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You don't even need to poke specific holes in this story. It's an internet story, so if it smells like bullshit it probably is. Apply Occam's Razor to it. What

by ebbv 9y ago

You don't even need to poke specific holes in this story. It's an internet story, so if it smells like bullshit it probably is. Apply Occam's Razor to it. What's more likely; that some unknown person resigned on this guy's behalf or that he resigned and he's going with this b.s. story to save face or that none of this happened? One of the latter two is the most likely. It's a pile of baloney.

spuz 9y ago
I don't understand your application of Occam's razor. In what way is the scenario that he resigned by accident more likely? Maybe he was drunk, angry, depressed and overwhelmed and sent an email later to change his mind but then... why write about it on stackexchange? Or assuming none of it's true, again why bother writing it up and pretending a fake story? It's fine to say "this is the internet and people invent stories" but to apply Occam's razor you need to actually come up with a motivation that would cause this guy to actually invent this story and post it online.
- ebbv 9y ago
  I don't feel like I need to explain his motive for posting on SE since the original story doesn't address it either (since he's already fired and seems to have given up. Why is he posting is still an open question even if you believe the original story.) Why he chose to post is a separate issue. People have any number of motives for doing things, and what you believe to be reasonable explanations depends on how you think about human psychology. Personally I have seen enough people post lies online that I don't even worry about what the motives are anymore. I just look at what I think is more likely; is this story true or not? This story reeks to me. There's no way some unknown person resigned for him. Either he did it and regretted it or this whole story is made up. Both of those are way simpler than the claim that some unknown person logged into his secure email and that the company reacted so nonchalantly to him telling them he didn't do it. If someone hated him enough to write a fake resignation letter and risk their own career like that, he would know who it was. Frankly it's one of the more obvious fake stories on HN in a while.
  - spuz 9y ago
    Ok, if you don't have an possible explanation for his motivation, that's fine. You are entitled to and should rely on your gut instinct because after all no one here has the complete story. I think you should be careful to invoke Occam's razor like this though. It states: "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected". You can't compare two hypotheses unless you express all of their respective assumptions.

by ebbv 9y ago

spuz 9y ago

I don't understand your application of Occam's razor. In what way is the scenario that he resigned by accident more likely? Maybe he was drunk, angry, depressed and overwhelmed and sent an email later to change his mind but then... why write about it on stackexchange? Or assuming none of it's true, again why bother writing it up and pretending a fake story? It's fine to say "this is the internet and people invent stories" but to apply Occam's razor you need to actually come up with a motivation that would cause this guy to actually invent this story and post it online.

ebbv 9y ago
I don't feel like I need to explain his motive for posting on SE since the original story doesn't address it either (since he's already fired and seems to have given up. Why is he posting is still an open question even if you believe the original story.) Why he chose to post is a separate issue. People have any number of motives for doing things, and what you believe to be reasonable explanations depends on how you think about human psychology. Personally I have seen enough people post lies online that I don't even worry about what the motives are anymore. I just look at what I think is more likely; is this story true or not? This story reeks to me. There's no way some unknown person resigned for him. Either he did it and regretted it or this whole story is made up. Both of those are way simpler than the claim that some unknown person logged into his secure email and that the company reacted so nonchalantly to him telling them he didn't do it. If someone hated him enough to write a fake resignation letter and risk their own career like that, he would know who it was. Frankly it's one of the more obvious fake stories on HN in a while.
- spuz 9y ago
  Ok, if you don't have an possible explanation for his motivation, that's fine. You are entitled to and should rely on your gut instinct because after all no one here has the complete story. I think you should be careful to invoke Occam's razor like this though. It states: "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected". You can't compare two hypotheses unless you express all of their respective assumptions.