Can you please point out what made the starting comments negative? I actually spent considerable time writing them and then trying to make sure they are constructive and actionable. Clearly I need to improve on that, so I'd be much obliged if you could help as an impartial observer. Thanks.
I'm getting down-voted like nobody's business, so I post this comment at the risk of losing more karma.
Specifically, you use words like "premature" and "alarmed." More generally, I knew that RescueTime was posting this here in a chummy-chum-chum sort of way, rather than in an ultra-formal, survey-your-customers sort of way.
So, your comment was alarmist (understandable because you were acting as a customer, not as a friend of the company), while RescueTime's responses were too friendly and "unprofessional."
HN used to be all YC, all the time, so posting here was more about getting feedback from your peers, not your customers.
Does that make sense?
I don't think you did anything wrong, and I don't think this thread is evidence of RescueTime's unprofessionalism. If I showed my product to a fellow entrepreneur who wasn't a customer I'd feel comfortable teasing them back when they gave me shit, but I wouldn't ever do that to a customer.
So you're saying that the (few) loaded words have set tone for the whole post? Ok, makes sense.
It's worth noting that they have very serious-looking pricing page (segmented even to personal, business, education and enterprise plans) and I actually had to enter my credit card number and activate a recurring plan before I could get to the juicy features. This stuff sets expectations.
My point was that I think RescueTime came here expecting feedback from peers, not customers.
As a customer, your feedback was totally appropriate. As a peer, their response was totally appropriate.
I think this misunderstanding is a result of HN's evolving audience, which used to be dominated by YC alums or people who knew YC alums, but is now less cohesive.
