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In the late `90s someone called me and asked me to build "a site for people to upload homemade sex videos of ex-girlfriends". They told me they'd called severa

by oblib 8y ago

In the late `90s someone called me and asked me to build "a site for people to upload homemade sex videos of ex-girlfriends". They told me they'd called several others but were turned down, and they offered to pay "whatever you want". I turned them down but it was only a few years later I first heard the term "revenge porn site". What really struck me about that conversation was that the guy seemed like a really nice guy. He was soft spoken and very respectful and understanding, but also very determined to build that site. Back in the `70s I built custom cars with my father. Ideal Toy company called and asked us to build a car based on their "Evel Knievel Stunt and Crash Car" toy. They asked us if we could make the doors and hood "blow off the car like it exploded" with the push of a button. We told them we could do that but in the contract they sent us they wanted us to assume liability for anyone getting injured when they exploded the car. We declined to sign that and in the end they modified their request to just have the hood blow off and took out the liability clause. But the audacity of that liability request and their initial insistence of it just astounded me. Anyway, not everyone "has a price". I have turned down many requests to work on projects I considered unethical or dangerous over the years and don't regret it at all.

bena 8y ago
"Whatever you want" is not a number. If you had said $20 million, would he have paid that? Did he have that kind of money? And true, the price to compromise your morals in that case might have been too great. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. But I think comfort plays a large part in this. You've turned down unethical and dangerous projects because you could. You had enough income to survive so there's no need to risk anything. You could be slightly better off, but you're probably still doing good.
- oblib 8y ago
  That line of thought could be extended to thinking that if one were uncomfortable enough nothing is beyond what one would do to be comfortable, but that's just not true for everyone, and it's not true for me. I've grown old enough now to say with certainty that I will die without compromising my morals like that, even if I die hungry, homeless, and cold.
justaguyhere 8y ago
they wanted us to assume liability for anyone getting injured when they exploded the car I've seen a handful of such clauses too. I don't know how lawyers' brains works, but I imagine it is something like "lets try to sneak in the nastiest clause we can in the contract. What is the worst that can happen? If we get caught, we can simply remove it"
s73v3r_ 8y ago
"What really struck me about that conversation was that the guy seemed like a really nice guy. He was soft spoken and very respectful and understanding, but also very determined to build that site." The measure of "a nice guy" isn't how they speak.

by oblib 8y ago

bena 8y ago

"Whatever you want" is not a number. If you had said $20 million, would he have paid that? Did he have that kind of money? And true, the price to compromise your morals in that case might have been too great. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. But I think comfort plays a large part in this. You've turned down unethical and dangerous projects because you could. You had enough income to survive so there's no need to risk anything. You could be slightly better off, but you're probably still doing good.

oblib 8y ago
That line of thought could be extended to thinking that if one were uncomfortable enough nothing is beyond what one would do to be comfortable, but that's just not true for everyone, and it's not true for me. I've grown old enough now to say with certainty that I will die without compromising my morals like that, even if I die hungry, homeless, and cold.

justaguyhere 8y ago

they wanted us to assume liability for anyone getting injured when they exploded the car I've seen a handful of such clauses too. I don't know how lawyers' brains works, but I imagine it is something like "lets try to sneak in the nastiest clause we can in the contract. What is the worst that can happen? If we get caught, we can simply remove it"

s73v3r_ 8y ago

"What really struck me about that conversation was that the guy seemed like a really nice guy. He was soft spoken and very respectful and understanding, but also very determined to build that site." The measure of "a nice guy" isn't how they speak.