10 ms·

could you share a bit more? Why were you banned? What did they not approve of. As someone who's considered YC, it would be great to know some of this

breck 4y ago
> Why were you banned? I don't know. > could you share a bit more? I still have not been able to get to the bottom of it. My ex stole a bunch of money from me, lied like crazy and ran off with our two daughters (this part is heart breaking and kills me every day). We are in a bitter legal battle (an ironic thing is I am ordered to pay her legal bills), and she has sadly perjured herself multiple times. She somehow got YC involved, and was able to steal $50,000 from my business Mercury account. I couldn't believe it, and still haven't gotten an explanation or apology from Mercury. I raised bloody hell on the forums when that happened, and so I'm guessing the ban was related to that. I think it might be a cover your ass thing, as they really fucked up that one and are probably worried I'll sue (which I may, as I have great cause and people have been encouraging me to, but I'd rather focus on more positive things in life). They've done their best to censor me, but luckily there are mostly honest people there and many stick up for me. I'll keep fighting for the truth.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- OnlineGladiator 4y ago
  Can you please send me a link to your story? I started looking through your comment history and the first thing I noticed was this comment doesn't show up (probably because it's a descendant of a flagged comment), and rather than go looking for something that may have already been hidden on HN I figured I'd just ask.
  - sillysaurusx 4y ago
    One way to view those is to go into your profile and flip “showdead” to yes. Careful of the zombies though.
    - garbagetime 4y ago
      I don't think that works. It will show the dead, but not their children.
      - sillysaurusx 4y ago
        Hmm. Could you point out an example? If something related to the showdead mechanics have changed, that would be quite interesting. For me, it’s always reliably shown everything.
        garbagetime 4y ago
        Sure. Here's a recent comment from the user dang: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34271566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34271566 And here's his page, where the comment can't be seen: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dang https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dang --- And here's another comment, also from dang, where he talked about this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34264605 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34264605 > this how HN's software works these days. We didn't do anything specific to the thread; it's just that users flagged the root comment.
        sillysaurusx 4y ago
        That’s interesting. I suspect it’s special cased for admin accounts specifically. The reason might be that users often pick fights with mods. Dan’s comment page might be overwhelmed by such threads if left unchecked. pg once noted that pg’s own account was highly watched relative to other accounts, so maybe users were following Dan around and adding fuel to the very fires he was trying to put out. The reason I say that is because I can’t find any examples of this phenomenon except his account. Do you know of any? E.g. this thread does show up on the flagged user’s profile page, contrary to what others were saying. It’s right below this one for me: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=breck&next=34266186#34271727 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=breck&next=34266186#... It also seems to show up on everyone else’s page: mine, tptacek’s, etc. Cheers for pointing that out. Stuff like this is fascinating, and we rarely get the chance to nerd out about it. EDIT: interestingly, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34265016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34265016 does show up.
  - dang 4y ago
    > this comment doesn't show up (probably because it's a descendant of a flagged comment) Correct - this how HN's software works these days. We didn't do anything specific to the thread; it's just that users flagged the root comment. Btw I wasn't part of any internal YC discussions about banning anybody but I know and like breck from our time in W09 together, I have a lot of experience with this on the HN side, and you're unlikely to be able to extract the real story from material on the internet. Speaking generally, there's an asymmetry with stories like this: one side can take to the open internet and say anything, while the other side can't or won't—and sometimes one of the reasons, ironically, is to protect that very person.
    - nmfisher 4y ago
      Irrespective of how many sides there are to the original story, why is the parent comment flagged? He did YC, but he's not in the directory - those two statements are true, no?
      - tptacek 4y ago
        He can't tell you. Users flag things, not admins.
        nmfisher 4y ago
        Admins can’t unflag?
        dang 4y ago
        I can't tell you why users flagged it, and we don't often unflag things that users have flagged. But if you want a reason: the comment wasn't just saying a couple of true things neutrally; it was baiting a drama that has already played out repetitively quite a few times, and is not possible to discuss publicly.
        sillysaurusx 4y ago
        (Admins flag too; it’s their duty. We wouldn’t want to be here if users were the only ones doing the flagging, for a bunch of reasons. Suffice to say, the HN team does a fantastic job.)
