5 ms·

Paul Graham blocked me on X because I quoted Hacker News's guidelines

40 points by davidmurdoch 2y ago

davidmurdoch 2y ago
I may have ruined my chance of ever being backed by YC in the future. This is probably not considered On-Topic for HN, but posting about it here just feels appropriate.
- Log_out_ 2y ago
  Hypo critical damage?
- kylehotchkiss 2y ago
  There are plenty of other nice VCs who won't block you for a random tweet. Maybe this works in your favor :)
  - davidmurdoch 2y ago
    Haha, very true. I don't think I'll ever seek VC again. I just don't see myself going back to full-time grind a founder of a start up requires. Though I doubt he'll remember me even if I did. Now what I really want to know is if quoting the guidelines is what made him block me, or saying that I didn't know who he was, that did the trick. (I'll admit here that I did know who he was, I just thought he was coming off as a self-important dilettante, and that saying I didn't know would make for a mildly humorous tweet).
- xyzzy4747 2y ago
  Telling someone "you should learn..." is patronizing and can lead to blocking a good portion of the time.
  - davidmurdoch 2y ago
    Yeah, good point. I hadn't considered that part for being a reason for being blocked!
    - smegsicle 2y ago
      perhaps neurodivergent people should reveal such before publicly accusing anyone else of violating social norms something like '\d' at the end of the post, to help the audience understand the context
      - davidmurdoch 2y ago
        I dunno, I just don't think that's enforceable \d
- remram 2y ago
  What is the strongest plausible interpretation of Mike Lee's xenophobic tweet?
  - davidmurdoch 2y ago
    When he was talking about Americans not voting in other countries Mike meant only when they are a noncitizens of that country. I couldn't imaging anyone truly interpreting his words to mean "If you have citizenship in American and another country you can't now only vote in America", which I think was what Paul was saying Mike meant (I can't see Paul's exact Tweet anymore after being blocked). The tweet is poorly worded, but you know... it's just Twitter, er, X.
    - throwaway89201 2y ago
      > I can't see Paul's exact Tweet anymore after being blocked https://xcancel.com/atdavidmurdoch/status/1829200559108509861 https://xcancel.com/atdavidmurdoch/status/182920055910850986... > I may have ruined my chance of ever being backed by YC in the future. If anything, this reactionary boring thread ruined that chance.
      - davidmurdoch 2y ago
        > I may have ruined my chance of ever being backed by YC in the future. was tongue in cheek, as I don't have any desire to start a start up. > If anything, this reactionary boring thread ruined that chance. I thought it was funny, not boring. It got more upvotes in the 45 minutes it wasn't flagged than any other post in the same time frame. But to each their own, I guess.
    - cherry_tree 2y ago
      No the tweet is flatly wrong and xenophobic. https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote > Who cannot vote? > Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, cannot vote in federal, state, and most local elections. But even if it wasn’t wrong, the idea behind it is un-American. A country founded on the principle of no taxation without representation which taxes people within its borders while allowing them no voice in that taxation.
- 7e 2y ago
  You can do better than YC. It's a sweatshop hoping to turn out lottery winners by funding naive founders and their half-baked ideas, hoping they find something successful. Don't be a serf.
- yimmothathird 2y ago
  Evil people involved in that organization anyway.
- tptacek 2y ago
