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Spitting in his face is going a bit far, but it's pretty difficult for me to feel sympathy for the guy. I struggle to think of a more dislikable, arrogant jerk.
by hk 18y ago
Spitting in his face is going a bit far, but it's pretty difficult for me to feel sympathy for the guy. I struggle to think of a more dislikable, arrogant jerk. This belated plea for human-to-human sympathy falls on deaf ears, for me at least.
In my group, Arrington symbolises everything we hate about the "Web 2.0" greed culture. He's relentlessly promoted himself as the gatekeeper to this bullshit world of easy VC money, now crashing down around him. Good riddance.
If it hadn't been something as revolting as spitting, and instead say a nice cream pie to the face, I'd be delighted.
- dbrush 18y ago"He's relentlessly promoted himself..." How is that?
- sh1mmer 18y agoSurely that's not a bad thing. Humility isn't a bad thing in a person but in business it's not a helpful attribute. At least when TC started he was the business, so self-promotion was a must.
- hk 18y agoI don't really know how to respond to that in less than a thousand words, so let's just say: 1. because he obviously has 2. I consider this to be generally accepted as truthful 3. if you don't agree then we are probably not going to agree on anything, ever and leave it at that. This is probably breaching some law of argument ("Fallacy of Call to Common Sense" or something?) but hey, who has the time.
- cardboardbox 18y agoIt's funny, I think Arrington totally deserves to get punched in the face. But reading about him being spit on had me disgusted on his behalf.
- puzzle-out 18y agoBeing punched in the face is a more honest action than spitting. Remember the kids at school that used to bite people - little weasels then, little assholes now.
- ErrantX 18y agoI think the commentator is making a point about the difference in thinking he deserves a punch and actually punching (well spitting on) him. A lot of people dislike the guy (I dont care for his attitude myslef but I respect his influence) and probably waould say "he deserves a punch" without meaning it literally :)
- puzzle-out 18y agoI'm not disagreeing with the commentator, just taking his point as a cue for a statement about how cowardly and nasty I think spitting is.
- ErrantX 18y agoI know :) I was taking your comment as a cue too :D (alsio known as hitting the wrong reply button)
- pclark 18y agoWhy does he deserve to be punched?
- dcminter 18y agoI dislike techcrunch and I dislike his writing, but I'm full of sympathy for the man. He should take the matter to the police and with any luck the contemptible coward who spat in his face will get a criminal record for their trouble.
- hk 18y agoHuh? You think that spitting on someone should be illegal!? I don't understand what you mean, anyway. You don't like his business, you don't like his writing, but you have all sorts of cares for him? Er .. why? What would he have to do to make you finally relinquish your sympathy? In my book, a man is but the sum of his actions. I can't stand Arrington's actions, therefore I can't stand him, ergo I have no sympathy for the hatred his actions have engendered amongst sum. And one more thing - the man who spat in his face may be contemptible, but it doesn't doesn't fit my model of how "cowards" behave either. The coward would be writing spiteful comments anonymously on blogs. Walking up to someone and spitting in their face takes balls, IMO. Not exactly my preferred means of communication but it certainly got the point across.
- shiranaihito 18y agoI remember a thread on HN where PG asked us whether articles from TC should be banned. Maybe we should re-evaluate that. Many, if not most of the TC articles posted here do seem to be sensationalist in nature, so it's easy to believe Arrington's just after ad-money (as some people say).
- Xichekolas 18y agopg asked about valleywag.com. Some other user asked about banning techcrunch. From a business standpoint, it would be silly for pg to ban a site that helps promote YC startups, not to mention TC is nowhere near as wonky/gossipy as valleywag.
- shiranaihito 18y ago> it would be silly for pg to ban a site that helps promote YC startups, not to mention TC is nowhere near as wonky/gossipy as valleywag. Right. PG banning it would be different from people just not posting any TC stories though. No need for PG to incur Arrington's wrath. From what I've seen, TC contains so much gossip and mildly nauseating posts that we'd be better off without it.
- dantheman 18y agoAttacking someone because you don't like what they say is wrong. If you disagree with what they say then you should try to convince them logically, not through intimidation/harrasment. If you pie someone that is your friend in a jovial way then of course that is different, but attacking someone because you disagree with them any in sort of physical way is wrong and should not be encouraged.
- jsdalton 18y agoWhy do you have so much animosity toward him? You say he represents everything you hate about Web 2.0 greed culture, but is that a valid reason to delight in someone receiving a nice cream pie in the face? I think you need to stop and reconsider whether this is the appropriate attitude to take toward someone who really does nothing more than write articles and speak at conferences. I'd also argue that a culture of tolerance, civility and diversity of views does far more to foster the open exchange of ideas than the silencing of those with whom we disagree. I do agree somewhat with some of the criticisms that you and others have put forth about Techcrunch as a publication, in particular that it was prone to hype. But otherwise I think he performed a valuable service to our industry, and I think his willingness to speak his mind is both rare and laudable. It saddens me that the animosity and intolerance that have shadowed Techcrunch have boiled over to something as despicable as this.
