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The problem is that success makes other people feel bad, and so even neutral statements get interpreted in the worst possible way, and of course it also attract

by paul 19y ago

The problem is that success makes other people feel bad, and so even neutral statements get interpreted in the worst possible way, and of course it also attracts haters (such as this 'livinginfirstlife' guy), who will repaint everything to look bad. This was certainly the experience at Google. I don't think that there is necessarily a solution, though it helps to avoid things that could be misinterpreted, even though that also means avoiding some aspects of the truth unfortunately.

nostrademons 19y ago
"The problem is that success makes other people feel bad" It's more that success attracts attention, some fraction of attention will always be negative, and the haters tend to scream louder than the likers. I'm still a loyal GMail user, I still visit Reddit frequently, and (despite some quibbles and a rejection) I generally think YCombinator's done a lot of good for the startup community. But you don't hear from folks like me often: we're happy, the software does what we want it to, so we have little reason to speak up. Folks with a gripe, however, are willing to put countless hours into venting their spleen. That was one of the reasons I left FictionAlley (a non-profit Harry Potter fanfiction archive). 99% of users were very appreciative of what we did. However, 1% were not, and the 1% took up about 80% of our time and attention. When you're not being paid for your work (FA was all-volunteer), 80% is far too much time to spend on people with massive entitlement complexes. (There's perhaps a lesson for prospective founders here: build anything worth visiting, and people will hate you for it. Not a lot, and not nearly as many as it seems, but you better be prepared for it and willing to put it in perspective.) The latest fad in business now seems to be "fire your customers" - get rid of the 1% that soaks up 80% of your attention, so you can better serve the 99% that actually appreciate what you do. I dunno if that's applicable to YC; probably not, since they "fire" 95% of their customers simply through lack of resources and the haters come from the people who're not doing business with them anyways. Ironic, that is...
jaf656s 19y ago
I think it is also important to note that, on the internet, it is easy to misinterpret intention. The same sentence can have almost opposite meaning, depending on the context you read it and the mood you are in when you do. It is especially difficult if you read sound bytes, which are usually taken out of context in the first place.

by paul 19y ago

nostrademons 19y ago

"The problem is that success makes other people feel bad" It's more that success attracts attention, some fraction of attention will always be negative, and the haters tend to scream louder than the likers. I'm still a loyal GMail user, I still visit Reddit frequently, and (despite some quibbles and a rejection) I generally think YCombinator's done a lot of good for the startup community. But you don't hear from folks like me often: we're happy, the software does what we want it to, so we have little reason to speak up. Folks with a gripe, however, are willing to put countless hours into venting their spleen. That was one of the reasons I left FictionAlley (a non-profit Harry Potter fanfiction archive). 99% of users were very appreciative of what we did. However, 1% were not, and the 1% took up about 80% of our time and attention. When you're not being paid for your work (FA was all-volunteer), 80% is far too much time to spend on people with massive entitlement complexes. (There's perhaps a lesson for prospective founders here: build anything worth visiting, and people will hate you for it. Not a lot, and not nearly as many as it seems, but you better be prepared for it and willing to put it in perspective.) The latest fad in business now seems to be "fire your customers" - get rid of the 1% that soaks up 80% of your attention, so you can better serve the 99% that actually appreciate what you do. I dunno if that's applicable to YC; probably not, since they "fire" 95% of their customers simply through lack of resources and the haters come from the people who're not doing business with them anyways. Ironic, that is...

jaf656s 19y ago

I think it is also important to note that, on the internet, it is easy to misinterpret intention. The same sentence can have almost opposite meaning, depending on the context you read it and the mood you are in when you do. It is especially difficult if you read sound bytes, which are usually taken out of context in the first place.