36 comments

  • Colm TuiteColm Tuite, over 9 years ago

    Yup. I got an email from Clark (CEO) asking for tips on how to get more upvotes on DN.

    This thread has 14 upvotes and counting.....I guess he's finally figured it out.

    22 points
  • Allan GrinshteinAllan Grinshtein, over 9 years ago (edited over 9 years ago )

    Yes — I've received a number of emails about this... Not very happy about it.

    18 points
  • Darth BaneDarth Bane, over 9 years ago

    I don't see anyone asking for upvotes, I see someone genuinely interested in knowing how to use DN for marketing purposes. Whether you think that's right or not, businesses need to use as many channels as possible.

    Don't see a problem with that email.

    17 points
    • Annie RuygtAnnie Ruygt, over 9 years ago

      I agree. I find the email to be rather personal, and didn't mention upvoting at all. The real question is there. Is Invision posting interesting things on DN? I say, be kind and let them know!

      3 points
    • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

      My initial impression was that it was a sneaky way to ask for upvotes. It does not outrightly state that though. I probably posted too quickly and my title could be more fair, but I do think it is on the edge of spammy and genuinely asking for feedback. Things like including a link to a designer news post that was submitted that day and alluding to wanting to get more upvotes in general are slightly weird.

      2 points
      • Chris SlowikChris Slowik, over 9 years ago

        If he doesn't include a link to the content he's asking for advice on improving, how will you find it?

        0 points
        • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

          I think including a link to the designer news post is slightly more spammy then including a direct link to the content, that was my main gripe. Of course he would have to include a link to the content, but a link to the designer news submission is not required for feedback on the article.

          0 points
  • Robin RaszkaRobin Raszka, over 9 years ago

    Very hard sell.

    This is not the first time Clark (CEO) is doing something scammy. Just take a look at their "giveaways" on Dribbble.

    Our design community is very small and sensitive and these scammy business practices is the worst they can possibly do to their product.

    17 points
    • Arma GetronArma Getron, over 9 years ago

      How are either of these things scams?

      7 points
      • Catalin CimpanuCatalin Cimpanu, over 9 years ago (edited over 9 years ago )

        Scammy is not the proper word. Desperate is more adequate.

        But if the man values DN with such high esteem so to center entire promotional campaigns around it, then be my guest.

        5 points
  • Erick De La RosaErick De La Rosa, over 9 years ago

    You've given him exactly what he wanted. Publicity

    13 points
    • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

      True

      0 points
      • Michael CioMichael Cio, over 9 years ago

        ...however, it's negative publicity. I would be unaware of their scammy practices if it wasn't for this post.

        4 points
        • Arma GetronArma Getron, over 9 years ago

          Are people just misspelling scummy or something? I refuse to believe this many people think this is what a scam is.

          1 point
    • Jared KleinJared Klein, over 9 years ago (edited over 9 years ago )

      People like me will help to balance it out: I'll be signing up for a Flinto or Marvel account instead at some point. Flinto's better anyway and LayerVault is better for everything else (except prototyping).

      8 points
  • Justin EdmundJustin Edmund, over 9 years ago

    They asked me to be a part of one of their stories and I was too busy but seeing this kind of stuff makes me glad I didn't go forward with it.

    11 points
  • Jeff EscalanteJeff Escalante, over 9 years ago

    Yup, I also got this exact same email. Sent one back asking why he was asking me and where he got my contact info. Not trying to be a dick, but the lack of context was off-putting. If I knew the guy personally I wouldn't be surprised to get an email like this, but as a cold email there needs to be some explanation of how the person came across you and why they are seeking your opinion specifically. Of course, unless, it's essentially spam, which apparently it was haha.

    6 points
  • Peter MainPeter Main, over 9 years ago

    I tried to provide helpful feedback, i didn't see anything wrong with the outreach. I think more businesses should be in touch with their customers.

    5 points
    • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

      I agree that more people should be in touch with their customers and ask for feedback, but the email was really centered around how their articles are not getting any love on Designer News. Getting general feedback on articles is cool, but including a link to the designer news post, that was submitted that day, and not the actual article feels a little bit like asking for direct action on that designer news post, not so much the actual article.

      But then again, maybe asking for upvotes on DN is the same as asking for re-tweets on Twitter?

      If we were to stay idealistic about it, the best way would be to create good content, and hope that it gets discovered, submitted, then upvoted.

      1 point
      • Jimmy HookerJimmy Hooker, over 9 years ago

        I've re-read it a couple times, and I just can't see the sneakiness. It seems at least moderately genuine, especially when coming from a company. The link is just providing an example of the stuff that they're posting.

        It might be annoying to get this kind of email, but I don't think it's worth our collective outrage by any measure.

        2 points
      • Peter MainPeter Main, over 9 years ago

        DN is effectively brand new and doesn't have that critical mass yet, so i'd imagine it is pretty confusing for people trying to 'get love' and not. I suggested a few other places that i've had big spikes from. This type of content marketing takes time, like you said – i just hope they continue to stick with it, producing what is actually pretty good content, because there's just not enough of it for us designers.

        0 points
  • Alex CicanAlex Cican, over 9 years ago

    Yep, I got the same email. I also got another email to be featured on their blog. And after not getting back to them I got another email asking me some other questions.

    It’s not that this email is spammy (though mass-sent, as it seems) or trying to sell us something, but the context of it is very off. “Cold-calling” asking for advice (though I get many of these) from a CEO/co-founder I’ve never interacted with before is a bit weird.

    Anyway, I’m glad you posted this and I don’t consider it “public shaming”—more like “public interest/concern”.

    3 points
  • Allan GrinshteinAllan Grinshtein, over 9 years ago

    Ok, this concludes today's small town internet drama. There's plenty more happening in design today than email spam.

    I'm taking this thread off the front page.

    2 points
    • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

      Sorry about that Allan! This was my bad! I should not have posted this and had a call with Clark and apologized. I do think the email could have been worded a little bit better so that it seemed less this way, but his intentions did not seem to be about getting upvotes. His intentions were good and I blew this out of proportion.

      0 points
  • Wesley HainesWesley Haines, over 9 years ago

    um... is this not rather unethical of Invision?

    2 points
  • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

    I really like Invision too! Just weird to get emails like this when the account associated with the email address has not been logged into for ~2 months, and my active invision email address (Which does not have a designer news account attached to it) did not get an email.

    1 point
  • Maurice CherryMaurice Cherry, over 9 years ago

    Kinda surprised no one from InVision has commented on this.

    0 points
  • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

    I talked with Clark on the phone, and it seems his intentions were genuinely to get feedback. I did initially think that it was a clever way to get upvotes for an article, and probably posted too quickly and did not give the post a very fair title to the post.

    0 points
  • Ian GoodeIan Goode, over 9 years ago (edited over 9 years ago )

    I don't think anyone has mentioned that Invision's 'A look inside...' series is actually good and worth reading? Given the signal to noise ratio around here lately I'd have thought that actual decent content would find its way to the top, so I can see why Invision are confused. Maybe they should add 'dribbble' or 'apple' to the headlines.

    That said it's a strange email to receive out of the blue nonetheless.

    0 points
  • Harsh PatelHarsh Patel, over 9 years ago

    I didn't get the feeling he was "Trying to get upvotes on DN". Maybe that was his intention, but the wording in the e-mail made me think he was genuinely curious to hear feedback as to why the posts weren't getting love on DN.

    0 points
  • Greg Mathews, over 9 years ago

    I did not realize the screenshot had his email address in it. I have since removed it from the screenshot.

    0 points