Subscribe via RSS

Conversations on Conversations
Thoughts on Business, Marketing and Social Media

by mayank

It’s been quite a while since I used Scribd and it will be a while till I use it again. Why ? Because of this

In order to download “HEADSET BROS – SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY”, please upload at least 1 more of your documents first.

In order to download “HEADSET BROS – SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY”, please upload at least 1 more of your
documents first.

Yes, this is what I ran into while downloading a document from Scribd. It’s pretty ingenius of Scribd guys to ask you to upload a file
before downloding one. Since there are no visible checks on the file you upload, I am not sure how many junk files would have been
uploaded on Scribd since they launched this fantastic modification in the download feature.

O Scribd, what were you thinking ?

Update: Scribd has made some changes to the feature that are covered in a post here

36 comments

1 mayankdhingra { 06.20.09 at 9:43 am }

O Scribd, what were you thinking ? http://bit.ly/5bPvv #fail

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

2 Arun J { 06.20.09 at 3:30 pm }

Hilarious I’d say!

3 Gaurav { 06.20.09 at 3:32 pm }

Wondering if sites do such things just to boost their stats. Must have given a solid jump to their daily upload nos.

Total crap.

4 mayank { 06.20.09 at 4:07 pm }

Is it a concidence that both of you commented within 10 minutes ?

I am really surprised, Scribd could be silly enough to use such means to up their uploads. I am sure the genuine uploads from this
feature would be far less from fake ones.

5 ankhmoop { 06.21.09 at 12:42 am }

Scribd reminds me quite a bit of my interactions with experts-exchange:* Locked behind a content wall: You must use their web
reader, or jump through hoops to download the original document.

* Pollutes my google search results: Usually appears before a more direct link to the original document.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

6 sharemefg { 06.21.09 at 12:46 am }

 Want to download a file from Scribd ? Upload one http://ff.im/-4e3QF

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

7 diN0bot { 06.21.09 at 12:53 am }

agree. plus, their interface is cluttered. it’s worse than reading a pdf in the browser.it’s seems like step backwards. perhaps i’m
missing the neat niche it is filling.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

8 byrneseyeview { 06.21.09 at 1:03 am }

It’s funny that this is upsetting people; Bittorrent is based on the same concept.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

9 yangyang { 06.21.09 at 1:05 am }

It just feels so seedy. Like they’re ripping people off.Their flash rendition also doesn’t look as good as PDF.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

10 paulbaumgart { 06.21.09 at 1:08 am }

Being able to embed documents in another page is neat sometimes, but putting up with all the other hassle that ability apparently
implies isn’t so neat.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

11 aarongough { 06.21.09 at 1:10 am }

But at least with BT it’s optional…

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

12 hackernewsbot { 06.21.09 at 1:12 am }

Want to download a file from Scribd ? Upload one… http://bit.ly/pLaJb

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

13 jsn { 06.21.09 at 1:24 am }

When your byte-trading program encourages you to trade bytes, there’s nothing to be upset about. When your [web based] pdf
reader forces you to trade bytes — well, some people get upset.IMHO, you should have rather used rapidshare or megaupload
for comparison. I don’t use rapidshare and scribd for more or less the same reasons.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

14 _pius { 06.21.09 at 1:29 am }

… and it probably shouldn’t be. What’s the point of helping leechers?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

15 soult { 06.21.09 at 1:29 am }

No.Scribd: To watch our crappy swf stuff you have to upload another PDF.

BitTorrent: To download a file (=bittorrent is content agnostic) you should re-upload parts of the file that you have already
received.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

16 newsycombinator { 06.21.09 at 1:30 am }

Want to download a file from Scribd ? Upload one http://bit.ly/4duqNQ

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

17 xenophanes { 06.21.09 at 1:39 am }

optional and doesn’t take manual user intervention. it’s automatic, no hassle. and you’re only sharing bandwidth not new
 content.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

18 Dan Grossman { 06.21.09 at 1:45 am }

I just downloaded another PDF from Scribd (a pretty lengthy book) and I’ve never uploaded a document to the service.

Does anyone fact check their outrage before commenting?

19 dangrossman { 06.21.09 at 1:46 am }

I just downloaded a book off Scribd last night, and it didn’t ask me to upload anything. I’ve never uploaded a document and this
isn’t the first time I’ve downloaded one.Just to make sure I’m not crazy, I found another 100+ page book and downloaded the
PDF just now. No requirement to upload any files.

Doesn’t anyone fact check stories before posting their comment rage?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

20 vaksel { 06.21.09 at 1:53 am }

something like that is a great way to piss off your users, whose bright idea was it?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

21 ankhmoop { 06.21.09 at 2:10 am }

Just to make sure I’m not crazy, I found another 100+ page book and downloaded the PDF just now. No requirement to upload
any files.Perhaps you didn’t meet the criteria to trigger this behavior, you are not a member of the A/B group that was shown
this UI, etc.

Doesn’t anyone fact check stories before posting their comment rage?

The story is sourced, and veracity is riding on the source’s reputation (and vis versa):

http://mayank.name/about-me/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mayankdhingra

http://twitter.com/mayankdhingra

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

22 tomjen { 06.21.09 at 2:27 am }

I have long wanted a "ban Scribd" option for my google resposes. It used to crash my firefox whenever I left their site too.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

23 moe { 06.21.09 at 2:49 am }

Bittorrent is based on the same concept.Yeah, just like cars and legs are based on the same "concept". Hey, they are both about
movement!

