WOW. so the guys doing all the heavy lifting (3taps) took all the heat in the end. So looks like 3taps is out of business but padmapper is still up and running....getting data from crowdsourcing? It's really odd that if you made this efficient by automating it then it's hacking.
This really is a shitty shitty business model. All that work 3taps did for you guys and they take all the heat? I don't know why 3taps didn't just comply, was PadMapper 100% of their business?
Please don't edit your posts to substantially modify their meaning after someone has replied to you. You make ericd's response look weird now. Reply to the post again if you want to make a different point.
I couldn't reply because I was submitting too fast so instead of replying I added to my original point which was that 3taps took the heat for Padmapper. The fact padmapper didn't get slapped with CFAA, meant 3taps took the major heat and like you are going on about CFAA as being the biggest blunt force, I don't see why it makes his response look weird. He even wrote that padmapper was not the subject of a CFAA, 3taps was. It makes sense that he can't talk in detail about the case for legal reasons.
I hate that HN does that to anyone. It should be reversed only for spam bots and obvious bad faith participants, not someone with an unpopular opinion trying to have a conversation. I've encountered it before too. Sorry that it happened to you. You may want to lodge a complaint with dang so that he understands it's not a good mechanism.
I definitely think that on the outset, it looks weird that 3Taps ended up taking PadMapper's heat, but I think that 3Taps wanted to become a generalized thing-as-a-service vendor. It's possible that PadMapper wasn't 3Taps's only customer for the CL feeds. As PadMapper wasn't contacting CL's computers without authorization, it makes sense that CL had to change the target to 3Taps. At that point, PadMapper would've seen that scraping CL meant a near-impossible legal challenge for a startup and been wise enough not to implement their own solution.
This is all just speculation, but I doubt that 3Taps stuck its neck out for the sole benefit of PadMapper.
I think there is a delay before the "reply" button appears, for posts past a certain nesting level.
I like this feature because it impedes the rapid nesting of conversations, and also allows the author time to edit his reply before anyone can address it.
This really is a shitty shitty business model. All that work 3taps did for you guys and they take all the heat? I don't know why 3taps didn't just comply, was PadMapper 100% of their business?