5 ms·

Give Us Your Geniuses: Why Seeking Smart Immigrants Is a No-Brainer

24 points by a5seo 14y ago

neeson 14y ago
Well this is interesting. Third story from the top is about how Reddit is kickbanning a bunch of sites (e.g. the Atlantic) for nasty SEO, then a5seo submits an Atlantic story, his history is full of submits by the Atlantic, and he has steady stream of submissions with zero comments. Joke? Art? An SEOer not paying attention?
- anigbrowl 14y ago
  Yeah, I think OP owes us some explanation.
  - a5seo 14y ago
    I'm the OP. So here's the deal... I read The Atlantic daily. I actually wrote a script to check their feed and score the stories via the sharedcount API and email me the best-of-the-best. If something is interesting to me and I believe it would be useful to other startup hackers like me, I submit it. It's that simple. If there's something to be gained from doing this (aside from hopefully spurring an interesting discussion on HN), I'm not smart enough to figure out what it is. The people who are anti The Atlantic should re-read the posting guidelines which describe as on-topic, "Anything that good hackers would find interesting." Interested in behavioral economics? Government policy that affects startups? Human psychology that we should accommodate in our apps? Technology trends? Yeah, I'm sorry to say but The Atlantic, Salon, Wired, etc. are some of the best at covering that stuff. If this content is no longer welcome on HN, we need to get a LOT more precise about the Guidelines.
    - anigbrowl 14y ago
      Look, I like the Atlantic too, but your username looks a bit weird - SEO rubs a lot of people on HN the wrong way.
      - a5seo 14y ago
        > SEO rubs a lot of people on HN the wrong way. It's too bad. The bottom line is that what SEO means/does is pretty wide ranging, and my idea of it (making content usable/understable for bots) is very different from the dismissive circus caricature conjured by the masses. But my bet is that I'll win the meaning battle in the long term. patio11 and randfish are good examples of people who are moving the perception toward reality. For all of the people on HN who bitch about how MBA types have idiotic stereotypes of programmers, it might be worth considering the view from our own glass house.
- graue 14y ago
  The OP looks like a legitimate user to me. Thoughtful comments on other stories, and recent submissions from a wide variety of sources, with no publisher clearly favored. I immediately thought the same as you when I saw an Atlantic link, though.
- tptacek 14y ago
  There are a bunch of users like this on HN. Look at any "ITWorld" story that hits HN; odds are, it's been submitted by a single-purpose account that submits only stories from ITWorld. Torrentfreak has had similar users.
arjunnarayan 14y ago
I'm a "highly skilled immigrant". I moved to the US at the age of 17, to go to college (on full financial aid). I graduated and stuck on for a PhD in computer science. American private organizations (i.e. Williams College) have spent $200,000 on my education. The NSF (which indirectly through my advisor's grant funds my graduate education) spends $80,000+ per year on my education. ($160,000 so far, and counting) Let's leave alone the stupid fact that my visa (F-1) is explicitly a non-immigrant visa (if I say that I have an intention to immigrate to the US someday; I can be deported or denied re-entry or visa renewal). So time spent in the US doesn't count for squat. If I hypothetically wanted to stay in the US, I would have to go to the "back of the line" and get an H1-B. I'm from India, so unless I qualify for an EB-1 visa (i.e. I get a tenure track position at a top research university) it's 5+ years on the Green Card waiting list. During those 5+ years on the waiting list I am tied to an employer. This, obviously, decreases my negotiating situation. If I get fired, I have 2 weeks to find a new job or get deported. If I switch jobs, the green-card wait time can in some conditions be restarted. I am at the whims of a ridiculous bureaucracy at all times (the few times I've dealt with USCIS for employment authorization for internships have been a nightmare). The H1-B is a poor option. Forget startups. In contrast, due to my youth and education I am eligible for a work-permit not tied to any particular employer in Canada, and qualify for permanent residency in a year or two. Same with Singapore. The UK used to be the same before the Conservatives came to power and halted all immigration. To the xenophobes, I'm not saying I have a right to enter your country. I'm just asking whether it's in your best interests to severely discourage me from entering. I probably will leave when I'm done with my PhD. No. I certainly will leave, because to state otherwise risks deportation under current immigration rules.
- rweba 14y ago
  I recently did some informal research and found that Canada has by far the most positive public opinion towards immigration among "rich" Western countries. Many European countries view immigration in almost entirely negative terms (largely for xenophobic reasons) and have been competing to make immigration of any kind harder. The UK has even recently made it harder for foreign graduates of UK universities to get work visas - a policy which I find to be MINDBOGGLINGLY stupid. Aren't those the EXACT kind of people that you'd want to stay in your country?
anamax 14y ago
One problem is that the "admit geniuses" folks keep tying that to "admit everyone". The former has wide-spread support while the latter has wide-spread opposition.
cdooh 14y ago
For us in Africa the more stupid the US is about immigrants the better because you educate us on your money then send us back to build our countries.

