5 ms·

I don't get it, this reads kind of weird. It kind of reads a little like jealousy, I guess? You spent 3/4 of the article slamming the guy in serious way then th

I don't get it, this reads kind of weird. It kind of reads a little like jealousy, I guess? You spent 3/4 of the article slamming the guy in serious way then the last 2 paragraphs saying "I guess he became professional." Weird.

chrisacky 15y ago
Hardly. Strongly disagree if that is the vibe you took from the article. It just reinforces the: "tough guys win, nice guys lose" mentality. (Albeit, the original poster didn't exactly lose). People who try and juggernaut their way often possess traits which might allow them to steamroll through certain personalities. This BS pitch clearly didn't work on the OP, and at that point, that was all it was a BS pitch. But it clearly worked on other people.
- karamazov 15y ago
  I think the whole point is it might not be BS any more; the guy was selling smoke initially, but is now running a valuable business.
  - jonathanwallace 15y ago
    Or, "don't judge a book by its cover?"
    - felipemnoa 15y ago
      "But the thing that people forget sometimes, is that even though appearances can be misleading, they're usually not." Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality
  - nathanlustig1 15y ago
    Its clearly not BS anymore, Chegg is an incredible business now thats providing a great service. They pivoted both in business model and likely in business tactics.
gwern 15y ago
I read this as one of the stories about a 'mistake' which was, from another perspective, not a mistake at all. To reverse the OP, imagine reading an article by a lottery winner on how negative the expected value of a ticket is, how bad the odds are, what 1 in millions really feels like, how many you'd have to buy before a 50% odds of winning etc, all of which is impeccably correct and inarguable - followed by a discussion of how he won anyway. 'I came out ahead, for the wrong reasons', vs the OP's 'I came out behind, for the right reasons'. Both are interesting to read, if only for imagining whether one would have the intestinal fortitude to stand by one's arguments despite the results.
- nathanlustig1 15y ago
  I actually don't view it as coming out ahead or behind, just differently. I think its fun to look back and see how decisions at one point in your life would change where you end up. Not better, not worse, just different.

chrisacky 15y ago

Hardly. Strongly disagree if that is the vibe you took from the article. It just reinforces the: "tough guys win, nice guys lose" mentality. (Albeit, the original poster didn't exactly lose). People who try and juggernaut their way often possess traits which might allow them to steamroll through certain personalities. This BS pitch clearly didn't work on the OP, and at that point, that was all it was a BS pitch. But it clearly worked on other people.

karamazov 15y ago
I think the whole point is it might not be BS any more; the guy was selling smoke initially, but is now running a valuable business.
- jonathanwallace 15y ago
  Or, "don't judge a book by its cover?"
  - felipemnoa 15y ago
    "But the thing that people forget sometimes, is that even though appearances can be misleading, they're usually not." Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and The Methods of Rationality
- nathanlustig1 15y ago
  Its clearly not BS anymore, Chegg is an incredible business now thats providing a great service. They pivoted both in business model and likely in business tactics.

gwern 15y ago

I read this as one of the stories about a 'mistake' which was, from another perspective, not a mistake at all. To reverse the OP, imagine reading an article by a lottery winner on how negative the expected value of a ticket is, how bad the odds are, what 1 in millions really feels like, how many you'd have to buy before a 50% odds of winning etc, all of which is impeccably correct and inarguable - followed by a discussion of how he won anyway. 'I came out ahead, for the wrong reasons', vs the OP's 'I came out behind, for the right reasons'. Both are interesting to read, if only for imagining whether one would have the intestinal fortitude to stand by one's arguments despite the results.

nathanlustig1 15y ago
I actually don't view it as coming out ahead or behind, just differently. I think its fun to look back and see how decisions at one point in your life would change where you end up. Not better, not worse, just different.