4 ms·

If we're being honest, the vast majority of their users don't know who was behind Twitpic. The HN crowd is probably a lot more likely to know/care than your typ

by gtaylor 12y ago

If we're being honest, the vast majority of their users don't know who was behind Twitpic. The HN crowd is probably a lot more likely to know/care than your typical Twitpic user. They'll probably be able to start new things without most people noticing. And they probably know this.

javajosh 12y ago
Well, yeah, but it's the HN crowd that they will likely want to work with/hire from, so reputation is actually important.
- jamesaguilar 12y ago
  Well, a few things. First off, a lot of people on here probably understand that when you don't have money to pay for bandwidth, banning people who use a lot of it might be reasonable. It's not like you have a whole lot of other options. Passing around the hat isn't likely to work, and if they could get additional funding, they already would have. Second, even if people didn't understand that, the HN crowd is a tiny slice of the good hackers out there. Most of the best people I know do not read it, or even actively disdain it. "Cesspit" and the like are a terms I have heard in person or on newsgroups used to describe the comments section here. Third, I'll bet most HN people don't even know the names of Twitpic's founders. I don't. I wouldn't be able to identify whether another company, down the line, was founded by them. Lastly, I doubt most HN people are so principled that a year or two from now they would turn down an otherwise compelling job offer because the founders of the company were once associated with banning Archive Team's IPs. It's mildly annoying at worst.
  - malandrew 12y ago
    If someone thinks hacker news is a cesspit of comments on the internet, then I can only imagine that someone hasn't really spent any time on the internet. It's not always sunshine and happiness here, but HN is definitely among the top sites in terms of comment quality, especially considering the broad variety of topics covered here. You really only end up with better quality comments by going to sites that only cater to special interest communities.
vonklaus 12y ago
Now if only there was a global infrastructure where those people could communicate this. Maybe it would only take 140 characters. Then I bet, those people could use it to warn others.
frankydp 12y ago
I would bet a big chunk of the users think twitpic IS twitter.

by gtaylor 12y ago

javajosh 12y ago

Well, yeah, but it's the HN crowd that they will likely want to work with/hire from, so reputation is actually important.

jamesaguilar 12y ago
Well, a few things. First off, a lot of people on here probably understand that when you don't have money to pay for bandwidth, banning people who use a lot of it might be reasonable. It's not like you have a whole lot of other options. Passing around the hat isn't likely to work, and if they could get additional funding, they already would have. Second, even if people didn't understand that, the HN crowd is a tiny slice of the good hackers out there. Most of the best people I know do not read it, or even actively disdain it. "Cesspit" and the like are a terms I have heard in person or on newsgroups used to describe the comments section here. Third, I'll bet most HN people don't even know the names of Twitpic's founders. I don't. I wouldn't be able to identify whether another company, down the line, was founded by them. Lastly, I doubt most HN people are so principled that a year or two from now they would turn down an otherwise compelling job offer because the founders of the company were once associated with banning Archive Team's IPs. It's mildly annoying at worst.
- malandrew 12y ago
  If someone thinks hacker news is a cesspit of comments on the internet, then I can only imagine that someone hasn't really spent any time on the internet. It's not always sunshine and happiness here, but HN is definitely among the top sites in terms of comment quality, especially considering the broad variety of topics covered here. You really only end up with better quality comments by going to sites that only cater to special interest communities.

vonklaus 12y ago

Now if only there was a global infrastructure where those people could communicate this. Maybe it would only take 140 characters. Then I bet, those people could use it to warn others.

frankydp 12y ago

I would bet a big chunk of the users think twitpic IS twitter.