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Now, that is funny! It takes real audacity to write a post trashing YC and then using news.yc to promote the post. (I am assuming the implications of pg's comm

Now, that is funny! It takes real audacity to write a post trashing YC and then using news.yc to promote the post. (I am assuming the implications of pg's comment are true of course). Why is this guy so angry, anyway? Anyone know?

pg 19y ago
I have no idea. One of the interesting byproducts of YC is that it plays something like the role of a control in an experiment. As companies go, we're way on the benevolent end. As individuals, we're done financially. We're mainly doing this because it's a cool hack. And yet there are still some number of people who just hate us. I think the conclusion is that there's a sort of background radiation of people who will hate you if you become sufficiently conspicuous, no matter what you do. This wasn't a big surprise to me. I learned it from Slashdot comments on my essays back in the day. But I think some of the other YC partners find it confusing. One of them was just asking me "why do these people hate us?" But there is no why; it's just randomness.
- waleedka 19y ago
  Agents of change always had their haters who didn't like the change. There is a clear shift in how Internet startups are created. They're starting smaller and moving faster. If you're following the news of Startup Weekend, it's an example of how fast products are being released these days. YC happened to be one of the leaders in this trend, and probably the most known, so you're the target of everyone who hates the change. They might not know you personally, but they don't like the change they're seeing and they blame it on you. Admittedly, though. It was funny. How did he know I eat Ramen?!!
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
- epi0Bauqu 19y ago
  Yeah, I was just wondering if there was a specific known story behind this that could be shared, purely for entertainment purposes. I guess there isn't. I know this general behavior quite well. It has happened both to me personally and to my last company many times. It used to annoy me, but now I have a similar attitude to yours. The most common scenario in my case was that I would find myself or my company attacked in some blog, often anonymously, as in this case. The attack would usually consist of describing some elaborate nefarious conspiracy theory. Of course, there was never any conspiracy and there was always a very simple and benevolent explanation. The people also never tried to contact us and ask us to investigate their issues, which presumably would have been easier than thinking up and then writing up and posting a conspiracy theory. The first thing I always did was what your reaction seems to have been--check the server logs. There are usually some great clues to what is really going on in there.

pg 19y ago

I have no idea. One of the interesting byproducts of YC is that it plays something like the role of a control in an experiment. As companies go, we're way on the benevolent end. As individuals, we're done financially. We're mainly doing this because it's a cool hack. And yet there are still some number of people who just hate us. I think the conclusion is that there's a sort of background radiation of people who will hate you if you become sufficiently conspicuous, no matter what you do. This wasn't a big surprise to me. I learned it from Slashdot comments on my essays back in the day. But I think some of the other YC partners find it confusing. One of them was just asking me "why do these people hate us?" But there is no why; it's just randomness.

waleedka 19y ago
Agents of change always had their haters who didn't like the change. There is a clear shift in how Internet startups are created. They're starting smaller and moving faster. If you're following the news of Startup Weekend, it's an example of how fast products are being released these days. YC happened to be one of the leaders in this trend, and probably the most known, so you're the target of everyone who hates the change. They might not know you personally, but they don't like the change they're seeing and they blame it on you. Admittedly, though. It was funny. How did he know I eat Ramen?!!
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
epi0Bauqu 19y ago
Yeah, I was just wondering if there was a specific known story behind this that could be shared, purely for entertainment purposes. I guess there isn't. I know this general behavior quite well. It has happened both to me personally and to my last company many times. It used to annoy me, but now I have a similar attitude to yours. The most common scenario in my case was that I would find myself or my company attacked in some blog, often anonymously, as in this case. The attack would usually consist of describing some elaborate nefarious conspiracy theory. Of course, there was never any conspiracy and there was always a very simple and benevolent explanation. The people also never tried to contact us and ask us to investigate their issues, which presumably would have been easier than thinking up and then writing up and posting a conspiracy theory. The first thing I always did was what your reaction seems to have been--check the server logs. There are usually some great clues to what is really going on in there.