other marketer trick... get a stooge

Instead, the Heroku guy pulled another marketer trick... got a stooge to manufacture outrage, just to keep the conversation going.

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