Which is why I assume everything is a scam since the ones I notice from comments are simply the ones that they either didn't bother to delete comments on or had too many negative comments to delete.
I thought I wouldn't comment on this because saying it's a scam would just get me downvoted regardless of how I present it - colour me surprised, it seems to be comfortably the majority sentiment.
Something I'm learning from reading the comments is that the culture has moved in what it calls a "scam"
In my mind, and from my background, a scam is a pretty brutal outright fraud. You buy a toaster and they send you a box of bricks.
From the top comment:
- Rainbow vacuum cleaner (I would say it is not a scam, just an overpriced and underwhelming product)
- Aqualife water filter (Similarly I would just call this an overpriced product)
- Hiring someone to take us to another city to buy a car to "help get a good deal" - turned out he was working for the seller, and it was not a good deal at all. (Depending on details, this actually does sound like a scam, though a small one. The scam part is where they hired the intermediary, other than that it's just abusive sales)
- A summer job for me selling Vector cutlery (not a scam, It's a crap job for sure, and MLM for sure, but they do in fact pay you for what you sell. I sold cutco and I made a little money)
Some others:
Trading in a car? Last-minute they discount the trade-in value due to damage and hope you won't realize that's already counted in the KBB value. (arguably a scam, but mostly I would just call that aggressive hagling)
Car's making a weird noise? The mechanic wants to replace your struts for 1800$ even though the sound is just from the brakes being worn down. (Might be a scam, but it also might just be a mechanic who's not great at their job. I have blown many thousand dollars in billable hours for my clients by misdiagnosing software issues before. Sometimes the people we hire just fuck up and that's part of life. If you as the client are really out of your territory then you are more prone to hiring someone incompetent)
Inherited money in a trust? The trust manager calls you to "discuss your plans" and get you to let them manage the money without you ever seeing it. (Again, conceivably a scam, but also it's a little tricky because the trust working just right would look similar. This feels a lot more the mechanic example where it's not so much a scam as you are hiring someone who isn't very good)
Miss paying taxes in a state because you thought you didn't owe them anything because you didn't actually live there? I'm still getting fake letters that try to scare me into calling them even though the bill was cleared up. years ago. (Ok, this one sounds like it's pretty much a scam)
And then the infamous "investing in a Friend and Family business" and never getting the money back.
I have no doubt that this is sometimes a scam... but I'm an angel investor and also do quite a bit of F&F investments and I can say for sure: I don't think I have ever been scammed, and the vast majority fail burn the capital and show no positive return. That doesn't make it a scam! Running a business is hard! I think we already know this on HackerNews. Just because someone bets and looses doesn't mean they got scammed!
Even your comment makes it look scammy, without even knowing exactly what your site does. Your account is fairly new, and every comment you have ever made includes a link to your site. You are talking about raffles and winnings, and using bots to enter sweepstakes. The negative feedback you shared here looks like reasonable feedback, and nothing you say contradicts it.
Its wild to see the community notes under most of the ads warning of scams. I've see debates break out in the comment thread under the ads about just what kind of scam it is.
I think scam generally implies that someone was swindled, told they'd get A and get Q (or nothing at all). Sold a bill of goods (but not the goods).
In the case of something like Reddit, you come to read content, and once you've readit, you write it, and then read some more. I'm not sure you're ever really sold that you're even engaging with actual people.
These days, I frequently wonder what percentage of comments on any of these sites is genuine (although I happen to believe it's still a pretty high percentage). Its good to assume noble intent, but to also carry around skepticism.
Just curious why is this getting downvoted, are those some scammy websites? It honestly looks like a benign comment to me, maybe I'm missing something.
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