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Like Notch said... "you are an insane idiot!". What did the CEO of OMGPOP had to gain from making those remarks ? He surely didn't expect the world to take his

by zrgiu_ 15y ago

Like Notch said... "you are an insane idiot!". What did the CEO of OMGPOP had to gain from making those remarks ? He surely didn't expect the world to take his side.. Even if Shay Pierce really was "the weakest link of the team", you just don't say that. You just got bought for $200 million, now it's the time to show that you deserved to be the CEO of that company, by being diplomatic, respecting those around you (or who used to be around you) and now calculating your every move. Your opinion no longer just affects yourself, it affects your whole company, as well as (in a lesser extent), the company that just bought you.

ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
True. It is indeed very unprofessional. But how come people like him are held up to such high standards? When you're not anyone important you can be brutally honest and say what you want like everyone else does. But as soon as you're in the public eye you're put on this pedestal. This is what scares the hell out of me. I'm a very uncensored person who says what he means and means what he says (and am an asshole sometimes). So the thought that one day IF I'm successful in getting my business off the ground a life of censorship awaits me. :( Then I see celebrities like Snoop Dog (who owned a porn company), Sarah Silverman (who has some of the most offensive jokes imaginable), lil john (self explanatory), Colin Farrel, Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan, and other well known figures who say and do anything they want yet still have successful careers, keep starring in movies, and even get in on really good business deals and endorsements. Lets not forget the Lady Gaga / Polaroid event where during the unveiling she said "smile you're fucking famous" and other unprofessional phrases. It's like there's absolutely NO consequence for them. I guess because it's their "image" and it's "expected". So I guess the moral of the story is, become an offensive comedian /or/ celebrity known for being crazy and work your way up towards serious entrepreneur. That way you can talk shit and get away with it. OR start out as the well spoken guy, and just 1 accidental F-bomb later, show up on the news as the bad guy and get thrown out by your company board. EDIT: ALSO, wtf did Notch gain by saying "You're an insane idiot"?! What did he gain from his remark?
- tbsdy 15y ago
  People like him are held up to high standards because they have responsibilities and are paid accordingly. It's called leadership. Leaders watch what they say. As for celebrities acting badly, this doesn't make it particularly admirable. I should point out that no F-bomb was used by the CEO in question - he merely showed a complete lack of class. There really was no upside. A lot of people wouldn't have known, or perhaps wouldn't have cared, that Shay didn't join the new company. I'd suggest that the OMGPOP CEO be very careful about what he says. Saying someone was the "weakest link" in a team with no backup might lead to defamation proceedings.
- Swizec 15y ago
  The solution seems self-evident: Being so good it doesn't matter what you say and being known for doing just that.
- pmjordan 15y ago
  It's not so much how offensive you are, but whom it's directed at and what the relative power balance is. Powerful or famous people will usually only attack or make fun of those who are more famous or powerful than them.
- j_baker 15y ago
  Celebrities can get away with a lot, but they don't have carte blanche to say whatever they want. For instance, Lady Gaga's comment indicates that she has some business acumen. I guarantee she wouldn't have gotten away with saying something like "Nobody cares about Polaroid. This is about me.", which probably better reflects what she was really thinking. But since she said something that reflects well on her business partner, she can ultimately get away with using a bit of salty language.
- _delirium 15y ago
  I think some of it is the kind of comment it was as well. Negative public comments about specific employees are the kind of thing that would make a lot of people think the CEO was someone you should steer clear of, even if he weren't that high profile. If you saw it in a Tweet from a 10-person startup, it probably wouldn't make news, but it might be a red flag to potential employees. When you add to it that the guy is hugely wealthy, it just gives it an added aura of entitled-rich-asshole-looking-down-on-the-plebs. Actually it reminds me of the kinds of reactions Sebastian Marshall gets around here for his jerky/arrogant/employee-badmouthing style of blogging, and that guy isn't even wealthy or famous (except HN-famous).
vaksel 15y ago
yeah, the 2nd one was even dumber: What's so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many... since the guy specifically went out of his way not to "ride on his back" because of morals. Frankly from his tweets it sure looks like the biggest failure on the team is the CEO...they just got lucky and instead of being humble, he is doing the completely wrong thing...and if he was such a failure as an employee, why did such a great manager keep him employed
- duck 15y ago
  And the just one of many remark really makes the whole team look bad, like there are others that he thinks the same of who are making the move.
- moe 15y ago
  they just got lucky Can't stress this enough. I liked OMGPOP from the start, when they were still that obscure flash-site for 6-12yr olds. But that was before the CEO announced that he's an asshole... "DrawSomething" most likely got popular mainly because the implementation is much better than the other Pictionary clones (which have been around forever). And that's an aspect that Mr. CEO probably wasn't involved with at all, but rather his lowly developers. The one thing that Mr. CEO could attribute to himself would be if he smelled the opportunity early and executed on it. But he didn't. It took them 3 years to port their most popular flash-game (then called "Draw my thing") to the cashcow mobile platform. That doesn't seem like a calculated move to brag about, does it? No respect for this guy.
  - pud 15y ago
    they just got lucky That's what unsuccessful people say when someone becomes successful. I think there are two reasons for the typical "he just got lucky" insult. 1) When you tear down a successful person, you get to transfer a little of their success to you. (aka "player hatin'") 2) Level playing field. It's nice to imagine that everyone has the same amount of "luck," and therefore the same chance of being successful. It's disheartening to accept that some people might work harder or have more natural talent than you. Chalking it up to "luck" gives you hope that it could just as easily happen to you one day. "Hope is the only thing stronger than fear" - Hunger Games Btw, I think what the OMGPOP guy wrote on Twitter was mean and dumb. He shouldn't have written it. And I don't know these guys. And I actually believe that most success is rooted in luck (or chance or circumstance). But everything I've read about OMGPOP says that they struggled for 6+ years and finally made it big with Draw Something. "The harder I worked, the luckier I got." - Samuel Goldwyn
noobface 15y ago
He's going to fit in very well at Zynga.