  Can I just say, with respect, that you are not giving off a lot of "I was headed for YC" energy in the first place? Substitute whatever you want for "YC", and bear in mind that for virtually everybody reading this thread that you started here, this is literally all they know about you. Somebody you don't know said something on Twitter you didn't like, you popped up in their mentions, they blocked you, and now you've tried to spin up an HN thread about. You're kind of giving off "OMG, I'm never going to wash this Twitter thread again" vibes.
  - davidmurdoch 2y ago
    That was tongue in cheek. I'm sorry I didn't make it clear that replying to Paul, and posting that he blocked me here was intended to be humorous and I just enjoyed the irony. Even though most seem to have not gotten my intent (I don't blame them, I did a very poor job setting it), I've still enjoyed most of the discussions that have come from it though! I do think you're extrapolating incorrectly, as many here have, but that is, at least in part, my fault, for not being clear that my intent was just to have some fun, not desperation or blame. I think of Twitter as a place for memes and trolls, and didn't stop to think that people really care about the words people say there. But thank you for your thoughtful and constructive feedback. Honestly. You seem genuine and kind.
SebFender 2y ago
do as I say - not as I do A fantastically classic these days ... lol
- ethanol-brain 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque
toastercat 2y ago
Sheesh what a big baby.
Lockal 2y ago
This is kind of funny how Hacker News differs from Twitter. To some extent, if you make informal rules, all the popular accounts out there will be unified by those rules: * Initiate flamebait. Prefer generic tangents. Follow internet tropes. * Use Twitter for political or ideological battle. * When disagreeing, call names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" * Post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. Don't send emails anywhere, nobody will read them anyways.
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  The Internet is a wonderfully horrible place! I do love hating it. Or hate loving it. I'm not really sure.
tptacek 2y ago
I'd have blocked you too. You showed up in his mentions to send an annoying message to him. I don't follow him; especially in a political season like the one we're in now, his feed is just going to annoy me. That's what you should have done, if you need to bend his idiosyncratic politics in your idiosyncratic direction: not followed him in the first place. People should block more. Try it. It's healthy. Later Also: I don't believe he wrote or had anything to do with the guideline you quoted at him.
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  I follow Elon, and Elon retweeted Mike, and then I clicked through and saw a verified user's comment (Paul). I just thought he was being very pedantic/rude for someone with 2M followers, and I am fond of this HN guideline, so I pasted it in and hit send thinking it was just a little funny, condescending, and trollish. Wasn't until later, after it got some engagement that I realized it was Paul of YCombinator. I'm not mad he blocked me, I just like the irony. I like to intentionally follow people who have (rational) views I don't agree with, or just don't understand. Even so, I do find enjoyment in smashing that block button myself from time to time. > I don't believe he wrote or had anything to do with the guideline you quoted at him. Perhaps he didn't take part in writing it. But I disagree that he doesn't have anything to do with it, since he takes credit for the site existing. I dodn't think it really matters though. And I didn't realize it was him until after I replied, so I can't claim that's why I posted it.

