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Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

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Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#31

Post by metamet »

obstinate wrote: post #19
maxxxxx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's pretty impressive. Usually they somehow turn around the whole issue during this kind of "apology" but he pretty much says he behaved badly and that's it. Edit: After reading https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14622737 I think he is just a big asshole who wants to make this go away so he can get back to business. No real remorse.

It would be more impressive to not harass women founders. This apology moves him above harassers who don't apologize, but still miles below non-harassers. Beware of giving someone too much credit for doing something very harmful, then apologizing for it effusively. It doesn't undo the harm.

> It would be more impressive to not harass women founders.

Of course. But that didn't happen, so this thread is a discussion of what did happen.

Acknowledging the apology is not praising him.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#32

Post by Thriptic »

genericpseudo wrote: post #5
throwanem wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gather that recency of submission and high comment rate contribute to a "controversiality" metric which can weight a story off the front page. But given the HN moderators' generally thoughtful style, I would not be surprised to see either that story retrieved and this one's comments folded into its thread, or that one's comments folded into this.

The problem isn't the mods' local actions (though the mods are not nearly as assertive as I would like in this area); it's the Hacker News community's toleration of bigots and therefore the macro action of failing to remove them. Inaction is a form of action.

I didn't down vote these stories, but to be blunt they aren't value adding content. I come to hacker news for interesting discussions and to learn. Reading yet another story about sexism or inequality in tech doesn't add any value to my life. The stories are predictable; the comments are predictable; and there are very few opportunities for meaningful discussion or learning. I therefore typically ignore them and I can understand why others down vote them.

Bitching about things online isn't action. Changing behavior offline is action, and I doubt these stories generate any meaningful behavioral changes among the groups that need them, so what's the point?

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#33

Post by ceejayoz »

dwaltrip wrote: post #28

So I understand that Justin made some serious mistakes in pursuing his interest in several female entrepreneurs. Does there exist an acceptable manner for someone in a position like his to pursue such an interest? I'd imagine it would depend a lot on the context -- for example, it seems clear to me it would be very inappropriate to do so during any time period where a deal was being negotiated. And of course, general…

As with a doctor dating patients or a lawyer dating clients, I'd say a VC should probably look outside the entrepreneurship realm for dates. Too much potential for the power dynamic to impact consent.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#34

Post by untog »

dwaltrip wrote: post #28

So I understand that Justin made some serious mistakes in pursuing his interest in several female entrepreneurs. Does there exist an acceptable manner for someone in a position like his to pursue such an interest? I'd imagine it would depend a lot on the context -- for example, it seems clear to me it would be very inappropriate to do so during any time period where a deal was being negotiated. And of course, general…

I don't think there are any concrete rules, which is why the sensible thing to do, if you're in a position of power, is simply not chase any members of the opposite gender that you have a compromising interest in.

It's not as if there aren't plenty of other dating prospects out there.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#35

Post by logicallee »

opportune wrote: post #21
logicallee wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[withdrawn]

" such deep and genuine self-awareness" Lol, seriously? This is standard PR bullshit. Clearly in this situation, the evidence was so cut-and-dry and unambiguous that Caldbeck had no choice but to admit defeat. The type of person that repeatedly engages in this behavior is not at all the type of person to be sobered by excellent communication. He just saw the writing on the wall.

[withdrawn]

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#36

Post by opportune »

dwaltrip wrote: post #28

So I understand that Justin made some serious mistakes in pursuing his interest in several female entrepreneurs. Does there exist an acceptable manner for someone in a position like his to pursue such an interest? I'd imagine it would depend a lot on the context -- for example, it seems clear to me it would be very inappropriate to do so during any time period where a deal was being negotiated. And of course, general…

Yes, perhaps not grabbing someone's thigh under a table at a bar would be a good place to start.

I also think you simply shouldn't pursue subordinates, or those in a similar position like founders that need your money, as a matter of principle. I'm not saying it can't be done but there is so much more risk than reward in doing so. Consider also that there are thousands of very smart and successful women (or men or whatever) out there that aren't your subordinates.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#37

Post by untog »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #2

The bigger thread has already been downvoted off the front page and this one is falling quickly. Disgusting. For all the down voters: Justin just admitted that all the accusations are true. https://www.axios.com/justin-caldbeck-takes-indefinite-leave... The past 24 hours have been the darkest of my life. I have made many mistakes over the course of my career, some of which were brought to light this week. To say I'm…

Don't worry, this has already been flagged as a dupe. Sigh.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#38

Post by vkou »

maxxxxx wrote: post #8
ithinkinstereo wrote: post #2

The bigger thread has already been downvoted off the front page and this one is falling quickly. Disgusting. For all the down voters: Justin just admitted that all the accusations are true. https://www.axios.com/justin-caldbeck-takes-indefinite-leave... The past 24 hours have been the darkest of my life. I have made many mistakes over the course of my career, some of which were brought to light this week. To say I'm…

That's pretty impressive. Usually they somehow turn around the whole issue during this kind of "apology" but he pretty much says he behaved badly and that's it. Edit: After reading https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14622737 I think he is just a big asshole who wants to make this go away so he can get back to business. No real remorse.

Given that the depth of his apologies was proportional to the amount of evidence that his accusers were presenting, I'd say that they got him dead to rights.

More evidence that he's really not sorry about any of the shit he did - just that he got caught:

https://www.axios.com/silicon-valleys-sexist-swamp-244683763...

The other reporters pursuing this story would have certainly reached out to him for comment.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#39

Post by opportune »

wyldfire wrote: post #26
opportune wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" such deep and genuine self-awareness" Lol, seriously? This is standard PR bullshit. Clearly in this situation, the evidence was so cut-and-dry and unambiguous that Caldbeck had no choice but to admit defeat. The type of person that repeatedly engages in this behavior is not at all the type of person to be sobered by excellent communication. He just saw the writing on the wall.

Standard PR bullshit is terse by design. This sounds sincere. > evidence was so cut-and-dry and unambiguous that Caldbeck had no choice but to admit defeat. Usually when there's unambiguous evidence, people challenge the premise/context/authenticity of the evidence.

Text messages' authenticity can be verified. I think he knew that he was screwed.

Re: Female founders accuse VC Justin Caldbeck of making unwanted advances

#40

Post by pheldagryph »

jakobegger wrote: post #20
leereeves wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The bigger thread has already been downvoted off the front page Isn't that the result of a Hacker News algorithm that hides stories that receive a lot of comments in a short time?

My experience on HN is that stories about sexism often disappear quickly. It's often that I click on a story on the front page to read the comments, only to see it flagged a few moments later. My explanation is that there is a significant number of HN readers that flag stories about sexism in tech because they don't believe them, but of course I don't have any evidence for that.

> but of course I don't have any evidence for that.

I concur with your hypothesis; there're often comments on these links that would serve as evidence.

I'm sure some people are just being contrarian for fun and karma, and some would just prefer to see more links specific to technologies and not 'Silicon Valley "culture"'... but some of the comments REALLY make me scratch my head.

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