I'm Blendle's founder, and I'm sorry that happened. I made sure it was removed as soon as I saw it. I enjoy using HN just as much as you guys and only wat to add good things to it :). Very much appreciate your feedback :).

The copy is now "Get instant access today'" with the same logo and still has the same implication.

Which is funny because there is no HN API that can actually prove that you upvoted something.

We would certainly _like_ it if you upvoted, but you'll get access either way :-)

I first saw Blendle from one of the HN "Who's hiring" threads while looking for jobs in Utrecht. It was right around the time that there were a ton of stories about intrusive/tracking ad networks, AdBlockers and Google's Contributor option came out.

It looked like you were one of the few out there actually building something that solves the "paying content creators for their work" problem that is the root of all the ad problems. Kudos to you. It would be cool if you combined your service with an ad blocker so that users could block ads and feel good about still giving the creators a way to get paid: join the network!

It's a fishy behavior. Nobody should ask for upvotes in exchange for something. It defeats the purpose. Upvotes should be genuine.

Yeah, that's bad. I sent an email explaining that such tactics are not the way to get HN to like you; in fact it's guaranteed in the long run to turn HN against a startup. Fortunately, the problem they're working on is something many people here recognize as important, so there's still a reservoir of goodwill.