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I've definitely met these people and have learned to avoid them. But is this website (and avoidance in general) the right way to deal with this class of people

I've definitely met these people and have learned to avoid them. But is this website (and avoidance in general) the right way to deal with this class of people? We're smarter than them. We ought to be able to extract some use from them.

pc86 14y ago
Find a nugget of inspiration in their terrible ideas and then find a decent business cofounder?
- civilian 14y ago
  Yeah. And while we're at it, get them to buy you lunch. I met a guy who I've now nicknamed as "Ideas and Problems guy" when I talk about him. (It's a little more polite-- so I'm not bad mouthing his name, since our community is not that big.) I think that just by talking to him I provided value to him--- I was a cynical sounding board for his ideas. I never wrote a line of code for him, but being a sounding board probably helped him. Oh well, TANSTAAFL reigns.
chrnguyen 14y ago
Yes! I was hoping first for awareness (step one of the process to rehabilitation) and to catalyze some change. You're right in that perhaps doucheshaming is not the best. However, some don't realize they're doing these things-- they just started out, eager to try something, and sometimes they learn and change from it. I'm pretty optimistic that people will recognize something wrong and try to fix it. I'm not sure what else I can do-- I've tried individually talking to them, learning their perspective and hopefully picking up on mine as well, but the scale is fairly limited.
whackedspinach 14y ago
"We're smarter than them. We ought to be able to extract some use from them." Who are the pretentious ones again?
- civilian 14y ago
  Hah, yeah. That quote or attitude came from a mentor I had at an internship. He noticed that I was annoyed at people who I thought were stupider than me-- so he told me that: "If you think you're the smarter one, then the onus is on you to have a smooth business relationship with them. You're the more capable one, so it's within your power to do business with these clients despite their shortcomings." The great thing about this attitude is that it works even if you aren't smarter than them. If anything, this quote can encourage pretentiousness to turn on itself.

pc86 14y ago

Find a nugget of inspiration in their terrible ideas and then find a decent business cofounder?

civilian 14y ago
Yeah. And while we're at it, get them to buy you lunch. I met a guy who I've now nicknamed as "Ideas and Problems guy" when I talk about him. (It's a little more polite-- so I'm not bad mouthing his name, since our community is not that big.) I think that just by talking to him I provided value to him--- I was a cynical sounding board for his ideas. I never wrote a line of code for him, but being a sounding board probably helped him. Oh well, TANSTAAFL reigns.

chrnguyen 14y ago

Yes! I was hoping first for awareness (step one of the process to rehabilitation) and to catalyze some change. You're right in that perhaps doucheshaming is not the best. However, some don't realize they're doing these things-- they just started out, eager to try something, and sometimes they learn and change from it. I'm pretty optimistic that people will recognize something wrong and try to fix it. I'm not sure what else I can do-- I've tried individually talking to them, learning their perspective and hopefully picking up on mine as well, but the scale is fairly limited.

whackedspinach 14y ago

"We're smarter than them. We ought to be able to extract some use from them." Who are the pretentious ones again?

civilian 14y ago
Hah, yeah. That quote or attitude came from a mentor I had at an internship. He noticed that I was annoyed at people who I thought were stupider than me-- so he told me that: "If you think you're the smarter one, then the onus is on you to have a smooth business relationship with them. You're the more capable one, so it's within your power to do business with these clients despite their shortcomings." The great thing about this attitude is that it works even if you aren't smarter than them. If anything, this quote can encourage pretentiousness to turn on itself.