How I “hacked” up a Nairaland API and got banned

 

Disclaimer: I was bored, alone at home and this nairaland.com post inspired the hack.

After reading the nairaland post, I actually started thinking if it was possible to actually design an API that programmers could use to extend the capabilities of nairaland.com like logging in, creating new topics, consuming nairaland data and other common functions programmatically. I fired up my text editor and started trying to reverse engineer the basic nairaland functions I wanted.  The awesome PYTHON Requests library came in very useful and after some few minutes my API could login, logout, create a new topic on any board, edit user profile (i.e. change email and password).

I guess my posts to nairaland during my build process of the API was suspicious due to the fast rate it was coming in and the random boards I was posting to as I was promptly banned from the site.

REASONS WHY NAIRALAND IS ANTI-API

1. PAGEVIEWS, PAGEVIEWS and PAGEVIEWS: Since nairaland started selling self serve adverts, one of the selling points it uses to woo advertisers is the number of pageviews/visitors or eyeballs it has. I think the reason why the nairaland overlords are anti-API is because they feel once users start consuming nairaland without actually visiting the site, pageviews would drop and also advertising revenue (Which is a rather myopic view).

2. SPAM: Nairaland.com currently has 1,005,971 users. Although this is a debatable figure as it is known that most users have more than 1 user account on the site. Most do it to advertise goods and services, create topics etc. Some people with ulterior motives once they get a live working API might start to automate posting, trolling and most likely drown the site in spammy topics etc.

3. Nairaland is resistant to change: It took nairaland almost 7 years of existence to move from simple machine forums to a home grown solution done in Python (cherrypy and MySQL) to be exact. The UI of the site might hurt sensitive eyes and this wont change any time soon.  If the most basic basic things wont change for the better, why would the nairaland overlords embrace an API?

The above reasons are just speculations on my part.

Update: I have since been unbanned by nairaland, but since I am no longer bored and idle, the API might not be receiving any developer love from me any time soon as I am working on more interesting stuff. In case you are interested, you can check it out here: https://github.com/aitoehigie/unofficial-nairalandAPI (pls note: use at your own risk of being banned too).

Latest Update: I posted a link to this post on the programming board of nairaland to see if I could get some takers on the API but before I could blink an eyelid, I was immediately banned again from the site and the link was instantly deleted by the mods,which goes to prove my above theories to be 100% correct.

Pystar

Why the “noise makers” among us can’t code.

Let me tell you a true  story: I would rather spend time coding than going to a tech meetup https://twitter.com/pystar/status/227405814921568256, [1] I hate the very thought of marketing (I probably just  hate the fact that my sales pitch might get turned down). I guess that’s why my start-up hasn’t  ”blown” and that of “noise makers” [2] among us, is a tale in the opposite.  But the thing is this, I could probably code rings around these “noise makers”, who probably cant write a line of code at gunpoint, but their start ups actually make me feel inadequate in a perverse way.

Unless you are building a deep Comp.Sci based start up like Google, you probably don’t need to focus so much on your code but invest heavily on marketing. Most problems here in a 3rd world country like Nigeria that can become viable start ups actually don’t require deep science but heavy marketing and legwork to enlighten people and also give them a reason to actually use your product. [3]

Most good programmers I happen to know are introverted to a certain degree and prefer coding than actually going out and meeting people, so how do you then market your product if you don’t go out? Social media doesn’t count.

Doing a quick and dirty survey of the most “up in your face” start ups here in Nigeria will actually tell you that they are started by non coding techies (if I can safely call them that)[4]. These guys are “noise makers” and thats why their start ups do well. These guys can’t code and probably are not interested in learning how to code because coding is a long tedious and lonely task (unless you are pair programming) and the emotional make up of these “noise makers” wont just allow them to do this successfully.

I have discovered that even if you write the best code with the most bleeding edge frameworks and languages and do absolutely no marketing or “noise making”, no one will beat a path to your doorstop begging for the rare privilege to use your app.

