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Could anyone give more (insider) explanations? Not clicking on a buzzfeed link.

by jarnix 10y ago

minimaxir 10y ago
The BuzzFeed article is well written, not long, and contains comments from Garry Tan, Kat Malanac, and Sam Altman. It's hard to get more insider than that.
TAForObvReasons 10y ago
https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/12/13/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web10/sub-buzz-11163-1478974596-1.png?no-auto https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/12/1... probably says it all. If you don't want to click on the image, it's a post from Andrew Torba which reads > All of you: fuck off. Take your morally superior, elitist, virtue signaling bullshit and shove it. > I call it like I see it, and I helped meme a President into office, cucks. I can understand why YC would want to distance itself from that.
- tptacek 10y ago
  That's not all that happened. Torba did more than antagonize people on a Facebook feed. He carefully chose a screenshot that left out the context of his actual harassment of YC batchmates. In the most recent instance, he screenshotted the Facebook status of a Latino batchmate expressing concern about the election --- not to him, but to their personal Facebook feed --- and posted it publicly to Twitter with a "build the wall" taunt. If the roles had been reversed and, on November 10th, a Clinton supporter (like myself) had done that to someone expressing relief on their personal Facebook feed that Trump had pulled off his upset, I'd have booted that person too. But I'm not sure even that was enough to get him booted! It seems like the last straw was that, upon being confronted with his behavior and how it made his colleagues feel, he had an entitled temper tantrum. This could have been a Bears/Packers argument and still have been a fireable offense in a real company. Since this is probably obvious to anyone over the age of 15, let alone to people with Philosophy/Business degrees, I think this is one of those rare cases where the most cynical explanation succeeds: this is a person whose YC Facebook advertising startup failed†, saw little future for themselves in the California startup market, and decided to burn their relationships for PR fuel. † I should have been way more careful here. I have in fact no idea how well this advertising startup was doing. I apologize for characterizing something I have no real info on (I think the company changed names, and I was going off Twitter feed activity and LinkedIn bios). For all I know, the company was doing great before the founder pivoted to an alt-right social network. Cynicism loses again!
  - x0x0 10y ago
    It is sadly amusing to look at the utter lack of empathy though. From the article, re his move to Texas: I didn’t feel safe anymore in Silicon Valley as a conservative. I felt like such a minority that I just didn’t feel safe being there anymore. The inability to connect that to how the Mexican founder he mocked is feeling is instructive about Torba's character.
    - idlewords 10y ago
      I think that's just mockery.
untog 10y ago
Buzzfeed isn't just clickbait articles about The Dress. They do legitimate journalism. This is one such example.
krschultz 10y ago
Why? Buzzfeed actually has some well written pieces. They pay the bills with the listicles, but they use that money to fund journalism. Andrew Kaczynski was great this whole election, and was at Buzzfeed until CNN recruited him in October.

Could anyone give more (insider) explanations? Not clicking on a buzzfeed link.

by jarnix 10y ago

Could anyone give more (insider) explanations? Not clicking on a buzzfeed link.

The BuzzFeed article is well written, not long, and contains comments from Garry Tan, Kat Malanac, and Sam Altman. It's hard to get more insider than that.

TAForObvReasons 10y ago

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/12/13/asset/buzzfeed-prod-web10/sub-buzz-11163-1478974596-1.png?no-auto https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2016-11/12/1... probably says it all. If you don't want to click on the image, it's a post from Andrew Torba which reads > All of you: fuck off. Take your morally superior, elitist, virtue signaling bullshit and shove it. > I call it like I see it, and I helped meme a President into office, cucks. I can understand why YC would want to distance itself from that.

tptacek 10y ago
That's not all that happened. Torba did more than antagonize people on a Facebook feed. He carefully chose a screenshot that left out the context of his actual harassment of YC batchmates. In the most recent instance, he screenshotted the Facebook status of a Latino batchmate expressing concern about the election --- not to him, but to their personal Facebook feed --- and posted it publicly to Twitter with a "build the wall" taunt. If the roles had been reversed and, on November 10th, a Clinton supporter (like myself) had done that to someone expressing relief on their personal Facebook feed that Trump had pulled off his upset, I'd have booted that person too. But I'm not sure even that was enough to get him booted! It seems like the last straw was that, upon being confronted with his behavior and how it made his colleagues feel, he had an entitled temper tantrum. This could have been a Bears/Packers argument and still have been a fireable offense in a real company. Since this is probably obvious to anyone over the age of 15, let alone to people with Philosophy/Business degrees, I think this is one of those rare cases where the most cynical explanation succeeds: this is a person whose YC Facebook advertising startup failed†, saw little future for themselves in the California startup market, and decided to burn their relationships for PR fuel. † I should have been way more careful here. I have in fact no idea how well this advertising startup was doing. I apologize for characterizing something I have no real info on (I think the company changed names, and I was going off Twitter feed activity and LinkedIn bios). For all I know, the company was doing great before the founder pivoted to an alt-right social network. Cynicism loses again!
- x0x0 10y ago
  It is sadly amusing to look at the utter lack of empathy though. From the article, re his move to Texas: I didn’t feel safe anymore in Silicon Valley as a conservative. I felt like such a minority that I just didn’t feel safe being there anymore. The inability to connect that to how the Mexican founder he mocked is feeling is instructive about Torba's character.
  - idlewords 10y ago
    I think that's just mockery.

untog 10y ago

Buzzfeed isn't just clickbait articles about The Dress. They do legitimate journalism. This is one such example.

krschultz 10y ago

Why? Buzzfeed actually has some well written pieces. They pay the bills with the listicles, but they use that money to fund journalism. Andrew Kaczynski was great this whole election, and was at Buzzfeed until CNN recruited him in October.