5 ms·

Unfortunately he just seems to be a twat. I'm not sure exactly what it is about him, but his personality as revealed by his words, body language and attitude ju

by hugh 18y ago

Unfortunately he just seems to be a twat. I'm not sure exactly what it is about him, but his personality as revealed by his words, body language and attitude just strike the rest of the world as undeniably twattish. In an alternative universe, Mark Zuckerberg is working as a junior analyst for some large company, and his workmates think he's a bit of a twat. In this universe, he's the CEO of a billion-dollar company and everybody still thinks he's a twat.

ojbyrne 18y ago
Remember, he's a Harvard twat. Which means in that alternate university, he would have been a senior analyst.
- time_management 18y ago
  If you're talking about investment banks, they all start at the same level. Anyone from Harvard who has to settle for I-banking is not worthy of special status.
unalone 18y ago
Really? Because to me he always seemed like an awkward nerd who felt uncomfortable talking to people. But he always seemed nice about it. Just... nice in an "I have a big idea and suddenly I have to speak in front of a hundred people" way.
rgr 18y ago
This observation is childish at best, and it smells of jealousy.
- aswanson 18y ago
  No, he got it about right.
- omouse 18y ago
  Jealous of what? No profits, no business plan, fumbling with the developer platform and with Beacon (or whatever their ad platform was called)
  - rgr 18y ago
    Are you suggesting that Facebook isn't successful?
    - arockwell 18y ago
      Facebook is still neither successful or unsuccessful in my eyes. They have yet to turn a profit, but its not clear the company is going to fall off a cliff. They still have a ways to go. I am concerned they are still raising tons of money and burning through it so quickly.
    - orib 18y ago
      As a business, it's certainly not a success. It gets massive number of page views, and is very popular, but business isn't a popularity contest. If you can't figure out how to make money, you're not a successful business.
pg 18y ago
His words and body language are no different than lots of young hackers' would be in the same situation. If you are as successful as he is at such a young age, everyone will be predisposed to hate you unless you seem extremely self-deprecating. He doesn't bother to, either because he's a nerd and doesn't know he should, or because he doesn't want to stoop to being a politician. Ergo people hate him. Whenever you despise someone you envy, question your motives.
- yters 18y ago
  That kind of hate is actually counter productive. It is really hate of assertiveness, and since people try to avoid what they hate, they'll become less assertive and less likely to be successful like Mark. Then, instead of most being like Mark, like we should be, we'll continue to get solitary Marks, and the hate will increase - thus we have a vicious cycle. This problem is endemic in academia, and most other social settings I can think of where most people feel impotent, such as high school and socialist countries. That being said, I am solidly on the side of the herd. I am horrible at being assertive and making things happen.
- time_management 18y ago
  Then why is there no contempt-- absolutely none-- among reasonable people for the likes of Paul Graham++, Mitch Kapor, Steve Jobs, or Sergey Brin? Hackers aren't, by and large, an envious crowd. We tend to admire those who are far better than we are, and we like working with them because it enables us to learn an incredible amount fast. There's no point in envying the guy who is five times better when it's possible to study up, practice writing good code, and eventually be as good as he is. (Of course, he'll also improve during this time and still be ahead, but this is not an issue, or even relevant; great hackers benefit the entire ecosystem.) Mark Zuckerberg is different from Graham, Jobs, et al. He's not socially awkward. He's arrogant and annoying and makes terrible design decisions, despite the rather obvious fact that Facebook's rise, at the expense of superior competitors, is entirely the result of fortunate position (Harvard). Most of us wish he would just go away. There's no "hate" for him; we just don't like seeing a person of such mediocre talent and poor decision-making mettle being lifted to the status of our generation's emblem of success. I'd rather let him have his millions and get him out of the way. ++ Edit: did not realize I was replying to Paul Graham when I wrote this. I feel very awkward to have used you as an example in this post, and also to have used your name in third person instead of second.

by hugh 18y ago

ojbyrne 18y ago

Remember, he's a Harvard twat. Which means in that alternate university, he would have been a senior analyst.

time_management 18y ago
If you're talking about investment banks, they all start at the same level. Anyone from Harvard who has to settle for I-banking is not worthy of special status.

unalone 18y ago

Really? Because to me he always seemed like an awkward nerd who felt uncomfortable talking to people. But he always seemed nice about it. Just... nice in an "I have a big idea and suddenly I have to speak in front of a hundred people" way.

rgr 18y ago

This observation is childish at best, and it smells of jealousy.

aswanson 18y ago
No, he got it about right.
omouse 18y ago
Jealous of what? No profits, no business plan, fumbling with the developer platform and with Beacon (or whatever their ad platform was called)
- rgr 18y ago
  Are you suggesting that Facebook isn't successful?
  - arockwell 18y ago
    Facebook is still neither successful or unsuccessful in my eyes. They have yet to turn a profit, but its not clear the company is going to fall off a cliff. They still have a ways to go. I am concerned they are still raising tons of money and burning through it so quickly.
  - orib 18y ago
    As a business, it's certainly not a success. It gets massive number of page views, and is very popular, but business isn't a popularity contest. If you can't figure out how to make money, you're not a successful business.

pg 18y ago

His words and body language are no different than lots of young hackers' would be in the same situation. If you are as successful as he is at such a young age, everyone will be predisposed to hate you unless you seem extremely self-deprecating. He doesn't bother to, either because he's a nerd and doesn't know he should, or because he doesn't want to stoop to being a politician. Ergo people hate him. Whenever you despise someone you envy, question your motives.

yters 18y ago
That kind of hate is actually counter productive. It is really hate of assertiveness, and since people try to avoid what they hate, they'll become less assertive and less likely to be successful like Mark. Then, instead of most being like Mark, like we should be, we'll continue to get solitary Marks, and the hate will increase - thus we have a vicious cycle. This problem is endemic in academia, and most other social settings I can think of where most people feel impotent, such as high school and socialist countries. That being said, I am solidly on the side of the herd. I am horrible at being assertive and making things happen.
time_management 18y ago
Then why is there no contempt-- absolutely none-- among reasonable people for the likes of Paul Graham++, Mitch Kapor, Steve Jobs, or Sergey Brin? Hackers aren't, by and large, an envious crowd. We tend to admire those who are far better than we are, and we like working with them because it enables us to learn an incredible amount fast. There's no point in envying the guy who is five times better when it's possible to study up, practice writing good code, and eventually be as good as he is. (Of course, he'll also improve during this time and still be ahead, but this is not an issue, or even relevant; great hackers benefit the entire ecosystem.) Mark Zuckerberg is different from Graham, Jobs, et al. He's not socially awkward. He's arrogant and annoying and makes terrible design decisions, despite the rather obvious fact that Facebook's rise, at the expense of superior competitors, is entirely the result of fortunate position (Harvard). Most of us wish he would just go away. There's no "hate" for him; we just don't like seeing a person of such mediocre talent and poor decision-making mettle being lifted to the status of our generation's emblem of success. I'd rather let him have his millions and get him out of the way. ++ Edit: did not realize I was replying to Paul Graham when I wrote this. I feel very awkward to have used you as an example in this post, and also to have used your name in third person instead of second.