4 ms·

Candid Camera

17 points by cwan 17y ago

whughes 17y ago
He went on to say that they were so focused on revenues in the early days of Zynga that they did some things he didn't like. He then mentioned the Zwinky toolbar and said he installed it on his machine and couldn't get it off. And then went on to say that he told his developer to take that lead gen offer down. That really isn't the impression I get from watching the mentioned clip: http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus-faceboo/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus...
- fredwilson 17y ago
  that's my point. that clip misses the context of what mark was saying and why. if you watch the entire video you'll see it an entirely different light
  - staunch 17y ago
    I watched the full video. He says "I did every horrible thing in the book". He's admitting to bad behavior. Where's the context missing from that? The guy let his ethics slip in his hunger to succeed.
johnrob 17y ago
The alternative is just to be good. Then you have nothing to hide, and nothing to worry about. In the case of Zynga, hocking malware to your users is not good. They indeed had something to worry about.
- Glimjaur 17y ago
  I believe that one of the points that he were trying to make was that you have to be aware that even if you are "good", you as a public speaker might (and probably will) be taken out of context. It might happen in a 30 second Youtube clip on Techcrunch or in a published interview, either way it's still vital to try to be prepared when it happens.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- mixmax 17y ago
  In theory that's true, but in practice it isn't. It's so easy to take a quote out of context and turn it around. Just look at Fox News. Or the headlines over at Reddit for that matter. "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." Cardinal De Richelieu
- DougBTX 17y ago
  As Glimjaur said, plus: from the quotes in the article, it sounds like the Zynga guys got rid of it once they found out how bad it was, but the quote of him finding and fixing the problem still gets used against him. So, doing good yourself doesn't cut it, you also have to avoid talking about anything bad that anyone you have a connection with did. I guess that is why No Comment is such a well used phrase.
megaduck 17y ago
I used to be pretty paranoid about posting things online. I thought that my privacy was valuable, and so I didn't put anything up. However, a few years ago I realized that there was a ton of stuff about me online. Photos on facebook, an article in a school newspaper, all sorts of directories and listings. I had an online identity, whether I wanted one or not. Moreover, I knew it would expand exponentially with time. So, I decided the only solution was to put my own stuff up. I started blogging, Facebooking, and posting on places like HN. I now control the conversation by making sure that most of the stuff about me is from me. That way, I'm in the driver's seat. We are all public personalities now. Yes, it's somewhat distasteful and a PITA. Life in the fishbowl can be stressful. However, the only alternative is to completely withdraw from the world, and that's not really an option.

17 points by cwan 17y ago

He went on to say that they were so focused on revenues in the early days of Zynga that they did some things he didn't like. He then mentioned the Zwinky toolbar and said he installed it on his machine and couldn't get it off. And then went on to say that he told his developer to take that lead gen offer down. That really isn't the impression I get from watching the mentioned clip: http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus-faceboo/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/06/zynga-scamville-mark-pinkus...

fredwilson 17y ago
that's my point. that clip misses the context of what mark was saying and why. if you watch the entire video you'll see it an entirely different light
- staunch 17y ago
  I watched the full video. He says "I did every horrible thing in the book". He's admitting to bad behavior. Where's the context missing from that? The guy let his ethics slip in his hunger to succeed.

johnrob 17y ago

The alternative is just to be good. Then you have nothing to hide, and nothing to worry about. In the case of Zynga, hocking malware to your users is not good. They indeed had something to worry about.

Glimjaur 17y ago
I believe that one of the points that he were trying to make was that you have to be aware that even if you are "good", you as a public speaker might (and probably will) be taken out of context. It might happen in a 30 second Youtube clip on Techcrunch or in a published interview, either way it's still vital to try to be prepared when it happens.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
mixmax 17y ago
In theory that's true, but in practice it isn't. It's so easy to take a quote out of context and turn it around. Just look at Fox News. Or the headlines over at Reddit for that matter. "If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him." Cardinal De Richelieu
DougBTX 17y ago
As Glimjaur said, plus: from the quotes in the article, it sounds like the Zynga guys got rid of it once they found out how bad it was, but the quote of him finding and fixing the problem still gets used against him. So, doing good yourself doesn't cut it, you also have to avoid talking about anything bad that anyone you have a connection with did. I guess that is why No Comment is such a well used phrase.

megaduck 17y ago

I used to be pretty paranoid about posting things online. I thought that my privacy was valuable, and so I didn't put anything up. However, a few years ago I realized that there was a ton of stuff about me online. Photos on facebook, an article in a school newspaper, all sorts of directories and listings. I had an online identity, whether I wanted one or not. Moreover, I knew it would expand exponentially with time. So, I decided the only solution was to put my own stuff up. I started blogging, Facebooking, and posting on places like HN. I now control the conversation by making sure that most of the stuff about me is from me. That way, I'm in the driver's seat. We are all public personalities now. Yes, it's somewhat distasteful and a PITA. Life in the fishbowl can be stressful. However, the only alternative is to completely withdraw from the world, and that's not really an option.