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Pressflip Founder Quits: “I’m Tired Of The Fight”
- davidw 18y ago... and promptly takes up spewing trash again, which is being gobbled up by the whiny masses on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/77sl1/paul_graham_just_shut_your_face_already/ http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/77sl1/paul_grah... What a nasty individual.
- olefoo 18y agoHe does have the virtue of being entertaining. And the 'speaking truth to power' schtick is an evergreen.
- davidw 18y agoDe gustibus non est disputandum and all that, but... that kind of thing is generally not my idea of entertainment, and maddox does it much better in any case. The thing with speaking truth to power is that it helps to actually speak... well, "truth". There are pg essays that I'm not wild about (the unions one, to single one out), but come on, he's hardly the only one saying that now might be a good time to start a company. The recent Warren Buffet article conveyed some similar ideas. And in any case, I've found it possible to disagree with pg's ideas without foaming at the mouth. Admittedly, I've gotten a bit less attention because I don't, so if that's his goal, he succeeded. I just don't think it's a very honorable way of going about it.
- davidw 18y agoOh, also, what's interesting about this whole business is that PG is actually continuing to put his own money on the line as if nothing had changed, and will presumably be able to gather some real data from how the YC startups fare in the next year or two, rather than simply writing about it. Ted bailed on his startup before the economy even really got bad, and has apparently gone back to writing nasty things about other people, which, compared to risking your money and mentoring people, is pretty easy.
- kajecounterhack 18y ago"...writing nasty things about people, which, compared to anything, is pretty easy." So easy Palin can do it. Or to be crude, easier than Palin's daughter. Okay, have your pick.
- davidw 18y agoWhat does that have to do with anything?
- kajecounterhack 18y agoIt doesn't. I'm just bitter as a conservative who is dissatisfied with palin. yeah I deserve to be downmodded.
- gruseom 18y agoAnd the 'speaking truth to power' schtick is an evergreen. Of course it is. But he isn't speaking truth and he isn't speaking to power.
- paul 18y ago"Speaking truth to power"? More like, flinging feces at productive people.
- olefoo 18y agoThat's the pose he adopts; that said if any of the people he writes about have such fragile egos that they can be hurt by what some random programmer says on his blog... then they may be deserving of ridicule.
- helveticaman 18y agoI clicked on the link expecting to be totally appalled by the article, but...OK, it was pretty funny. I'm a PG fanboy with the best of them, but this was still quite entertaining, if nasty. I don't agree with Ted, but he's got the Maddox gift.
- gruseom 18y agoI think he has a small gift as a satirist but has pretty much squandered it. I no longer have any interest in reading him because the quality has gotten so spotty and he doesn't care enough about what's true. A really good writer (or blogger) wouldn't try to pick up where he left off or act like nothing had happened. Someone whose overriding theme has been the failure of others can't ignore his own failures without becoming shallow and, worse, boring.
- qhoxie 18y agoThe original blog post: http://teddziuba.com/2008/10/moving-on-out.html http://teddziuba.com/2008/10/moving-on-out.html Kind of brings to light where all of his anger comes from. Maybe he will ease up for a while and enjoy life.
- KirinDave 18y agoI don't think he will. He's mocked people for a long time, then tried to do what they do and bounced back with a resounding failure. I figured he's not the kind of person to take this gracefully, and his resumption of uncov is exactly what I'm talking about. The thing that's really rich is that if uncov had been active at the time, they would have torn pressflip several new orifices because they were doing a lot of things wrong. It's pretty hardcore hypocritical to admit you don't have the stones for the fight and then go back to making fun of people who do. No matter how bad their code is, at least they're not quitters.
- chaostheory 18y agoI don't get this: "As is Michael Arrington's usual style, he is showing his personal vendetta against me to mischaracterize what I've said." I didn't see anything vindictive or horrible in what Arrington wrote. Maybe it's slightly critical, but it's nothing compared to the stuff on uncov
- ConradHex 18y agoThere are plenty of people who can give harsh criticism, but can't take it. In fact, probably the majority of people are like that.
