4 ms·

He does have the virtue of being entertaining. And the 'speaking truth to power' schtick is an evergreen.

by olefoo 18y ago

davidw 18y ago
De 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 ago
  Oh, 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 ago
      What does that have to do with anything?
      - kajecounterhack 18y ago
        It doesn't. I'm just bitter as a conservative who is dissatisfied with palin. yeah I deserve to be downmodded.
gruseom 18y ago
And 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 ago
  That'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.

He does have the virtue of being entertaining. And the 'speaking truth to power' schtick is an evergreen.

by olefoo 18y ago

He does have the virtue of being entertaining. And the 'speaking truth to power' schtick is an evergreen.

De 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 ago
Oh, 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 ago
    What does that have to do with anything?
    - kajecounterhack 18y ago
      It doesn't. I'm just bitter as a conservative who is dissatisfied with palin. yeah I deserve to be downmodded.

gruseom 18y ago

And 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 ago
That'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.