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Can we make the rule that it's not OK to post negative stories about YCombinator companies on this site? There are a million places to talk negative about ever

Can we make the rule that it's not OK to post negative stories about YCombinator companies on this site? There are a million places to talk negative about everyhing. Here, we're trying to build things. We know no one is perfect. Lets make this place a bastion of positivity instead of negativity.

tedunangst 10y ago
No.
brotherjerky 10y ago
Is that really the type of site you'd want Hacker News to be?
- verroq 10y ago
  A safe space of YC companies.
grzm 10y ago
Most definitely not. If you truly care about YC companies, you'll care about what they're doing wrong so hopefully they can improve. Just dumping on something is of course not helpful in any context, but constructive criticism expressed civilly I can only imagine to be something YC and associated companies would welcome whole-heartedly.
- lowglow 10y ago
  But they don't. Which is also why you can't comment on the YC jobs that get posted here. YC has an image to uphold, because that image is part of their cachet.
milesdyson_phd 10y ago
HN is already an echo chamber most of the time, let's not start censoring what content shows up just because it badmouths a YC company
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
slashink 10y ago
I see what you're getting at and understand what you want to accomplish but I do not agree. These revelations concern tons of engineers, especially those working or considering interviewing for Uber right now. It's also a service many of us use, hence why it's so jarring to see that privacy is handled with such little respect. This negative article is no different from the articles posted about Theranos, Amazon, Facebook etc. Uber does not get a free pass.
piyushpr134 10y ago
Uber is not a small 10 person startup. It affects everyone of us. Would you be so forgiving if this would have been a Russian or a Chinese firm doing this ?
pfarnsworth 10y ago
Since when is Uber a YC company?
dang 10y ago
That's not gonna happen on HN, nor would we want it to. For one thing, there are different kinds of negativity; for another, suppressing the negative is no reliable path to the positive; for a third, the community wouldn't trust us if we ran this place that way. Uber isn't a YC company.
bbcbasic 10y ago
So like a 'yes men' site? If that were in place, I'd have to say, I think your idea is very awesome.
umanwizard 10y ago
This forum isn't really about Y Combinator, despite sharing the domain name and parent organization. > Here, we're trying to build things. Actually, I'm not here to build anything. I'm here to have discussions about tech.
chippy 10y ago
You really should not be being downvoted as your opinion is shared (in my experience) by the majority of struggling startup founders. The founders want to get big and successful and view negativity by techies as at best needless pessimism and at worse as symptomatic of a kind of anti-capitalism. Capitalists who value the free market who are also the bosses and entrepreneurs see opposition to their money making efforts as an affront to their very core values. In my opinion it's the wrong way to think - and the root cause is unchecked free market capitalism. However, I think it's true that many people think that to succeed as a startup, money comes before morals. We shouldn't hide that, but criticise it and voice our concerns.
- umanwizard 10y ago
  Who cares what struggling startup founders believe? This forum isn't specifically for startup founders and their perspective isn't favored over anyone else's here. It just happens to be hosted on a subdomain of a startup accelerator but the overwhelming majority of people who read it are not involved with startups.
- lightedman 10y ago
  Yes, they absolutely should be downvoted. Uber is not a YC company, and such disingenuity should not be given pass.
DanBC 10y ago
There is already a rule about avoiding gratuitous negativity. This rule means you can criticise, fiercely and vigorously, any company or product, so long as you're attempting to be civil and constructive. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9317916 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9317916 > Critical thinking is good; shallow cynicism, on the other hand, adds nothing of value to the community. It is unpleasant to read and detracts from actual work. If you have something important but negative to say, that’s fine, but say it in a respectful way.

tedunangst 10y ago

No.

brotherjerky 10y ago

Is that really the type of site you'd want Hacker News to be?

verroq 10y ago
A safe space of YC companies.

grzm 10y ago

Most definitely not. If you truly care about YC companies, you'll care about what they're doing wrong so hopefully they can improve. Just dumping on something is of course not helpful in any context, but constructive criticism expressed civilly I can only imagine to be something YC and associated companies would welcome whole-heartedly.

lowglow 10y ago
But they don't. Which is also why you can't comment on the YC jobs that get posted here. YC has an image to uphold, because that image is part of their cachet.

milesdyson_phd 10y ago

HN is already an echo chamber most of the time, let's not start censoring what content shows up just because it badmouths a YC company

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

slashink 10y ago

I see what you're getting at and understand what you want to accomplish but I do not agree. These revelations concern tons of engineers, especially those working or considering interviewing for Uber right now. It's also a service many of us use, hence why it's so jarring to see that privacy is handled with such little respect. This negative article is no different from the articles posted about Theranos, Amazon, Facebook etc. Uber does not get a free pass.

piyushpr134 10y ago

Uber is not a small 10 person startup. It affects everyone of us. Would you be so forgiving if this would have been a Russian or a Chinese firm doing this ?

pfarnsworth 10y ago

Since when is Uber a YC company?

dang 10y ago

That's not gonna happen on HN, nor would we want it to. For one thing, there are different kinds of negativity; for another, suppressing the negative is no reliable path to the positive; for a third, the community wouldn't trust us if we ran this place that way. Uber isn't a YC company.

bbcbasic 10y ago

So like a 'yes men' site? If that were in place, I'd have to say, I think your idea is very awesome.

umanwizard 10y ago

This forum isn't really about Y Combinator, despite sharing the domain name and parent organization. > Here, we're trying to build things. Actually, I'm not here to build anything. I'm here to have discussions about tech.

chippy 10y ago

You really should not be being downvoted as your opinion is shared (in my experience) by the majority of struggling startup founders. The founders want to get big and successful and view negativity by techies as at best needless pessimism and at worse as symptomatic of a kind of anti-capitalism. Capitalists who value the free market who are also the bosses and entrepreneurs see opposition to their money making efforts as an affront to their very core values. In my opinion it's the wrong way to think - and the root cause is unchecked free market capitalism. However, I think it's true that many people think that to succeed as a startup, money comes before morals. We shouldn't hide that, but criticise it and voice our concerns.

umanwizard 10y ago
Who cares what struggling startup founders believe? This forum isn't specifically for startup founders and their perspective isn't favored over anyone else's here. It just happens to be hosted on a subdomain of a startup accelerator but the overwhelming majority of people who read it are not involved with startups.
lightedman 10y ago
Yes, they absolutely should be downvoted. Uber is not a YC company, and such disingenuity should not be given pass.

DanBC 10y ago

There is already a rule about avoiding gratuitous negativity. This rule means you can criticise, fiercely and vigorously, any company or product, so long as you're attempting to be civil and constructive. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9317916 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9317916 > Critical thinking is good; shallow cynicism, on the other hand, adds nothing of value to the community. It is unpleasant to read and detracts from actual work. If you have something important but negative to say, that’s fine, but say it in a respectful way.