There have been threads like this before (last one in 1.5 months ago:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30628375), but I'm not really sure what to do. I've emailed Maciej on 4/13/21, 12/11/21, and 4 times in the past month (a more urgent issue) with no response.
Full-text search is regularly broken, archiving doesn't work sometimes, and most recently my >5yr archiving account was disabled on 4/1 with no warning or ability to re-up, so as far as I know I've lost archived bookmarks from up to a decade ago (don't remember when I turned on the service). It doesn't look like
When I tried to re-up my archiving account, I selected 10 years, but was charged for 1 year (without the 10 yr discount, of course) instead.
I really have enjoyed using Pinboard, and have been since at least 2011 (when the entry was created in 1pw), but this is a bummer and I'm not sure what to do. I really respect Maciej and wish him the best, and would love to keep using Pinboard.
Edit: Maciej, I hear you're in Taiwan. I'd love to give you some recommendations off the beaten path!
by ghoomketu on 4/27/22, 7:27 PM
This particular blog post (1) is always posted on HN as a reminder that when you pay for a product you get good service.
Yet my own experience has been same as others here, and I called it quits when I couldn't access the services because their DNS had expired.
https://blog.pinboard.in/2011/12/don_t_be_a_free_user/
by benrapscallion on 4/27/22, 10:31 PM
I have said this before in the context of similar discussions: the Pinboard website is in shambles, the owner doesn’t give a rat’s posterior beyond just collecting his money, and while from his blog, he may seem like some sort of a god entrepreneur, he doesn’t even do the bare minimum for his paying customers.
by dismantlethesun on 4/27/22, 7:12 PM
I bought a yearly package after listening to rave reviews and almost immediately felt remorseful. It’s feels like an abandoned product.
by LeoPanthera on 4/27/22, 7:26 PM
I have a legacy lifetime account so I won't experience any billing glitches, but I've had no problems with any other features. I use it most days and haven't experienced any problems.
Frankly, the stability of the service is what I like about it.
by plainolrandy on 4/27/22, 9:05 PM
My archiving account was also disabled on April 1 and all my history deleted, despite the fact that it was paid through sometime in 2023. I also got no renewal notification like I had every previous time the service expired.
I didn't bother contacting support because I've been ignored for the past 2 months in my repeated inquiries about archiving being broken, so I just accepted my money being stolen.
by ggpsv on 4/27/22, 6:39 PM
Not sure what's up with Pinboard but yesterday he published a new post on his personal blog so it looks like he is around.
by MollyRealized on 4/28/22, 1:02 AM
I'd love to know why Maciej feels he can convince people to give him money, not provide the services he promises, and then be very flippant about it in this very thread (he's idlewords, and perhaps boneidlewords).
by obscura on 4/27/22, 9:28 PM
I'm afraid this is nothing new. I experienced similar frustrations - archiving didn't work, there were no notices about downtime, and support response was abysmal despite a Twitter account that was very active about US politics - all back in 2017. I left disappointed and with a refund in 2018.
by HAL9OOO on 5/3/22, 11:21 AM
Found this thread not being able to save any bookmarks through the 'Pinput' chrome extension or directly through the site with no errors/warnings at all...
Just exported all the data and for me, time to look for alternatives. I really don't like the flippant nature of the dev.
by tsg on 4/27/22, 11:57 PM
I started the previous thread and nothing has changed for me - I just looked and my wife's account is still completely broken (full text search just returns errors), and 90% of the bookmarks on my account for the previous month have failed to archive at all.
by zorbash on 4/27/22, 7:46 PM
Shameless plug: I run
https://tefter.io a pinboard alternative which supports importing your bookmarks from pinboard and even has team collaboration features.
by derekjobst on 4/27/22, 6:40 PM
Is it possible to export all my data from pinboard? I'm realizing it would be nice to back that all up every once in a while
by gaws on 4/28/22, 3:35 PM
Pinboard has really gone to shit. I terminated my account a few months ago and switched to espial. No regrets.
by carom on 4/27/22, 6:34 PM
I saw his tweets fall off. I hope he is alright.
by idlewords on 4/27/22, 10:43 PM
Would it be possible to consolidate all the "what happened to Pinboard" threads in one place? It would greatly reduce my workload!
by seibelj on 4/27/22, 7:35 PM