4 ms·

His attack on gawker are anything but commendable. They may have been a trashy gossip site, but attacking press like that is not good for society.

nodesocket 5y ago
Wait, are you really calling gawker press? I assume TMZ is right up there with the Walls Street Journal as well. Yikes that is scary.
- vineyardmike 5y ago
  They were the press. They can be trashy tabloid, as opposed to a respected international publication, but they're still press. Gawker was also a series of publications, not just one (eg. Gizmodo the tech site, LifeHacker, etc).
morelish 5y ago
Really? Gawker published intimate photos of someone without their permission. What Gawker did was very wrong. I don't get why people defend Gawker.
- MiscIdeaMaker99 5y ago
  One doesn't have to defend Gawker to think that what Peter Theil did was atrocious.
  - ALittleLight 5y ago
    So... you think what Gawker did was bad, but Thiel was wrong to stop it?
    - vineyardmike 5y ago
      Gawker did a bad thing, and Thiel funded a massive lawsuit to bury them. Thiel did it because he wanted to silence press that had wronged him. He didn't do it because he wanted to be a savior.
tacitusarc 5y ago
I’ve never understood the perspective that what Thiel did too Gawker was anything but good. Love or hate the guy, he just funded a lawsuit that Gawker assumed they would beat using the classic tactics of bankrupting their opponent. I despise those tactics, it was (rightly IMO) determined that Gawker acted illegally and caused massive damage, and if the Hulk Hogan had been funded by literally any other billionaire I think they would have been applauded. Corporations use “run the meter” tactics to win lawsuits all the time. It’s nice to see that fail for once.
- KerrAvon 5y ago
  You seem to be confused as to which party used which tactics? https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/the-thiel-gawker-saga-takes-an-even-darker-turn https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/the-thiel-gawker-sag... https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2016/06/21/peter-thiels-war-on-gawker-a-timeline/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2016/06/21/peter-thi...
- vineyardmike 5y ago
  Gawker was not a major corp at all, it was a tiny publication. I don't think they thought they would beat him via bankrupting him at all. Thiel approached a ton of people who Gawker wrote about, and volunteered to fund suits until he found a winner. Thiel was not the rich hero, he was trying to a chip in the armor for a long time to seek revenge on a petty grudge.
  - telotortium 5y ago
    > Gawker was not a major corp at all, it was a tiny publication. Lol, in 2014 Gawker had $45m in revenue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker_Media#cite_note-BI-18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker_Media#cite_note-BI-18), and it had hundreds of employees. Sure, it wasn't quite the NYT, but it wasn't a newsletter or a local paper by any means.

nodesocket 5y ago

Wait, are you really calling gawker press? I assume TMZ is right up there with the Walls Street Journal as well. Yikes that is scary.

vineyardmike 5y ago
They were the press. They can be trashy tabloid, as opposed to a respected international publication, but they're still press. Gawker was also a series of publications, not just one (eg. Gizmodo the tech site, LifeHacker, etc).

morelish 5y ago

Really? Gawker published intimate photos of someone without their permission. What Gawker did was very wrong. I don't get why people defend Gawker.

MiscIdeaMaker99 5y ago
One doesn't have to defend Gawker to think that what Peter Theil did was atrocious.
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  So... you think what Gawker did was bad, but Thiel was wrong to stop it?
  - vineyardmike 5y ago
    Gawker did a bad thing, and Thiel funded a massive lawsuit to bury them. Thiel did it because he wanted to silence press that had wronged him. He didn't do it because he wanted to be a savior.

tacitusarc 5y ago

I’ve never understood the perspective that what Thiel did too Gawker was anything but good. Love or hate the guy, he just funded a lawsuit that Gawker assumed they would beat using the classic tactics of bankrupting their opponent. I despise those tactics, it was (rightly IMO) determined that Gawker acted illegally and caused massive damage, and if the Hulk Hogan had been funded by literally any other billionaire I think they would have been applauded. Corporations use “run the meter” tactics to win lawsuits all the time. It’s nice to see that fail for once.

KerrAvon 5y ago
You seem to be confused as to which party used which tactics? https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/the-thiel-gawker-saga-takes-an-even-darker-turn https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/the-thiel-gawker-sag... https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2016/06/21/peter-thiels-war-on-gawker-a-timeline/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2016/06/21/peter-thi...
vineyardmike 5y ago
Gawker was not a major corp at all, it was a tiny publication. I don't think they thought they would beat him via bankrupting him at all. Thiel approached a ton of people who Gawker wrote about, and volunteered to fund suits until he found a winner. Thiel was not the rich hero, he was trying to a chip in the armor for a long time to seek revenge on a petty grudge.
- telotortium 5y ago
  > Gawker was not a major corp at all, it was a tiny publication. Lol, in 2014 Gawker had $45m in revenue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker_Media#cite_note-BI-18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawker_Media#cite_note-BI-18), and it had hundreds of employees. Sure, it wasn't quite the NYT, but it wasn't a newsletter or a local paper by any means.