This is actually really concerning at this point.

As they grow, it will become like google - even willing employees helpless to escalate internally

I'm just happy to be in an exclusive club that can request stripe support on demand.

There's a 2016 cutoff unfortunately. Anyone joining after that date does not get the premium HN VIP support package.

Our messages go to /dev/null with the rest of the plebs.

And those of us who recycle our social media accounts routinely are just SOL.

What exact date of 2016 we are talking here?

September 13, 2016 when sama became president of YC Group.

Great news, thank you, I am eligible!

Always has been.

While not ideal, it's cool and I think companies definitely keep an eye on HackerNews thanks to the moderation! Once I read more of Dang's moderation comments I realized how deeply he cares about HN. He takes time to explain his view point (which can also change over time), he answers emails, he develops new features to fight spam. I value that more than changing the website layout, dark-mode, font-size.

It's not cool. It shows that companies like Stripe care more about public image than actually delivering a quality product/service

This is standard corporate strategy nowadays. Instead of staffing up expensive customer service departments they wait for posts to go viral on Twitter, Reddit, HN etc. and only handle those.

Externalize triage costs to public forums. Prioritize human support for high profile social media users and viral posts. Reap good PR of solving the problem publicly. Forum owners like this too because it underlines their community value. Win win win (unless you don’t have social media clout).