- Scriptor 18y agoI'm worried about exactly how that person received so many upvotes. This person does not seem to have much basis to his/her hate other than some blog posts. More importantly, there seems to be a sizeable number of people who agree with the idea of "I disagree with you and don't like what you write about, so you must be an asshole."
- jsdalton 18y agoI had the same reaction as you. And to add to what you wrote, I interpreted it as, "I disagree with you and don't like what you write about, so you must be an asshole, and my only problem with what happened is that it was a bit over the top." I might be in the minority on this, but I was unhappy with the whole discussion from the past about banning/censoring Valleywag and Techcrunch. Though the arguments against Valleywag had slightly more merit, the whole thing smacked of intolerance toward people and ideas we disagree with, which see its logical culmination in acts like this spitting incident. Makes me think John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" should be required reading here.
- handelaar 18y ago"More importantly, there seems to be a sizeable number of people who agree with the idea of "I disagree with you and don't like what you write about, so you must be an asshole." Because of course it couldn't possibly be that people object to the way in which he spouts those disagreeable opinions. Or the ex-cathedra pontificating on technical matters he has no understanding of whatsoever. Or the use of his extremely loud megaphone to bully individuals. The bulk of the antipathy towards Arrington, I believe, has very little to do with what he says and almost everything to do with how he says it. When TC was new, none of the most obnoxious behaviour was yet apparent. As time's gone on it's been on a continual slide into egomania and vindictiveness. [And, fwiw, no: I have never been covered, or asked to be covered, or had a project which was relevant to be covered, by Techcrunch.] [edit: In case anybody's unclear, nothing here should be misinterpreted as support or defence of gobbing in his face.]
- kailashbadu 18y agoYuck! No matter how much you abhor a person, you don’t have a right to harm or intimidate the person. Intolerance seemingly is at it’s peak. I just hope the frustrated, overworked yet underperforming, and morally debauched ‘European entrepreneur’ doesn’t typifies our usual web entrepreneur. To me he seems like just another desperate chap who was hoping to be another run-away hit in the web without a lot of hard work. The declining economy, tighter markets, fierce competition, and resulting desperation could be blamed for the depravity.
- anuraggoel 18y agoBecause you seem to be new here, I will resist the urge to down-mod you without explanation. I don't think the down-mods are for the logic of your arguments. They're for the attitude reflected in your comments (except the top level comment, which seemed to be in good spirit, but 'good-riddance' is a bit negative to me personally). Unlike most other web communities, 'fuck you'-flavored comments are not well tolerated at HN. That, I think, is the most appealing part of this community. If you do intend to stay here and prosper, it would be a good idea to disagree in a more civil fashion. No personal attacks, no arrogance, no being a jerk. Maybe a little sarcasm, but sprinkled with humor. Also, most HN readers can identify disguised attacks fairly well. So, lighten up my friend! In the interest of full-disclosure, I did down-mod the comment that you just deleted.
- maxniederhofer 18y agoeasy VC money i expect you've never tried to raise vc?
- Prrometheus 18y agoHe's just a journalist, dude, doing what journalists do.
- pg 18y agoI know Arrington, and he's much nicer than you sound. Can you give an example where he's said anything even half as nasty about anyone as you've just said about him? From the way you describe your beef with him, it sounds as if you're making up a personality for him-- that you're projecting onto him your bitterness about "Web 2.0 greed culture." You're wrong about that too, incidentally.
- ojbyrne 18y agoHaving had one personal interaction with him, I'd have to agree - he's a nice enough guy. It seems some people prefer the unthinking cheerleaders that are as thick as flies in Norcal. Techcrunch's articles might be uninformed sometimes, but they are generally fair.
- j2d2 18y agoholy crap well said
- redrobot5050 18y agoAlso, "Web 2.0 Greed Culture"...really? There are a lot of faster, easier ways to make money if you're greedy. Before the crash, I'd say go into finance and become an i-banker. Web 2.0 start ups -- especially one seeking seed money and boot strapping -- are seeking more responsibility than they are wealth. It still has that "selling t-shirts on the internet" feeling: a) Everyone is doing it. b)It feels like a good idea. c) Its not really known if people can make money from doing it.
- abstractwater 18y agoHe is a blogger who obsessively writes about startups. He never promoted himself for anything else. People (used to) break into his home to pitch their startups and he actually listens to them. How is this arrogance? Would you listen to someone breaking into your home? I don't know Arrington, but to me he always sounded like a humble, down-to-earth guy, very passionate about his job.
- hollerith 18y agoWould you still be delighted if the person had spit into the cream pie before throwing it?