24 points by a5seo 14y ago

Well this is interesting. Third story from the top is about how Reddit is kickbanning a bunch of sites (e.g. the Atlantic) for nasty SEO, then a5seo submits an Atlantic story, his history is full of submits by the Atlantic, and he has steady stream of submissions with zero comments. Joke? Art? An SEOer not paying attention?

anigbrowl 14y ago
Yeah, I think OP owes us some explanation.
- a5seo 14y ago
  I'm the OP. So here's the deal... I read The Atlantic daily. I actually wrote a script to check their feed and score the stories via the sharedcount API and email me the best-of-the-best. If something is interesting to me and I believe it would be useful to other startup hackers like me, I submit it. It's that simple. If there's something to be gained from doing this (aside from hopefully spurring an interesting discussion on HN), I'm not smart enough to figure out what it is. The people who are anti The Atlantic should re-read the posting guidelines which describe as on-topic, "Anything that good hackers would find interesting." Interested in behavioral economics? Government policy that affects startups? Human psychology that we should accommodate in our apps? Technology trends? Yeah, I'm sorry to say but The Atlantic, Salon, Wired, etc. are some of the best at covering that stuff. If this content is no longer welcome on HN, we need to get a LOT more precise about the Guidelines.
  - anigbrowl 14y ago
    Look, I like the Atlantic too, but your username looks a bit weird - SEO rubs a lot of people on HN the wrong way.
    - a5seo 14y ago
      > SEO rubs a lot of people on HN the wrong way. It's too bad. The bottom line is that what SEO means/does is pretty wide ranging, and my idea of it (making content usable/understable for bots) is very different from the dismissive circus caricature conjured by the masses. But my bet is that I'll win the meaning battle in the long term. patio11 and randfish are good examples of people who are moving the perception toward reality. For all of the people on HN who bitch about how MBA types have idiotic stereotypes of programmers, it might be worth considering the view from our own glass house.
graue 14y ago
The OP looks like a legitimate user to me. Thoughtful comments on other stories, and recent submissions from a wide variety of sources, with no publisher clearly favored. I immediately thought the same as you when I saw an Atlantic link, though.
tptacek 14y ago
There are a bunch of users like this on HN. Look at any "ITWorld" story that hits HN; odds are, it's been submitted by a single-purpose account that submits only stories from ITWorld. Torrentfreak has had similar users.

arjunnarayan 14y ago

I'm a "highly skilled immigrant". I moved to the US at the age of 17, to go to college (on full financial aid). I graduated and stuck on for a PhD in computer science. American private organizations (i.e. Williams College) have spent $200,000 on my education. The NSF (which indirectly through my advisor's grant funds my graduate education) spends $80,000+ per year on my education. ($160,000 so far, and counting) Let's leave alone the stupid fact that my visa (F-1) is explicitly a non-immigrant visa (if I say that I have an intention to immigrate to the US someday; I can be deported or denied re-entry or visa renewal). So time spent in the US doesn't count for squat. If I hypothetically wanted to stay in the US, I would have to go to the "back of the line" and get an H1-B. I'm from India, so unless I qualify for an EB-1 visa (i.e. I get a tenure track position at a top research university) it's 5+ years on the Green Card waiting list. During those 5+ years on the waiting list I am tied to an employer. This, obviously, decreases my negotiating situation. If I get fired, I have 2 weeks to find a new job or get deported. If I switch jobs, the green-card wait time can in some conditions be restarted. I am at the whims of a ridiculous bureaucracy at all times (the few times I've dealt with USCIS for employment authorization for internships have been a nightmare). The H1-B is a poor option. Forget startups. In contrast, due to my youth and education I am eligible for a work-permit not tied to any particular employer in Canada, and qualify for permanent residency in a year or two. Same with Singapore. The UK used to be the same before the Conservatives came to power and halted all immigration. To the xenophobes, I'm not saying I have a right to enter your country. I'm just asking whether it's in your best interests to severely discourage me from entering. I probably will leave when I'm done with my PhD. No. I certainly will leave, because to state otherwise risks deportation under current immigration rules.

rweba 14y ago
I recently did some informal research and found that Canada has by far the most positive public opinion towards immigration among "rich" Western countries. Many European countries view immigration in almost entirely negative terms (largely for xenophobic reasons) and have been competing to make immigration of any kind harder. The UK has even recently made it harder for foreign graduates of UK universities to get work visas - a policy which I find to be MINDBOGGLINGLY stupid. Aren't those the EXACT kind of people that you'd want to stay in your country?

anamax 14y ago

One problem is that the "admit geniuses" folks keep tying that to "admit everyone". The former has wide-spread support while the latter has wide-spread opposition.

cdooh 14y ago

For us in Africa the more stupid the US is about immigrants the better because you educate us on your money then send us back to build our countries.