40 points by davidmurdoch 2y ago

I may have ruined my chance of ever being backed by YC in the future. This is probably not considered On-Topic for HN, but posting about it here just feels appropriate.

Log_out_ 2y ago
Hypo critical damage?
kylehotchkiss 2y ago
There are plenty of other nice VCs who won't block you for a random tweet. Maybe this works in your favor :)
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  Haha, very true. I don't think I'll ever seek VC again. I just don't see myself going back to full-time grind a founder of a start up requires. Though I doubt he'll remember me even if I did. Now what I really want to know is if quoting the guidelines is what made him block me, or saying that I didn't know who he was, that did the trick. (I'll admit here that I did know who he was, I just thought he was coming off as a self-important dilettante, and that saying I didn't know would make for a mildly humorous tweet).
xyzzy4747 2y ago
Telling someone "you should learn..." is patronizing and can lead to blocking a good portion of the time.
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  Yeah, good point. I hadn't considered that part for being a reason for being blocked!
  - smegsicle 2y ago
    perhaps neurodivergent people should reveal such before publicly accusing anyone else of violating social norms something like '\d' at the end of the post, to help the audience understand the context
    - davidmurdoch 2y ago
      I dunno, I just don't think that's enforceable \d
remram 2y ago
What is the strongest plausible interpretation of Mike Lee's xenophobic tweet?
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  When he was talking about Americans not voting in other countries Mike meant only when they are a noncitizens of that country. I couldn't imaging anyone truly interpreting his words to mean "If you have citizenship in American and another country you can't now only vote in America", which I think was what Paul was saying Mike meant (I can't see Paul's exact Tweet anymore after being blocked). The tweet is poorly worded, but you know... it's just Twitter, er, X.
  - throwaway89201 2y ago
    > I can't see Paul's exact Tweet anymore after being blocked https://xcancel.com/atdavidmurdoch/status/1829200559108509861 https://xcancel.com/atdavidmurdoch/status/182920055910850986... > I may have ruined my chance of ever being backed by YC in the future. If anything, this reactionary boring thread ruined that chance.
    - davidmurdoch 2y ago
      > I may have ruined my chance of ever being backed by YC in the future. was tongue in cheek, as I don't have any desire to start a start up. > If anything, this reactionary boring thread ruined that chance. I thought it was funny, not boring. It got more upvotes in the 45 minutes it wasn't flagged than any other post in the same time frame. But to each their own, I guess.
  - cherry_tree 2y ago
    No the tweet is flatly wrong and xenophobic. https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote > Who cannot vote? > Non-citizens, including permanent legal residents, cannot vote in federal, state, and most local elections. But even if it wasn’t wrong, the idea behind it is un-American. A country founded on the principle of no taxation without representation which taxes people within its borders while allowing them no voice in that taxation.
7e 2y ago
You can do better than YC. It's a sweatshop hoping to turn out lottery winners by funding naive founders and their half-baked ideas, hoping they find something successful. Don't be a serf.
yimmothathird 2y ago
Evil people involved in that organization anyway.
tptacek 2y ago
Can I just say, with respect, that you are not giving off a lot of "I was headed for YC" energy in the first place? Substitute whatever you want for "YC", and bear in mind that for virtually everybody reading this thread that you started here, this is literally all they know about you. Somebody you don't know said something on Twitter you didn't like, you popped up in their mentions, they blocked you, and now you've tried to spin up an HN thread about. You're kind of giving off "OMG, I'm never going to wash this Twitter thread again" vibes.
- davidmurdoch 2y ago
  That was tongue in cheek. I'm sorry I didn't make it clear that replying to Paul, and posting that he blocked me here was intended to be humorous and I just enjoyed the irony. Even though most seem to have not gotten my intent (I don't blame them, I did a very poor job setting it), I've still enjoyed most of the discussions that have come from it though! I do think you're extrapolating incorrectly, as many here have, but that is, at least in part, my fault, for not being clear that my intent was just to have some fun, not desperation or blame. I think of Twitter as a place for memes and trolls, and didn't stop to think that people really care about the words people say there. But thank you for your thoughtful and constructive feedback. Honestly. You seem genuine and kind.

SebFender 2y ago

do as I say - not as I do A fantastically classic these days ... lol

ethanol-brain 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

toastercat 2y ago

Sheesh what a big baby.

Lockal 2y ago

This is kind of funny how Hacker News differs from Twitter. To some extent, if you make informal rules, all the popular accounts out there will be unified by those rules: * Initiate flamebait. Prefer generic tangents. Follow internet tropes. * Use Twitter for political or ideological battle. * When disagreeing, call names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" * Post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents, and the like. Don't send emails anywhere, nobody will read them anyways.

davidmurdoch 2y ago
The Internet is a wonderfully horrible place! I do love hating it. Or hate loving it. I'm not really sure.

tptacek 2y ago

I'd have blocked you too. You showed up in his mentions to send an annoying message to him. I don't follow him; especially in a political season like the one we're in now, his feed is just going to annoy me. That's what you should have done, if you need to bend his idiosyncratic politics in your idiosyncratic direction: not followed him in the first place. People should block more. Try it. It's healthy. Later Also: I don't believe he wrote or had anything to do with the guideline you quoted at him.

davidmurdoch 2y ago
I follow Elon, and Elon retweeted Mike, and then I clicked through and saw a verified user's comment (Paul). I just thought he was being very pedantic/rude for someone with 2M followers, and I am fond of this HN guideline, so I pasted it in and hit send thinking it was just a little funny, condescending, and trollish. Wasn't until later, after it got some engagement that I realized it was Paul of YCombinator. I'm not mad he blocked me, I just like the irony. I like to intentionally follow people who have (rational) views I don't agree with, or just don't understand. Even so, I do find enjoyment in smashing that block button myself from time to time. > I don't believe he wrote or had anything to do with the guideline you quoted at him. Perhaps he didn't take part in writing it. But I disagree that he doesn't have anything to do with it, since he takes credit for the site existing. I dodn't think it really matters though. And I didn't realize it was him until after I replied, so I can't claim that's why I posted it.