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That is all true but the real answer is that it is run as a charity project by billionaires. So it doesn't need to be monetized.
by freddie_mercury 6y ago
That is all true but the real answer is that it is run as a charity project by billionaires. So it doesn't need to be monetized.
- MattGaiser 6y agoThey probably source enough engineers on here to make it more bait rather than charity.
- bigiain 6y agoThere are very few billionaire charity projects that don't have some kind of bait stench associated with them... This site is a lot less brazen that, say the Gates Foundation or Jack Dorseys "all the strings attached" charity "donations", but there's no doubt it's run in the interests of YC and they're doing it for the benefits they get. Not that I begrudge them that. It just needs to be something you bear in mind when wondering about odd looking article rankings or apparent voting/submission patterns that evade the fraud detection... It's their space, they can do that if they want. I (and everyone else) needs to weight up the benefit to themselves against the benefit to the people in control, and determine whether to hang around here, or walk away. For me? They do an OK job of not taking too m much advantage of their ultimate power here. I'm mostly cool with them.
- bcassedy 6y agoEhh there's a really pro ycombinator slant and ever notice how any yc announcement, hiring notice, or article quickly hits the top? They're getting a lot of value out of that stuff that helps with the VC side of things.
- MattGaiser 6y agoWho would hate on YCombinator?
- ashtonkem 6y agoThere are some legitimate arguments about how VC backed startups have behaved as of late, and YC is part of that overall system. I’m not sure where I personally sit, but I think it’s a bit silly to pretend that YC is universally beloved or beyond reproach.
- MattGaiser 6y agoI did not think it was universally beloved, but just never read any negative viewpoint about them so was curious.
- ashtonkem 6y agoKeep in mind that YC is very visible. As a result, complaints about VC behavior in general will accumulate to YC, since they’re often the public face of startups and startup culture. That might not be fair or ever correct, but it’s how people work. Personally, YC’s involvement in AirBnB is my biggest complaint with the company. I’m not sure how it looked from the inside before hand, but in retrospect AirBnB is one of the poster children of VC backed companies extracting profits at the cost of society, and I suspect that they probably should’ve known better.
- alentist 6y ago> AirBnB is one of the poster children of VC backed companies extracting profits at the cost of society Do you have any evidence to back up that claim? Because hard data shows exactly the opposite: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2018/beyond-bls/how-airbnb-has-affected-the-hotel-industry.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2018/beyond-bls/how-airbnb-has-...
- ashtonkem 6y agoThat’s focusing on AirBnB’s effect on the hotel industry, but I’m more concerned about AirBnB’s effect on the rent market. This is a subject that’s been pretty well covered here before.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago> Ehh there's a really pro ycombinator slant and ever notice how any yc announcement The site is literally news.ycombinator.com... and you're surprised it's slated towards ycombinator?
- detaro 6y agoI don't think the parent is surprised, no.
- code_duck 6y agoI think it lands in a place between 'charity project' and 'neglible expense of time and effort'.