[ryrobes]

> web services do crappy things with that data. (Hey Zuck, how was Congress?)

Is this kind of snark really necessary in top marketing copy? I get what you are saying in terms of freemiums ins and outs, but I don't know if it should be my first impression to your company's message.

To each their own, just feels a bit cheap IMHO.

[nodesocket]

> (Hey Zuck, how was Congress?)

Well if you use the stock price of $FB as a proxy, Congress was no problem. In fact Facebook stock is at all time record highs. At the height of the media hysteria it traded down to $152, in the last 4 months it has rocketed up 33%.

This snark comes off amateur. Fathom is very very basic and minimal. No geo/location metrics. No browser metrics. No goals. No custom events.

[pauljarvis]

author of that line here: i don't want to live in a world where companies can't have a little fun with some copy.

[sho]

I suspected that most or all of HN basically agrees with your attitude vis-à-vis Facebook and data collection, including your critics here, but that's not the point. The point is that games have Rules, and when you break those Rules, it causes others to wonder where else you might be breaking them. This erodes trust very quickly.

Rules are made up by a consensus of the players. You've just been told by 3 people, 4 including me, that you broke the Rules. This means you broke them.

A landing page for a company is like a job interview. Certain things are expected. First impressions matter and you're on your best behaviour. Sure, you can wear bunny slippers to the interview and then complain that you don't want to work for that company anyway if you can't have some fun. But who's out of a job?

A little bit quirky might be OK - snarky is definitely not. I recommend changing your copy immediately, and reflecting on how better to gracefully accept constructive criticism from what should be your ideal target market in future.

[pauljarvis]

fair enough, i'll update the copy now.

[hellojason]

Potential customer looking for your exact service here, and that line comes across as distasteful and childish, no matter how much I agree with your intentions. Talk that way to friends over a pint, not on your corporate website. Or don’t, but I’m looking elsewhere.

[jhabdas]

I for one enjoyed the cheekiness and believe the copy sells the vision of the software quite well. Bravo.

[StavrosK]

As someone who agreed with both viewpoints, I think I can elucidate. The problem isn't that you're having fun with the copy, it's that it's just bad copy. It's a very cheap shot and feels petty.

I'm not a copywriter, but I think something like "We’ve become complacent in trading information for free access to web services, and then complain when they robotically testify before congress." would be an improvement.