After thinking alot about this “phenomenon”, I can actually say that I agree absolutely with MrBankole when he penned http://techloy.com/2012/07/10/im-ceo-bitch/ . How does some techie who probably has a name for his laptop [5] succeed in marketing his start up? The most successful route I can figure out is getting a “noise maker” as a co founder. That way you get the best of  both worlds.[6]

Notes

[1] Probably the reason why I have never been to any tech meetup (apart the 1st ever barcamp held in lagos “09″) and most probably wont in the nearest future is because of my hectic factory day job schedule and organizers of such meetups refusing to fix events on weekends.

[2] The phrase “Noise maker” as is used in this blog post is actually used in a positive context. A noise maker is someone who is a natural extrovert, a born marketer, with little or no technical chops, i.e. someone in the mould of Steve Jobs.

[3] Imagine a start up with a Seun Osewa and Jason Njoku combo? yeah I can, in my dreams.

[4] Bloovue, dealdey, IrokoTv, Jobberman, wakanow all have non coding founders. (Correct me if I am wrong)

[5] I am guilty as charged.

[6] Don’t do this alone, collaborate, collaborate. Get someone who can pick your slack and is strong where you are weak.

Steve Wozniak (awesome technical chops) + Steve Jobs (most prolific tech marketer ever) == Apple(World domination)

How @Gidi_Traffic can become the Siri of Nigeria

@Gidi_Traffic pls where is Debonairs pizza located?

These are the kind of messages that @Gidi_Traffic gets these days. And why do people actually tweet this kind of stuff to @Gidi_traffic ? at my last count, @Gidi_Traffic has 26,558 followers on Twitter. And most people who tweet this stuff actually are trying to leverage on the network effects and influence that @Gidi_traffic wields, i.e. even if @Gidi_Traffic doesnt know the answer to the questions asked, once its retweeted by @Gidi_Traffic, one of his followers would actually know the answer.

@Gidi_Traffic can become the Siri of Nigeria by doing the following:

1. Retweeting “so-called” unrelated traffic tweets, which would be seen by all his followers and most likely get a correct response.

2. Tweeting those questions asked to people most likely to answer them correctly e.g. crime related tweets to the twitter handle of the Nigerian police, i.e. if they really use Twitter.

3. Biz model: going off Twitter and building a standalone site with Twitter API and allowing people tweet at it and have businesses pay  to have access to those tweets and provide answers/solutions to those tweets. For example, I am hungry and feel like eating pizza, I tweet at @Gidi_Traffic “I feel like having a pizza”, someone who is in charge of the social media handle of Debonairs see’s that tweet, responds to me and I order the pizza from Debonairs. @Gidi_Traffic gets his commission, Debonairs gets a sale and I am no longer hungry and everyone lives happily ever after.

P.S: Anyone can actually become a human-powered Nigerian Siri, not just @Gidi_traffic, the only snag is that you must have loads and loads of followers, i.e. you should be an influencer on Twitter.

Live in Nigeria?(***insert your 3rd world country here***). This is why your startup will fail.

You live in Nigeria or any 3rd world country?, are a techie and thinking of starting a web startup? here are some reasons why your startup is doomed to fail.

1. Your startup is a solution to a “WANT” and not a “NEED”. If you can remember your basic economics, you should know what “WANTS” and “NEEDS” are. Quickly, I would define a “NEED” as something you have to have, something you can’t do without e.g. food, clothing and shelter, while a “WANT” is something you would like to have. It is not absolutely necessary, but it would be a good thing to have. A good example is music.

When developing your startup idea, ask yourself, “is what I am creating a solution to a NEED or a WANT?”  According to the Nigerian Bureau of statistics 60.9% of Nigerians in 2010 were living in “absolute poverty” i.e. less than $1 per day. Do you think that taking a hiatus to create a music startup to enable these people living in abject poverty listen to music amounts to a good use of your time? or “skills”?

2. Your startup is a clone of some popular 1st world website or application [1]. Why would you clone when there are a myriad of problems you could develop solutions for? If you are developing a clone, ask yourself this question “why would anyone use this (***insert the name of your clone***) instead of the main thing (***insert the name of the website you cloned***)?” .

