7 ms·

> After about two weeks, I received no response to either email. I decided to start operating the site, thinking they wanted to see something working before spe

> After about two weeks, I received no response to either email. I decided to start operating the site, thinking they wanted to see something working before spending time on a response. I don't follow the logic here... no response != assume whatever the hell you feel like.

rumpelstiltskin 15y ago
What "the hell" should he have done? There's only 2 possibilities here - 1. They didn't see the emails or 2. They saw them, but chose to ignore them. Either way, his choice boils down to killing his idea or launching it and seeing what happens. It would be utterly moronic of him to kill his idea simply because they didn't respond. Might as well leave that decision to them by launching it and seeing how they respond. If they don't shut him down, then his service isn't breaking their rules. If they do, he's no worse off than not launching in the first place. He did the right thing. EDIT: HN is not letting me respond to wmf below, so I'm responding here - Where does he say he knew paypal would freeze the account sooner or later? In fact, the whole point of his emails to them was to specifically ask if his service was compliant with their TOS. Let's stick to facts and not get into subjective arguments. Your idea of 'ordinary' can be completely different from his or anyone else's idea of 'ordinary'. This is why TOSs, FAQs etc exist in the first place. But since he couldn't find an exact answer anywhere, he emailed them.
- wmf 15y ago
  Never used PayPal to begin with, knowing that they'd freeze the account sooner or later.
- Locke1689 15y ago
  Hacker News has a timeout for responding to nested comment threads. The idea is to prevent long and drawn-out reply bickering between two people. If you can't reply to one of your comment's children, calm down, take a breath, and wait 5-20 minutes.
  - rumpelstiltskin 15y ago
    Thanks for the explanation, had no idea. You really shouldn't get so angry tho.
- wmf 15y ago
  Everyone knows or should know that PayPal freezes all accounts that are doing anything out of the ordinary.
- originalgeek 15y ago
  > What "the hell" should he have done? There are numerous forms of communication available. Send the email again 3 times asking for escalation to a supervisor. Call them. Send them a letter. Send them a certified letter with return receipt. This is how grown ups conduct business.
personalcompute 15y ago
I can certainly understand not wanting to abandon a project simply because somebody was lax on responding, but with something like this (large amounts of customer money involved (60,858 BTC), legal issues), he really put a lot at risk here.
- sgornick 15y ago
  The customer's money was not at risk as delivery of the purchased bitcoins is nearly instantaneous (e.g., 5 minutes or less on average).
edu 15y ago
Yes, basically that's the unwritten rule. For example in Spanish we've a saying "quien calla, otorga" that translates directly to "silence implies/gives consent".

rumpelstiltskin 15y ago

What "the hell" should he have done? There's only 2 possibilities here - 1. They didn't see the emails or 2. They saw them, but chose to ignore them. Either way, his choice boils down to killing his idea or launching it and seeing what happens. It would be utterly moronic of him to kill his idea simply because they didn't respond. Might as well leave that decision to them by launching it and seeing how they respond. If they don't shut him down, then his service isn't breaking their rules. If they do, he's no worse off than not launching in the first place. He did the right thing. EDIT: HN is not letting me respond to wmf below, so I'm responding here - Where does he say he knew paypal would freeze the account sooner or later? In fact, the whole point of his emails to them was to specifically ask if his service was compliant with their TOS. Let's stick to facts and not get into subjective arguments. Your idea of 'ordinary' can be completely different from his or anyone else's idea of 'ordinary'. This is why TOSs, FAQs etc exist in the first place. But since he couldn't find an exact answer anywhere, he emailed them.

wmf 15y ago
Never used PayPal to begin with, knowing that they'd freeze the account sooner or later.
Locke1689 15y ago
Hacker News has a timeout for responding to nested comment threads. The idea is to prevent long and drawn-out reply bickering between two people. If you can't reply to one of your comment's children, calm down, take a breath, and wait 5-20 minutes.
- rumpelstiltskin 15y ago
  Thanks for the explanation, had no idea. You really shouldn't get so angry tho.
wmf 15y ago
Everyone knows or should know that PayPal freezes all accounts that are doing anything out of the ordinary.
originalgeek 15y ago
> What "the hell" should he have done? There are numerous forms of communication available. Send the email again 3 times asking for escalation to a supervisor. Call them. Send them a letter. Send them a certified letter with return receipt. This is how grown ups conduct business.

personalcompute 15y ago

I can certainly understand not wanting to abandon a project simply because somebody was lax on responding, but with something like this (large amounts of customer money involved (60,858 BTC), legal issues), he really put a lot at risk here.

sgornick 15y ago
The customer's money was not at risk as delivery of the purchased bitcoins is nearly instantaneous (e.g., 5 minutes or less on average).

edu 15y ago

Yes, basically that's the unwritten rule. For example in Spanish we've a saying "quien calla, otorga" that translates directly to "silence implies/gives consent".