Sorry, but you win my "most disoriented post of the week" award.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

24 iamwil { 06.21.09 at 2:50 am }

I’m not sure why this thread was flagged. There’s nothing off-topic or trollish about it.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

25 Martin { 06.21.09 at 3:03 am }

I’m getting so tired of Scribd. To many google ads and boring interface. Turning to Issuu instead!

26 mikeyur { 06.21.09 at 3:19 am }

Scribd got a bunch of friends to flag it? (conspiracy theory)

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

27 mikeyur { 06.21.09 at 3:20 am }

Scribd got a bunch of people to flag it? (conspiracy theory)Original article link: http://mayank.name/2009/06/20/want-
to-download-a-file-from-s…

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

28 mikeyur { 06.21.09 at 3:30 am }

We had a convo about this a couple days ago, but it was regarding experts-exchange http://news.ycombinator.com
/item?id=663124

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

29 ankhmoop { 06.21.09 at 3:31 am }

I hope it’s not due to the negative tone of the article and comments, coupled with scribd being a YC company — I believe flags
are administrator-reviewed.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

30 acangiano { 06.21.09 at 3:47 am }

O Scribd, what were you thinking? http://bit.ly/5bPvv

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

31 ryanwaggoner { 06.21.09 at 4:49 am }

Pretty sure that all the YC alumni have the power to kill a story, so no need to get people to flag it. Could be wrong on that,
though.Feature suggestion to PG: show who killed stories / comments and why (manual or due to multiple flags).

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

32 mayankdhingra { 06.21.09 at 10:46 am }

whoa, what makes this conversation flagging worthy ?

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

33 mikeyur { 06.21.09 at 3:42 pm }

I like that idea. There is a bit of gaming/favoritism here (obviously) – seeing who killed it and why would shed some light on this
(and/or make people think twice about killing a story just because they don’t agree with it – there are comments for a reason).

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

34 byrneseyeview { 06.21.09 at 10:33 pm }

That sounds like a cheap rhetorical trick. Here, let me try:When your document-trading site expects you to trade documents,
there’s nothing to be upset about. When your music-downloading program expects you to expose yourself to massive legal
liability, people get upset.

Oh boy! Now, the people who agree with me get to feel superior about their existing beliefs. Fun stuff.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

35 mayankdhingra { 06.25.09 at 11:23 pm }

Did i tell u this http://bit.ly/Ikl7p

led to a nice discussion @slideshare’s off ?

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

36 Want to download a file from Scribd? Upload one – Part II { 08.29.09 at 10:21 am }

[...] subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxA couple months back I wrote about an
interesting(weird?) feature of Scribd that asked me to upload a file in order to let me [...]

Leave a Comment

Name
 E-mail

Website

Navigation
Home
About

Recent Posts
E-commerce to M-Commerce?
Techie Starts Dial-a-Book
ZipDial plugs hole in its verification service
First City’s story on Dial-a-Book
My Interview with YourStory.in

Recent Comments
Om Ramola on Will the real Indian e-commerce start-up please stand up?
First City’s story on Dial-a-Book — Conversations on Conversations on My Interview with YourStory.in
First City’s story on Dial-a-Book — Conversations on Conversations on Dial-a-Book to be chronicled by Inc India
aadab mustafa on My Interview with YourStory.in
aadab mustafa on My Interview with YourStory.in

Tag Cloud
advertising blog bollywood books business buzz case-study change community conversations culture customer service daily dailylinks delhi
design dev d ego email facebook feature films free friendfeed google india linkedin links

microblogging mumbai scribd slideshare social socialmedia social media spam startup startups Strategy usability web
youtube
Mayank Dhingra

Create Your Badge

 Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Blogger, Entrepreneur and Online Marketer

I write about business, marketing, social media and consult individuals and organizations on using Social Media effectively to
spread buzz and maintain better relationships with their audience/customers
Need to design/discuss social media strategy for your brand, product or organization ?
Write to me at dhingra DOT mayank AT gmail.com
more about Mayank Dhingra

Mayank on the web

Categories
advertising (2)
analytics (2)
appadom (1)
barcamp (2)
bloggersmeet (3)
bollywood (3)
books (10)
brands (8)
business (26)
communications (8)
conference (10)
conversations (17)
customer service (6)
daily links (30)
design (11)
Dial-a-Book (6)
electrosocial (1)
events (4)
facebook (6)
films (6)
fun (12)
goodies (1)
guest post (1)
interview (5)
kwippy (13)
marketing (31)
microblogging (17)
microcontent (14)
misc (12)
organisations (11)
people (13)
philosophy (3)
pr (7)
presentation (3)
programming (1)
psychology (7)
random (3)
slideshare (2)
social media (61)
society (9)
 sociology (1)
software (12)
solaris (1)
start-up (27)
Strategy (26)
survey (1)
technology (8)
The Remarkables (19)
twitter (7)
Uncategorized (3)
usability (5)
web 2.0 (33)
websites (30)

Archives

Support open education with the Neoclassical Theme.