3. Your startup will require loads and loads of traffic i.e. pageviews with gullible people who would be ready to click on Google ads before it can generate income. In Nigeria, there are no VC’s, no Angels, no startup accelerators, no Government support programs, no infrastructure, regular electricity supply is a pipe dream, Internet access is patchy and expensive, in short, “NO NOTHING”. So it kind of beats me why anyone would base his startup’s business model on the benevolence of Google? In between the time your startup comes online to the time it can generate enough traffic to keep the lights on and the servers humming, how would you survive? Do you have some gold bars stashed under your mattress somewhere? If not, why don’t you just develop a product where you can start charging from the very first day? [2]

4. Reading too much of Techcrunch et al. These tech blogs are written by elitist white techies who live in silicon valley where the difference between over there and here is like light and day. Any advice you can glean from those sites just isn’t applicable here in Nigeria. [3]

NOTES

[1] The current fad in Nigeria is creating clones of Groupon.com. It once used to be Twitter clones, bulk sms and then Facebook clones. Why coders still do this kind of beats me. Instead of cloning, why don’t you build on these sites and take advantage of things like Facebook’s “Social Graph” etc and develop innovative solutions? Developing another DROPBOX wont meet the need of the average Nigerian, he has no need for it, and if he does why wont he go for the original? patriotism? please!

[2] Despite the fact that 60.9% of Nigerians live under $1 per day and there are 90 million mobile subscribers in the country with at least 1 mobile phone, these phones have to be loaded with “call credit” by these people because communication has become a NEED and not a WANT. So despite the grinding poverty in the country, the major Telco’s still declare mind boggling profits every year, with Nigeria now having the largest mobile phone market in Africa with 60% penetration. So in order to be successful, develop a solution to a NEED and not a WANT.

[3] Sarah Lacy, a former columnist for Techcrunch, when she came to Nigeria in 2011 advised techies not to read Techcrunch et al. Its of no use, the stories of billion dollar valuations for 6 month old companies that do nothing but count your number of Twitter followers will actually screw with your head. That can never happen here, this is Nigeria, be creative, be innovative, think local but act global.

2 Reasons why you should start a startup (The Nigerian version)

2 Reasons why you should start a startup

(The Nigerian version)

Have you been thinking about starting an Internet company? here are some reasons why I think you should take the plunge.

1. You just graduated from university or are about to and you are scared about getting a job which you know doesn’t even exist [1].
2. Nigeria is a “virgin tech forest” where technology can be used to disrupt almost all facets of society. Almost any idea you develop  can  and will disrupt society for “good”, as there are real problems that technology can be used to solve [2] which Western tech companies haven’t solved and don’t even have any interest in solving. In Nigeria, viable ideas are everywhere, the streets are paved with “idea gold”, pick one up run with it and make impact.

P.S : For the love of God, while you are at it, please don’t create another clone of Facebook, Twitter or another bulk SMS website. And for your business model, don’t make Google Adsense  your primary source of income as I feel that there are ideas that some of the 45 million online Nigerians who also mostly live under $1 per day would be able to spare out of that pittance to pay for your service [3].

Notes

[1]  Actually, you don’t even need to have a degree to start a startup, as most coders I know are self-taught. The unemployment rate in Nigeria stands at 23.9%  out of a total of over 167 million people. Why waste your time looking for a job which is virtually (no pun intended) nonexistent, when you could create one for your self and others, make impact on your society which you definitely can’t do as a “cubicle slave” and if you are lucky, become rich and retire young?

[2]  PayPal has blacklisted Nigeria, why can’t we develop our home-grown version? Also, why do I have to go through semi illiterate middle men called “agents” before I can get a place to rent?  (present solutions in this space suck big time).

[3] This is the subject of a blog post for another day.

Dear Mr Jimoh

Hello Sir,

Congratulations on your much deserved win @Startup weekend Lagos. While you bask in the glow of your win, let me hit you with some questions before you get a tan.

1. Data: your app is basically useless without the data of artisans. So how do you intend getting the data of artisans seeded into your app? And please don’t tell me artisans would do the profile creation themselves (I can see you have a form for that) you know why? Most of the artisans who are your target demographic are either illiterate and/or wont be interested in creating a profile on your app without them really seeing what value that adds to them i.e. monetary. And if you want normal users to create and rate profiles of artisans they have used, what would motivate them to do so? Whats in it for them to go through the whole process?[1]

2. Business Model: Although your app is quite innovative at least in our local web space, but I cant for the life of me deduce how you intend making money from this app unless you want to go down the very well beaten path of Google adsense? [2] Provided you can generate enough traffic to cover hosting cost and other sundry costs with that, then I wish you guys luck.

