5 ms·

david and goliath by gladwell is indeed a good motivational/justificational book for underdog or lean startup aiming at big corporate.

• booruguru 13y ago
  Why is he being voted down? The book is referenced in the article.
  • wmeredith 13y ago
    I can't speak for anyone else, but I auto-downvote comments that lack proper punctuation/grammar. It's a fast indicator of quality discourse.
    • dllthomas 13y ago
      I do not downvote for poor punctuation and grammar, but it does bias me in that direction a bit.
    • alphakappa 13y ago
      Downvoting for bad grammar? What if this person is a non-native english speaker? I know plenty of smart people who grew up with a different primary language, and can make bad mistakes in english while writing.
      • wmeredith 13y ago
        Then that's just too bad, I guess. HN is an English speaking site. The ability to articulate your thoughts in the medium chosen for the discourse is cost of entry. Poor grammar is a quick indicator of content quality to me. In fact, it's just about the only thing I will downvote. Maybe it's because I was raised by an English professor. Edited: Typo (of course)
        • SheepSlapper 13y ago
          "en English professor" Sorry buddy, gotta downvote you now. Based on that typo I can tell that this comment lacks quality and doesn't add to the discourse.
          • wmeredith 13y ago
            What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Do as you will :) (I was wondering how long it would take before I let one slip. It never fails when discussing grammar online.)
            • acheron 13y ago
              a.k.a. "Muphry's Law".
      • dllthomas 13y ago
        Poor grammar and spelling lowers the signal-to-noise ratio. Upvotes and downvotes are quite specifically designed to raise the signal-to-noise ratio on the site. It doesn't have to reflect on the person as an individual. Having said that, I don't downvote on grammar/spelling alone (as I mentioned elsewhere), and I do cut a little more slack when a person is not a native speaker (but not 100% slack - better grammar and spelling are always preferred, other things being equal).
    • deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    • nollidge 13y ago
      I auto-downvote comments that pay attention to poor proxies for quality discourse rather than just evaluating the quality of the discourse itself.
      • dllthomas 13y ago
        Grammar is a component of quality discourse, though I agree the parent overweights it.
    • pasquinelli 13y ago
      "auto-downvote" explain to me how it isn't stupid to auto-downvote, for any reason.
  • Nicholas_C 13y ago
    There's been a pretty negative Gladwell vibe on HN lately.