AngelList has always had terrible privacy problems, is infamous for sending unsolicited viral marketing email impersonating their users, not to mention their usability problems, and the staff has been asleep at the wheel, acted like the lights were on but nobody's home, and ignored repeated bug reports and requests from their users by email and in discussions here on HN.

Now they're sending everybody home, so the carpet will finally match the drapes. I sure hope they get around to safely shutting the site down this time, so the zombie ship floating around the shipping lanes with nobody at the wheel doesn't cause any more accidents or privacy intrusions.

They were completely unresponsive and repeatedly ignored my detailed bug reports with screen shots and requests for support over the years.

At least now maybe they'll finally stop telling your current employer when you're looking for a new job. The last thing we need is for "Dave" to drop by HN with another non-apology apology for invading people's privacy, then deftly tippie-toe march away to orchestral cartoon music without addressing anyone's questions, hoping nobody notices he snuck out the back door after making the obligatory non-apology apology, without acknowledging or addressing any of the real issues and questions people raised.

Looney Tunes Soundtrack (04/10) - Tiptoe March

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1hv5sBQeFU

Tell HN: AngelList told my employer that I'd updated my profile

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11326011

>958 points by oliversisson on Mar 21, 2016 | hide | past | web | favorite | 227 comments

>I recently updated my AngelList profile and they emailed my employer, pretending to be me, to "confirm" the project I'd added. How can they think this is a good idea?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11331761

thaumasiotes on Mar 21, 2016 | parent | favorite | on: Tell HN: AngelList told my employer that I'd updat...

I see the following issues causing grief in the comment thread:

1. (a) AngelList sent out email on [my] (not me) behalf by surprise.

1. (b) AngelList sent out email on [my] behalf as a result of something [I] did on their site.

2. AngelList sent out email that appeared to have been written by [me].

3. AngelList notified [my] employer that [I]'d updated my resume. (The headline complaint, in fact!)

This response addresses (1a) and (2), and it's understandable that you might not want to swear off (1b) entirely (although it does seem to be a source of resentment).

You've completely failed to respond to (3), though, which I find surprising because it was the headline complaint. Adding projects to your resume is sine-qua-non functionality on a job hunting site; pretending that you're not job hunting is more or less required by office decorum. Does AngelList provide a way of listing projects you've done at your current company without notifying your boss that you're looking to leave? It's nice that you don't show candidates on AngelList to employers who are already employing them, but without the ability to update your resume you don't have much.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11326557

DonHopkins on Mar 21, 2016 | parent | favorite | on: Tell HN: AngelList told my employer that I'd updat...

I had big problems with the "Angel List" web site, because it was extremely flakey and appeared to be a typical piece of garbage that some dime-a-dozen huckster with very little experience had just thrown together after watching the Ruby on Rails Make Your Own Trendy Dot Com Crud Web Site in 10 Minutes screencast.

Major features were totally broken. Many things about the design were devoid of thought and just haphazardly thrown together, as if I was using a mock-up that was nowhere near ready for prime time. Obviously whoever implemented it and runs it had no intention of using it themselves, and puts no time into maintaining the site or supporting the "customers" (who are actually the product). The only "design" apparent was in the most shallow surface details and of the least meaningful kind.

Their support is absolutely non-existent. I heard nothing back from them whatsoever, after sending several emails. Lights are on but nobody's home. It has the feel of yet another ghost town scam web site run by a sociopathic all-talk-no-chops frat boy "idea man" who long ago went on to something else after pissing off and driving away all their developers who worked for free on the promise of equity, and is now letting it run on autopilot. Too many self described "Serial Hacktrepeneurs", not enough programmers.

Because I encountered so many problems that I have no control over but should, it's an embarrassment to be listed with so many glitches that I am unable to work around, which cause investors to see my profile in such a haphazard state. Their carelessness makes it look like I'm the one who's careless.

I hope Silicon Valley does an episode parodying AngelList, or at least somebody writes some fanfic about it. [1]

[1] https://www.fanfiction.net/tv/Silicon-Valley/

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11330160

alpb on Mar 21, 2016 [-]

Giving your email address apparently is useless. People on this thread are saying you don't ever respond to emails. Just search:

> Their support is absolutely non-existent. I heard nothing back from them whatsoever, after sending several emails.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11350697

DonHopkins on Mar 24, 2016 | parent | favorite | on: Tell HN: AngelList told my employer that I'd updat...

I've asked him directly why he didn't respond to my email, and given him the date (more than a year ago) for him to check on it.

I sent several more emails, because the longer I tried to get my profile the way I wanted it, the more diverse glitches I encountered.

Here is a run-down:

[...]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11350504

DonHopkins on Mar 24, 2016 | parent | favorite | on: Tell HN: AngelList told my employer that I'd updat...

Why didn't you respond when I asked team@angel.co why you mistakenly sent one of my former employers an email telling them that I wanted to apply for a job with them, and ignored me when I asked you to cancel that application? I sent the message on 29 January 2015 at 11:09 CET.

And then why didn't you respond to any of my subsequent emails with detailed descriptions and screen snapshots of other problems I encountered?

Is it not enough for one user to report a privacy problem, so you decided not to acknowledge my report, but to wait more than a year until it became a huge public issue that caused hundreds of people to delete their accounts?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11360527

DonHopkins on Mar 25, 2016 [-]

Dave: It's been three days since your last comment, an no response. [1]

Well, your lack of response to my and everyone else's questions certainly confirms my impression about AngelList, and says a lot more than your non-apology apology did.

I gave you more than a fair chance to respond, provided you the date and time of my unanswered message from more than a year ago, and even gave you a second chance in case you deleted my year-old email, by sinking even more of my time into summarizing the problems I originally reported to you, and posting them here for you to read again. [2]

But still: no response from you, as more and more people continue to announce they're deleting their AngelList accounts.

You're asleep at the wheel, the lights are on, but nobody's home. If your attention has wandered on to other things, and you no longer have any interest in maintaining your web site or responding to your users for over a year, then you really should shut it down gracefully, and save everyone from wasting their time and having their privacy unexpectedly violated. Old unmaintained web sites running on auto-pilot that collect sensitive private information from their users (and automatically forge first-person email pretending to be from their users in order to virally promote themselves) are a dangerous security threat, which should be shut down for the safety of the internet.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd0fBXwDBmo

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11350697