I didn’t expect anyone from StackSocial to post in here at all, but they did. And companies like Amazon have specific policies requiring affiliate links to be identified as such, so, it could happen {too lazy to Google ASCII shrug}. Or not. I’m open to being pleasantly surprised 
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The software for the VPN I was using before went belly up with Mavericks. Signed up for this and after entering all the coupon codes and passwords and suchlike it worked like a charm on Yosemite. The software works on my ancient 4g iPhone and iPad too. Thanks for the tip!
I though it was a good deal for getting some protection over public wifi–not that I really ever use public wifi, but I’m taking a roadtrip this summer so could come in handy.
I’m not bent about the deal, but I do feel like I’m in line with those complaining of feeling duped. I didn’t expect that BB was the type of place to play this kind of hey- try-this-great-product-that-I’m-being-paid-to-endorse game, but whatever.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
(And there’s your shrug, skeptic.)
Cool 
You just reminded me that I had to make one with the right escape codes to format correctly on the BB BBS. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Whatever . . .
In this kind of thing it isn’t just the ability to judge the credibility of the endorsement we lose, but the financial credibility of the deal.
I don’t trust any low ball 3 year deals - too often such deals correspond with the bankruptcy of undercapitalized .coms using the pyramid scheme of selling cut rate, long term subscriptions paid upfront to raise money for current debts, with no long term financial plan. Companies that expect to be here in 3 years generally don’t need your money 3 years in advance.
$20 for 3 years is little enough after cc fees, but then take out stacksocial’s cut, which includes yet another cut for affiliate Mark, then how much actually goes to pay the VPN company for infrastructure, staff and support for the next 3 years? $10? Less?
At least this deal is cheap enough to save off of the regular 1 year cost, but I wouldn’t count on the company existing for a full 3 years.
hey harold, sorry you had such a bad experience! that’s the opposite of what we want. Feel free to email support@stacksocial.com, and they’ll get you taken care of. Be sure to mention you’re a Boing Boing reader!
Hey @rider – feel free to email me direct at alex.beller@stacksocial.com if your issue wasn’t resolved or if you have any more feedback. I’ll get you taken care of personally.
Thanks
because we can get special exceptions from the vendor (vpn unlimited) when the situation calls for it. hope that helps!
that’s a good point–still, if I even get 6 mos. I’m all right with it;
also, for those interested, I’ve also used Private Internet Access in the past with excellent results, just to throw that out there
Show off. You probably didn’t even have to look the codes up like I did… :-0
garshk
hey harold, sorry you had such a bad experience! that’s the opposite of
what we want. Feel free to email support@stacksocial.com, and they’ll
get you taken care of. Be sure to mention you’re a Boing Boing reader!
I hate to say it, but this reads to me like this:
Be sure to mention you’re a reader of a well traffic’ed site making a big stink about our service so we can help quite down the bad press. Everyone else: We’ll screw you like usual with our “no refunds” policy.
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Yeah, that does seem to be the effect. But, on the other hand, the terms of sale clearly listed on the StackSocial page for the sale say:
Terms
All sales final
So, unless that was just added, then StackSocial may be going beyond their obligations by helping out with refunds.
Oh I wasn’t really saying they didn’t have a no refunds policy before, only that one, those policies are shit and two, I feel bad for all the folks who didn’t read boing boing and therefor had no chance for the special treatment and so were just out their money.
True enough, like all of those cable company problems that only get solved because the story got serious legs in the media… ;-/
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Possibly important: Even if you think you’re hidden behind a VPN, many browsers will actually give up your real IP address to servers that make a particular request (RTC peer connection).
Here is a proof of concept - https://diafygi.github.io/webrtc-ips/ - that will show you how your browser responds to those requests.
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Well, three new posts by stacksocial, and no comment about adhering to FTC paid endorsement guidelines for affiliate links. Looks like you are probably going to be right…
I wonder if Mark and BB will follow the guidelines going forward? It’s not like these guidelines are brand new. They’ve been out for years. And the FTC is very clear that paid endorsement disclosures need to be “clear and conspicuous” and in close proximity.
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No it’s because your click and send canned responses are lies.
You didn’t get any contractual exemption in a few hours on a holiday weekend.
Terrible company.
Hi Alex! In what way did this situation call for an exception that others don’t? If you don’t (understandably) want to get in a customer’s specific issues, just tell us what general situations would cause you to ask VPN Unlimited for an exemption–on a Sunday no less! (Otherwise some might be led to believe that you didn’t contact VPN Unlimited at all and are just trying to shut up a noisy customer in a public forum, with the implication that other customers who are not so noisy are screwed.) Thanks!
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