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repl.it has been a project I've admired and recommended for a long time. The same can be said for many members of this community. A few reasons why there's so
by ahmedalsudani 5y ago
repl.it has been a project I've admired and recommended for a long time. The same can be said for many members of this community.
A few reasons why there's so much anger, in my estimation:
- When you support a project, you want its leaders to embody decent values.
- You have always projected an image of someone who's "nice" and doing things right. You cannot bully your intern in private and keep that image.
- Most importantly, you are now in the Goliath position and you are acting tyrannically. It's hard to side with someone going "I have raised $20M and I will use it to crush you" to their previous intern. The fact that you did not explain your concerns, jumped straight to legal threats, and did not want to talk after the project was taken down looks quite bad. If you had approached it in a more diplomatic fashion, you would not be public enemy #1 on HN.
Understand the position you're in. You wield a big stick; speak softly.
P.S. it's perfectly understandable that you'd have concerns about the project, though IMHO it's an overreaction. That's not the issue. The issue is _how_ you approached it.
- truetraveller 5y agoThe anger is exaggerated, and there are still many unknowns. Did he sign a non-compete agreement? If so, the intern would be breaking that agreement. It makes no difference if he raised $20 million or $100 million. There is nothing "tyrannical" about that. I suppose you are a Muslim from your name. The Muslim stays silent when he is unsure. He stays clear of "drama". He thinks the best of other humans, and especially of his Muslim brothers.
- amasad 5y agoThank you -- this is really good feedback.
- windexh8er 5y agoIt is great feedback. Feedback that you failed to execute on in a spectacular manner. You've lost my group as customers today. In no way will I knowingly support a founder with such a broken perspective on prior art.
- p5a0u9l 5y agoThis is toxic. The man made a gracious response.
- ahmedalsudani 5y agoUnfortunately the crowd has turned into a mob... not the first time we’ve seen this. Wait for the cooldown and hire a PR professional.
- sswam 5y agoIs it just or unjust to over-react to a gross over-reaction?
- windexh8er 5y agoToxic in what way? It's OK for the CEO to publicly fly off the handle expecting this to go away due to his big stick he now wields because he's successfully leveraged the work of giants to his own fortune? A gracious response? No. His apology was not an apology at all. His apology can be distilled down to: "I'm sorry, but I'm still right - and I'm only sorry because the community has called me on it." Toxic? Or warped perception?
- samtheprogram 5y agoHe read the feedback (or at least replied) 3 hours ago. Give him time. Hopefully he’s acknowledging that comment well and we will be hearing from him again soon.
- burnished 5y agotoxic in the sense of appropriateness. your response isn't crazy, but as a response to some one graciously accepting critical feedback it doesn't make much sense. frankly a top level post would have been more appropriate. I think the specific idea at play here is that people should be able to apologize, or at least acknowledge some one criticizing them, without that becoming an avenue for attack. I mean, do you want to participate in a scenario where the only rational response is to simply not engage?