5 ms·

An open letter to Sam Sethi

21 points by riklomas 17y ago

rbanffy 17y ago
Can we all please move on. There's nothing to see here.
- andyking 17y ago
  Agreed. If you've got time to sit and plough through page after page of this drivel, there's plenty of voluntary work out there...
- petercooper 17y ago
  You're wrong. It gets even more entertaining here: http://robinwauters.posterous.com/the-sam-sethi-nutcase http://robinwauters.posterous.com/the-sam-sethi-nutcase
  - pclark 17y ago
    entertaining is one word for it. I think its ridiculous, and really offensive. Sam is a human being - and people are tearing him apart all over the internet - who cares if he deserves it, is disgusting. I don't believe writing public letters about how he has mental health issues helps the issue. think of the consequences if he did less scene more startups. gets off soapbox
    - petercooper 17y ago
      Yeah, they shouldn't be saying he's schizophrenic (or even mentally ill). I bet few of them know what that even means or what damage it can cause. But, if they want to say he's a douchebag and, importantly, they have proof, well.. that's fair game.
  - nir 17y ago
    Where's the hacker interest? Seems like ordinary "A-lister" douche vs. douche.
    - petercooper 17y ago
      While this site is called "Hacker News," there does seem to be a lot of interest in "online media" issues here - which aren't really "hackerish" at all. This is an interesting debacle on a number of "online media" levels - both that the people involved are all known within that circle, but also that this imbroglio itself is a demonstration of some curious properties of online media and how it relates to both disputes and law.
pavs 17y ago
Perez hilton == Paul Carr
pclark 17y ago
this nonsense shouldn't be covered here
rwolf 17y ago
"The court in no way found that TechCrunch’s statements about you were false, but simply that no-one from the company turned up to defend them." While a default judgment is not the same as a victory, they seem reasonably similar. I'm as upset as anyone that it's so easy to win a libel suit in Britain, but this story has a "winner" in the popular sense (which is what I imagine is important to this Sethi fellow).
- grellas 17y ago
  It is only a winner if a U.S. court would ultimately conclude that the UK courts had proper jurisdiction over the defendants. No proper jurisdiction = no enforceable judgment (at least outside the UK).
  - rwolf 17y ago
    A recent story that agrees with you: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/08/03/arrington-loses-libe.html http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/08/03/arrington-loses-lib... While it would be more mediagenic if Arrington had to fork over some cash, I think jurisdiction is separate from the issue of who the court of popular opinion sees are the winner.
mst 17y ago
Here's how this read to me: "I've put a huge amount of effort into trying to mediate this dispute and get to the point where people could apologise and get on with their lives. I almost got there but let a couple of retarded drunken ranting emails made me lose my temper so badly I now feel the need to throw away any chance of achieving anything positive in the situation by publishing a retarded sober ranting blog post. Also, I am high as a kite."

21 points by riklomas 17y ago

rbanffy 17y ago

Can we all please move on. There's nothing to see here.

andyking 17y ago
Agreed. If you've got time to sit and plough through page after page of this drivel, there's plenty of voluntary work out there...
petercooper 17y ago
You're wrong. It gets even more entertaining here: http://robinwauters.posterous.com/the-sam-sethi-nutcase http://robinwauters.posterous.com/the-sam-sethi-nutcase
- pclark 17y ago
  entertaining is one word for it. I think its ridiculous, and really offensive. Sam is a human being - and people are tearing him apart all over the internet - who cares if he deserves it, is disgusting. I don't believe writing public letters about how he has mental health issues helps the issue. think of the consequences if he did less scene more startups. gets off soapbox
  - petercooper 17y ago
    Yeah, they shouldn't be saying he's schizophrenic (or even mentally ill). I bet few of them know what that even means or what damage it can cause. But, if they want to say he's a douchebag and, importantly, they have proof, well.. that's fair game.
- nir 17y ago
  Where's the hacker interest? Seems like ordinary "A-lister" douche vs. douche.
  - petercooper 17y ago
    While this site is called "Hacker News," there does seem to be a lot of interest in "online media" issues here - which aren't really "hackerish" at all. This is an interesting debacle on a number of "online media" levels - both that the people involved are all known within that circle, but also that this imbroglio itself is a demonstration of some curious properties of online media and how it relates to both disputes and law.

pavs 17y ago

Perez hilton == Paul Carr

pclark 17y ago

this nonsense shouldn't be covered here

rwolf 17y ago

"The court in no way found that TechCrunch’s statements about you were false, but simply that no-one from the company turned up to defend them." While a default judgment is not the same as a victory, they seem reasonably similar. I'm as upset as anyone that it's so easy to win a libel suit in Britain, but this story has a "winner" in the popular sense (which is what I imagine is important to this Sethi fellow).

grellas 17y ago
It is only a winner if a U.S. court would ultimately conclude that the UK courts had proper jurisdiction over the defendants. No proper jurisdiction = no enforceable judgment (at least outside the UK).
- rwolf 17y ago
  A recent story that agrees with you: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/08/03/arrington-loses-libe.html http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/08/03/arrington-loses-lib... While it would be more mediagenic if Arrington had to fork over some cash, I think jurisdiction is separate from the issue of who the court of popular opinion sees are the winner.

mst 17y ago

Here's how this read to me: "I've put a huge amount of effort into trying to mediate this dispute and get to the point where people could apologise and get on with their lives. I almost got there but let a couple of retarded drunken ranting emails made me lose my temper so badly I now feel the need to throw away any chance of achieving anything positive in the situation by publishing a retarded sober ranting blog post. Also, I am high as a kite."