P.S: I would be monitoring your progress over time.  Congrats again sir.

Notes

 

[1] A very thought-provoking tweebate was the cause of this blog post and the major thing that was debated was how artisans details would be created on findjimoh.com and who would do the creation. Leaving that power to either the artisans or people who use the artisans would be a major fail, because you would be giving them the power to determine how fast your app would grow and how useful it would be to other users. At least in the beginning, do the seeding yourselves.

[2] Regarding your business model, a little bird just whispered into my ear that you intend making money whenever any artisan is recommended. I really don’t know how that would work. But a simple way I feel you can make money is by having a short code that anyone could text a requirement and have the top ranking artisan that matches that query sent back in response.

eyowo.com: My thoughts

I have always said that the number one reason why the Nigerian tech industry is still in the doldrums is because of the lack of a proactive e-payment gateway. So I was extremely excited to hear about a new e-payment service called eyowo.  It’s exciting because it allows developers to provide pipes to the major e-payment processors in the country i.e. Etranzact, Interswitch and MasterCard all in one location.

For their business model, they charge a 1% transaction fee, which is pretty low, but my only grouse is their one-off integration fee of #50,000. To the developers who might be able to afford it, it’s not expensive but to other who might not, its extremely prohibitive. for me, i would advise that the fee be scraped[1] for the following reasons:

1. Barrier of entry: This one-off fee would probably be the number one and major reason why most developers or interested parties wont sign up for their service.  For a new company with no track record, they should make adoption of their service as painless as possible and scraping the sign up fee is one way to do it.

2.Economy of scale: they should focus on getting as many adopters as possible. if they drop the one-off fee and increased their per-transaction fee to 2% or simply dropping the per-transaction model entirely and adopting an overall transaction fee of 2.75% similar to Square’s model, it would still make economic sense because the more adopters they have, the more transactions they would process and they more revenue they would be able to generate via transaction fees.

Right now, I am very excited about eyowo’s  service and would be keenly watching how it goes with them.

Notes

[1] Most starts ups here in Nigeria are probably generating little or no revenue talk less of even being ramen-profitable. So every single penny counts to them. So the very idea of splashing such an amount on integrating a payment gateway might not seem such a wise one. But if it was free??? then adoption rate would shoot through the roof.

Disclaimer: I am in no way involved with eyowo.com.

Its alright, be a clone.

Yeah, you heard me right, its alright to be a clone. Why?

Google wasnt the first search engine

Twitter wasnt the first microblog

Facebook wasnt the first social network

The ipod wasnt the first personal music player

The iphone wasnt the first phone or first touch screen phone.

What really made these products and services successful is the way they were implemented.

Google had the PAGERANK algorithm

Facebook had the “WALL”,

Twitter had its 140 character limit

THe iphone and ipod had “Steve Jobs” (no, seriously, they had a superbly made hardware combined with even better software which the Japanese portable players popular at the time and other phone makers didn’t have). All they did was to take something and add an innovative twist to its implementation which made it seem “original”.

This means in Nigeria’s tech scene, you can take an already tested idea which would be locally relevant, tweak it to create a breakout product or service and you would come out looking like a tech star. Example:

1. Instead of creating a Twitter clone, why don’t you create a fully mobile “Twitter” which works with sms. You “tweet” by texting a 140 character message to a short code and your followers receive you “tweet” from that short code. Your business model would be sms advertising based. [1]

It doesn’t really take much to be “original” all you have to do is to copy. So please go ahead be a clone.

Notes:

1. Something like this already exists in India called Gupshup and its very huge in India and most importantly its profitable.

Hey guys….please do me a favor. STEAL THIS IDEA!!!

I just heard that the Central bank of Nigeria recently awarded licenses to 8 new additional mobile money operators bringing them to a grand total of 24 (if so many licenses are being given out, maybe I should just apply for one). On a serious note though, I would be extremely hard pressed to name any of the 24 apart from mypaga which to me has been a very big disappointment. To me, these guys are somewhat bereft of ideas, so I have some questions to ask the “24 wise men of the mobile money industry”  which I hope would get their creative juices flowing.