by zrgiu_ 15y ago

ChrisNorstrom 15y ago

True. It is indeed very unprofessional. But how come people like him are held up to such high standards? When you're not anyone important you can be brutally honest and say what you want like everyone else does. But as soon as you're in the public eye you're put on this pedestal. This is what scares the hell out of me. I'm a very uncensored person who says what he means and means what he says (and am an asshole sometimes). So the thought that one day IF I'm successful in getting my business off the ground a life of censorship awaits me. :( Then I see celebrities like Snoop Dog (who owned a porn company), Sarah Silverman (who has some of the most offensive jokes imaginable), lil john (self explanatory), Colin Farrel, Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan, and other well known figures who say and do anything they want yet still have successful careers, keep starring in movies, and even get in on really good business deals and endorsements. Lets not forget the Lady Gaga / Polaroid event where during the unveiling she said "smile you're fucking famous" and other unprofessional phrases. It's like there's absolutely NO consequence for them. I guess because it's their "image" and it's "expected". So I guess the moral of the story is, become an offensive comedian /or/ celebrity known for being crazy and work your way up towards serious entrepreneur. That way you can talk shit and get away with it. OR start out as the well spoken guy, and just 1 accidental F-bomb later, show up on the news as the bad guy and get thrown out by your company board. EDIT: ALSO, wtf did Notch gain by saying "You're an insane idiot"?! What did he gain from his remark?

tbsdy 15y ago
People like him are held up to high standards because they have responsibilities and are paid accordingly. It's called leadership. Leaders watch what they say. As for celebrities acting badly, this doesn't make it particularly admirable. I should point out that no F-bomb was used by the CEO in question - he merely showed a complete lack of class. There really was no upside. A lot of people wouldn't have known, or perhaps wouldn't have cared, that Shay didn't join the new company. I'd suggest that the OMGPOP CEO be very careful about what he says. Saying someone was the "weakest link" in a team with no backup might lead to defamation proceedings.
Swizec 15y ago
The solution seems self-evident: Being so good it doesn't matter what you say and being known for doing just that.
pmjordan 15y ago
It's not so much how offensive you are, but whom it's directed at and what the relative power balance is. Powerful or famous people will usually only attack or make fun of those who are more famous or powerful than them.
j_baker 15y ago
Celebrities can get away with a lot, but they don't have carte blanche to say whatever they want. For instance, Lady Gaga's comment indicates that she has some business acumen. I guarantee she wouldn't have gotten away with saying something like "Nobody cares about Polaroid. This is about me.", which probably better reflects what she was really thinking. But since she said something that reflects well on her business partner, she can ultimately get away with using a bit of salty language.
_delirium 15y ago
I think some of it is the kind of comment it was as well. Negative public comments about specific employees are the kind of thing that would make a lot of people think the CEO was someone you should steer clear of, even if he weren't that high profile. If you saw it in a Tweet from a 10-person startup, it probably wouldn't make news, but it might be a red flag to potential employees. When you add to it that the guy is hugely wealthy, it just gives it an added aura of entitled-rich-asshole-looking-down-on-the-plebs. Actually it reminds me of the kinds of reactions Sebastian Marshall gets around here for his jerky/arrogant/employee-badmouthing style of blogging, and that guy isn't even wealthy or famous (except HN-famous).

vaksel 15y ago

yeah, the 2nd one was even dumber: What's so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many... since the guy specifically went out of his way not to "ride on his back" because of morals. Frankly from his tweets it sure looks like the biggest failure on the team is the CEO...they just got lucky and instead of being humble, he is doing the completely wrong thing...and if he was such a failure as an employee, why did such a great manager keep him employed

duck 15y ago
And the just one of many remark really makes the whole team look bad, like there are others that he thinks the same of who are making the move.
moe 15y ago
they just got lucky Can't stress this enough. I liked OMGPOP from the start, when they were still that obscure flash-site for 6-12yr olds. But that was before the CEO announced that he's an asshole... "DrawSomething" most likely got popular mainly because the implementation is much better than the other Pictionary clones (which have been around forever). And that's an aspect that Mr. CEO probably wasn't involved with at all, but rather his lowly developers. The one thing that Mr. CEO could attribute to himself would be if he smelled the opportunity early and executed on it. But he didn't. It took them 3 years to port their most popular flash-game (then called "Draw my thing") to the cashcow mobile platform. That doesn't seem like a calculated move to brag about, does it? No respect for this guy.
- pud 15y ago
  they just got lucky That's what unsuccessful people say when someone becomes successful. I think there are two reasons for the typical "he just got lucky" insult. 1) When you tear down a successful person, you get to transfer a little of their success to you. (aka "player hatin'") 2) Level playing field. It's nice to imagine that everyone has the same amount of "luck," and therefore the same chance of being successful. It's disheartening to accept that some people might work harder or have more natural talent than you. Chalking it up to "luck" gives you hope that it could just as easily happen to you one day. "Hope is the only thing stronger than fear" - Hunger Games Btw, I think what the OMGPOP guy wrote on Twitter was mean and dumb. He shouldn't have written it. And I don't know these guys. And I actually believe that most success is rooted in luck (or chance or circumstance). But everything I've read about OMGPOP says that they struggled for 6+ years and finally made it big with Draw Something. "The harder I worked, the luckier I got." - Samuel Goldwyn

noobface 15y ago

He's going to fit in very well at Zynga.