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She hasn't made the point "explicit" (stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt [1]), because it isn't clear what "inappropriate" mea
by falsestprophet 12y ago
She hasn't made the point "explicit" (stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt [1]), because it isn't clear what "inappropriate" means.
edit: Using the word "inappropriate" makes the statement ambiguous because it states there is some sexual or romantic behavior that is "appropriate" (suitable or proper in the circumstances) [2].
If the intent here is to state that sexual or romantic behavior is inappropriate and there is a zero tolerance for this behavior, this statement fails to achieve that.
This kind of ambiguity is problem with corporate-speak in general.
Why would you write the following, which doesn't mean anything:
Y Combinator has a zero tolerance policy for inappropriate sexual or romantic behavior from investors toward founders.
When you could write:
Don't even ask founders out at demo day.
[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=explicit https://www.google.com/search?q=explicit
[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=appropriate https://www.google.com/search?q=appropriate
- octo_t 12y agoI think for 99.9% of the human population (I hope!), they understand what inappropriate means. ask an adult if you aren't sure.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- slg 12y agoLet's look at the opposite of the question to see if that lends any light. What exactly is "appropriate sexual or romantic behavior from investors toward founders?" If the answer is "there is none" then falsestprophet has a valid point. The word inappropriate just leads to unnecessary interpretations and grey area that wouldn't exist if the word was just left out of that sentence.
- itistoday2 12y ago> ask an adult if you aren't sure. I think that's exactly what he did, and he got downvoted into oblivion for it.
- untog 12y agoDemo Day is a business context. If you are an investor talking to the founder of a YC startup, it's a business conversation. There shouldn't be any hint of romance, dates, flirting. Explicit enough for you?
- falsestprophet 12y agoThat's your understanding of inappropriate, which is completely irrelevant to the discussion unless you are Jessica Livingston. That's exactly my point in the original post.
- walshemj 12y agoThen say all and not inappropriate - presumably you come down with a fit of vapours when NCIS is on and Toy and Ziva flirt.
- minimaxir 12y agoA television show isn't a justification for real life behavior.
- walshemj 12y agoNo but they do often hold up a mirror to reality and debate real issues for example the office, yes minister and MASH.
- smacktoward 12y agoTony and Ziva are colleagues, which makes their relationship different in power terms from a supervisor-supervised relationship. For contrast, look at Gibbs and Abby, who do have a supervisor-supervised relationship with the same power dynamics as that between investors and entrepreneurs. In their case, the show goes out of its way to make sure everyone understands that their relationship, while affectionate, is neither romantic nor sexual. Why? Because it would be super creepy if Gibbs, who is both Abby's boss and much older than her, suddenly made a pass at her out of nowhere.