1. My Phone or My Wallet: Why cant my mobile phone be turned into my wallet? that would allow me use my mobile phone airtime to buy stuff both on the web or offline i.e. in the real world? In other words, why cant I go to a site xyz.com, select stuff I want to buy, check out and be presented with a payment option where I can enter my mobile phone number and PIN and have the total cost of my purchases deducted from mobile phone airtime? So whenever I load credit on my phone, it would be the same as funding my account without actually having an account. Or why cant I go to a local market buy stuff and send a text containing my phone number, PIN, cost of what I bought and the traders phone number to my mobile money operator and have the trader’s account credited with the cost of what I bought? This idea would require you hobnobbing and doing some serious ass kissing to the major TelCos. Nigeria is going to go cashless, whether you guys like it or not, so the earlier you jump on the train with real innovative solutions the better, because that man called Sanusi “wont back down”.

2. eCommerce for Dummies: Since you guys are untested without a track record and your sector is new, it would make much sense if you make the barrier of entry as low as possible to website owners, eCommerce merchants and other people interested in using your solutions. And please scrap the dumb idea of charging a sign up fee, think solely of transaction volume, i.e. charge a cut on each processed transaction, so the higher the transaction volume, the more revenue rolls in. This business model could be likened to a company that gives out shaving sticks but charges for shaving blades or makes its printers free but sells ink and toners. The bottom line is you getting your foot into the door and taking the whole process from there.

I know you guys came into the market on the premise of doing money transfers and the likes, but there are now 24 of you, would it really hurt if just one of you could really be creative and turn the whole industry on its head by tweaking a little the terms of your license by offering a web payment gateway? Since the “big for nothing, monopoly seeking” companies like INTERSWITCH et al have been caught napping in that aspect? The sector is in dire need of innovation and is the number one reason why Nigeria’s tech industry is still in a comatose state.

P.S: I had an interesting conversation with someone today and he asked me a thought provoking question:

“If you implement something like Paypal here in Nigeria without a CBN license, would they send you a ‘cease and desist’ or would they just arrest everyone involved and throw them into jail?”

So, CBN Guv….what would you do if a train of young unlicensed tech innovators ran head first into this sector? what would you do? what???

Dear Nigerian wannabe startup founder….

Please for the love of god, drop that idea of creating another social network, throw that idea of another “SIMPLEMACHINES” forum out of the window of the nearest high rise and watch it fall to its death 30 stories below without regret. There are some areas in Nigeria and Lagos in particular that require a much needed shot of some “source code” into its veins. These include:

1. Property leasing/letting/rental: In a city of more than 9 million people, getting a property for lease or rent in Lagos is like going through the proverbial eye of the needle. It doesn’t just make sense that in the 21st century I still have to go through some semi illiterate middle men called “Estate Agents” with their exploitative charges and fees, before I can get a property to lease or rent. I don’t see the reason why I cant do the whole process of searching, viewing and paying for a property via the web. This sector is hot and needs a startup with excellent implementation to just “nail” it.

2. News and information services: Why I cant get real time, localized news and information via the web or by sms kind of beats me. For example, why do I have to get stuck in traffic on Ikorodu road when FRSC or LASTMA can just send me alerts and advice me on alternative routes to take? Why do I also have to get stuck in between the cross fire of rampaging thugs in Fadeyi area on my way back from work, when security forces like the police can alert me and advice me to steer clear of the area? I surely would not mind paying for a service like this. [1]

3. Web payment gateways: This sector is a no brainer but the players in this sector are either bereft of ideas or have some sort of hidden agenda. There cant be innovation in the sector if developers are not making money from what they are doing. I do not see the reason why we can’t have our own “Nigerian Paypal” since Paypal has refused to come to Nigeria. The only very high barrier to entry of anyone interested in going into this sector is CBN’s bureaucratic bottlenecks and red tape bullshit before you can get licensed. But its hot and ripe for innovation.

Notes

[1]. Disclosure: I am working on something in this space.