The site began to grow 20% day over day, and after three weeks, the site hit 4.5k users.

Then, the media picked it up. The first article mentioning HQuack was written by Paris Martineau for The Outline on Wednesday Jan. 31st.

The day after it was published, HQuack went from 4.5k users to 11k. After that first article, Complex, BuzzFeed and CNET picked it up, and by Superbowl Sunday the site hit 19k users — a 400% increase in users over the span of 4 days.

At that point, three things happened: first, my mind was blown because I never thought I’d actually make something that would go viral, second, I began to realize the affect media can have on a small side project, and third, I began to wonder if there were any ethical problems here.

I decided it would be okay to keep the site up, because in reality, HQuack never got 12/12 questions right. It had gotten 11/12 only once before, and most of the time it only got around 9/12 right (and not in order). Sure, people were getting further than they would have without HQuack, but I never felt like HQuack was ruining the game for the masses.

Then, on Feb. 6th, just as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy was launching, this happened…