- reducesuffering 4y ago
  I'm saying this because I would want someone to tell me this if I was going through what you're going through. Forget YC, the $50k, and your startup right now. It seems like you're experiencing mental illness which is distorting your ability to see things accurately. 12 weeks ago you stated: "Our team is going to radically accelerate the cures for cancer in 12 weeks."[0], but there is no team and you haven't done that. It seems like delusions of grandeur from psychosis, maybe related to pandemic isolation. It's apparent to anyone seeing your HN submissions and twitter. It's why people from YC are "ghosting" you. You need to immediately see a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist, and get to the bottom of this. Do it for your family. Your startup and change-the-world ambitions can wait one year. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32825826 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32825826
  - sillysaurusx 4y ago
    This is a very kind comment. In situations like this, they often won't help themselves. I recently went through it with a close friend. https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1602163797560627201 https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1602163797560627201 My wife went through it with a family member. I just wanted to reassure you that even if your comment has no effect, it's not "your fault" -- it turns out that there's ~nothing anyone can do, short of dragging them to the hospital. Once our family member was hospitalized and started taking medication (they initially refused), he snapped out of it very quickly. Less than a week, I think. But it was very difficult to get them into the hospital in the first place. In my friend's case, he believed that everyone in his apartment was going to attack him; in my family member's case, they thought that black cars were full of agents trying to get them; and it appears that in OP's case, he feels that YC's out to get him, when it's anything but. It's often just one of those sad situations where we can't do anything but be kind and empathetic.
    - reducesuffering 4y ago
      I didn't feel very kind, but thank you. I've lost count of how many people I've seen on HN teeter on homelessness because of obvious mental health issues, sometimes causing past felonies. I'm at a loss why it seems so much more prevalent these days, but it's heartbreaking and concerning that it's possible for any of us to eventually mentally break.

breck 4y ago

> Why were you banned? I don't know. > could you share a bit more? I still have not been able to get to the bottom of it. My ex stole a bunch of money from me, lied like crazy and ran off with our two daughters (this part is heart breaking and kills me every day). We are in a bitter legal battle (an ironic thing is I am ordered to pay her legal bills), and she has sadly perjured herself multiple times. She somehow got YC involved, and was able to steal $50,000 from my business Mercury account. I couldn't believe it, and still haven't gotten an explanation or apology from Mercury. I raised bloody hell on the forums when that happened, and so I'm guessing the ban was related to that. I think it might be a cover your ass thing, as they really fucked up that one and are probably worried I'll sue (which I may, as I have great cause and people have been encouraging me to, but I'd rather focus on more positive things in life). They've done their best to censor me, but luckily there are mostly honest people there and many stick up for me. I'll keep fighting for the truth.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
OnlineGladiator 4y ago
Can you please send me a link to your story? I started looking through your comment history and the first thing I noticed was this comment doesn't show up (probably because it's a descendant of a flagged comment), and rather than go looking for something that may have already been hidden on HN I figured I'd just ask.
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  One way to view those is to go into your profile and flip “showdead” to yes. Careful of the zombies though.
  - garbagetime 4y ago
    I don't think that works. It will show the dead, but not their children.
    - sillysaurusx 4y ago
      Hmm. Could you point out an example? If something related to the showdead mechanics have changed, that would be quite interesting. For me, it’s always reliably shown everything.