- jayliew 18y agoOn that topic of breaking down what he wrote .. this is a cross-comment I also left on TC. Ted writes: “As is Michael Arrington’s usual style, he is showing his personal vendetta against me to mischaracterize what I’ve said.” Uhh, let’s see. Ted’s usual style is to write cruel things to mischaracterize other startups, largely writing nasty things to make them look bad, feel bad. And yes, mostly all that he wrote was personal. Careful analysis my ass. Ted writes: “My priorities have changed. I am now facing fatherhood, and I want to do what is best for my family.” And these guys whose startups you delightfully enjoyed tearing into pieces, did they not have their own families that they have to support? Some of them may not have children of their own, but do they not have an aging father and mother who just needs some financial support? Perhaps a sibling that they are trying to help put through college? EVERYONE has their priorities. If you think you’re the only one who faces shifting priorities in life, you’re just plain dumb. Ted writes: “This is horrifically irresponsible on Michael’s part, but that sort of thing is to be expected. Michael, you should be ashamed of yourself.” Ted, you’re known for not exactly being that friendly to startups. Your notoriety is infamous, such that your ill intent is more that “sort of” to be expected - it’s pretty much ALL that anyone can expect from you when you open your mouth. It is you, who should be ashamed of yourself. Last but not least, Arrington’s contribution to startups is at best, a lot, and at worse, greater than zero. This is an unbiased FACT. Ted’s contribution to startups is at best, approaching zero - but largely, negative. A large negative number.
- SwellJoe 18y agoI usually don't take pleasure in the misfortune of others, but I'm having a real hard time not pulling a Nelson, "Ha ha!"
- bootload 18y ago"... mostly because I’m going to be a father in March and need some stability, but also because I’m tired of the fight ... "Ha ha!" ..." Apt. Failing fast though is probably a good idea. Ted reminds me of the difference between Engineers and Entrepreneurs. The former is a subset of the later and playing Engineer is not enough to succeed. Part Engineer, part schmooze, play-acting business type and full time dogs body. I'm beginning to think founders of successful Startups are more chameleon than person. This is the problem with Pressflip, it doesn't turn up anything interesting ~ http://uncov.com/node/245 When Pressflip fails to deliver the goods instead of writing better software, changing the idea or looking for alternatives. Ted bails. Is it the realisation the idea was less than stellar? the market has turned? Or did he get the hard word from the misses who's looking at the lean years ahead? I'm making a conscious effort to avoid feelings of schaedenfraude to Startup founders who fail like this. Then Ted writes articles like this ~ http://uncov.com/paul-graham-shut-your-face http://uncov.com/paul-graham-shut-your-face Ha ha!
- andr 18y agouncov should mock PressFlip.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- tlrobinson 18y agohttp://uncov.com/node/245 http://uncov.com/node/245 http://uncov.com/node/241 http://uncov.com/node/241 http://uncov.com/node/238 http://uncov.com/node/238 Not the usual Uncov-level mockery, but it's a start.
- red 18y agoThis guy does: http://www.startupfail.com/fail/pressflop-our-first-fail/ http://www.startupfail.com/fail/pressflop-our-first-fail/
- maxklein 18y agoWhat we should all learn from this is that when you want to mock the masses, it's best to do so from the balcony of a mansion. Not from within the crowd. It's a fine line between a crowd and a mob.
- fallentimes 18y agoGoogle Alerts + Backtype Alerts > Pressflip.
- tom_rath 18y agoReminds me of the maxim: Be nice to people on the way up, because they're the same ones you're going to meet on the way back down again.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- amix 18y agoDon't throw with stones if you live in a glass house ;-)
- sanj 18y agofrom Anton Ego: "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
- paul9290 18y agoThis could just be a ruse for attention and troll for traffic. If so good job ... everyone is fooled! Are you that smart though?
- joshu 18y agoIt's not clear that there's a vast business opportunity for RSS readers right now. Or is it a search engine? I can't tell.
- dimitar 18y agoCynics are dangerous not only to others but also to themselves.