      - garbagetime 4y ago
        Sure. Here's a recent comment from the user dang: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34271566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34271566 And here's his page, where the comment can't be seen: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dang https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dang --- And here's another comment, also from dang, where he talked about this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34264605 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34264605 > this how HN's software works these days. We didn't do anything specific to the thread; it's just that users flagged the root comment.
        sillysaurusx 4y ago
        That’s interesting. I suspect it’s special cased for admin accounts specifically. The reason might be that users often pick fights with mods. Dan’s comment page might be overwhelmed by such threads if left unchecked. pg once noted that pg’s own account was highly watched relative to other accounts, so maybe users were following Dan around and adding fuel to the very fires he was trying to put out. The reason I say that is because I can’t find any examples of this phenomenon except his account. Do you know of any? E.g. this thread does show up on the flagged user’s profile page, contrary to what others were saying. It’s right below this one for me: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=breck&next=34266186#34271727 https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=breck&next=34266186#... It also seems to show up on everyone else’s page: mine, tptacek’s, etc. Cheers for pointing that out. Stuff like this is fascinating, and we rarely get the chance to nerd out about it. EDIT: interestingly, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34265016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34265016 does show up.
- dang 4y ago
  > this comment doesn't show up (probably because it's a descendant of a flagged comment) Correct - this how HN's software works these days. We didn't do anything specific to the thread; it's just that users flagged the root comment. Btw I wasn't part of any internal YC discussions about banning anybody but I know and like breck from our time in W09 together, I have a lot of experience with this on the HN side, and you're unlikely to be able to extract the real story from material on the internet. Speaking generally, there's an asymmetry with stories like this: one side can take to the open internet and say anything, while the other side can't or won't—and sometimes one of the reasons, ironically, is to protect that very person.
  - nmfisher 4y ago
    Irrespective of how many sides there are to the original story, why is the parent comment flagged? He did YC, but he's not in the directory - those two statements are true, no?
    - tptacek 4y ago
      He can't tell you. Users flag things, not admins.
      - nmfisher 4y ago
        Admins can’t unflag?
        dang 4y ago
        I can't tell you why users flagged it, and we don't often unflag things that users have flagged. But if you want a reason: the comment wasn't just saying a couple of true things neutrally; it was baiting a drama that has already played out repetitively quite a few times, and is not possible to discuss publicly.
      - sillysaurusx 4y ago
        (Admins flag too; it’s their duty. We wouldn’t want to be here if users were the only ones doing the flagging, for a bunch of reasons. Suffice to say, the HN team does a fantastic job.)
reducesuffering 4y ago
I'm saying this because I would want someone to tell me this if I was going through what you're going through. Forget YC, the $50k, and your startup right now. It seems like you're experiencing mental illness which is distorting your ability to see things accurately. 12 weeks ago you stated: "Our team is going to radically accelerate the cures for cancer in 12 weeks."[0], but there is no team and you haven't done that. It seems like delusions of grandeur from psychosis, maybe related to pandemic isolation. It's apparent to anyone seeing your HN submissions and twitter. It's why people from YC are "ghosting" you. You need to immediately see a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist, and get to the bottom of this. Do it for your family. Your startup and change-the-world ambitions can wait one year. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32825826 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32825826
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  This is a very kind comment. In situations like this, they often won't help themselves. I recently went through it with a close friend. https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1602163797560627201 https://twitter.com/theshawwn/status/1602163797560627201 My wife went through it with a family member. I just wanted to reassure you that even if your comment has no effect, it's not "your fault" -- it turns out that there's ~nothing anyone can do, short of dragging them to the hospital. Once our family member was hospitalized and started taking medication (they initially refused), he snapped out of it very quickly. Less than a week, I think. But it was very difficult to get them into the hospital in the first place. In my friend's case, he believed that everyone in his apartment was going to attack him; in my family member's case, they thought that black cars were full of agents trying to get them; and it appears that in OP's case, he feels that YC's out to get him, when it's anything but. It's often just one of those sad situations where we can't do anything but be kind and empathetic.
  - reducesuffering 4y ago
    I didn't feel very kind, but thank you. I've lost count of how many people I've seen on HN teeter on homelessness because of obvious mental health issues, sometimes causing past felonies. I'm at a loss why it seems so much more prevalent these days, but it's heartbreaking and concerning that it's possible for any of us to eventually mentally break.