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John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

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Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#151

There must be something to learn from Dvorak because he seems to have done something rare among the HN crowd, and that is being both very wrong and very appealing at the same time.

I'm curious how being very wrong is a liability for a journalist? Can you give me some examples where the being wrong part violates the ideal, and maybe explain what that ideal is, in the tech world? To me, a reader of his since the very beginning, Dvorak has been wrong about a lot of things - but him being wrong has prompted much discussion in the broader world of things, and he is truly one of the very first 'socia…

I would say Dvorak is a columnist not a journalist. It a columnist writes a bad column that is totally wrong it can accually be good because it gets people talking about it and to get ad buys.

If a journalist is wrong it can have very bad results. Write a story claiming someone is a murderer when the person is totally innocent for example could ruin lives.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#152

About 12 years ago I was working for a PC Magazine competitor when they cut the Managing Editor loose, a man who'd worked there 20+ years and was in his late 50s. I ran into him in the bathroom, tears in his eyes, asking me what he was going to do now? That this is how they reward decades of loyalty? Ironically that magazine, dedicated to predicting future technology trends, would go down the toilet some years later…

Thre's also the "faux friend" situation too. The people you work with have to get along with you but they are not your friends. If you're laid off you'll probably never heard from any of them ever again. And HR isn't your friend either. Many young people misunderstand the role of HR and believe it is a shoulder to cry on. Think of HR as just another company product or tool.

Your relationship to your coworkers is entirely contextual, varies from person-to-person and company-to-company, and doesn't lend itself well to pithy broad brush statements.

Completely right about HR, though. Their mission is to push paper and ensure the company doesn't get sued.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#153

John runs a white supremacist podcast - NoAgenda - with noted Islamaphobe and Sandy Hook crisis actor believer, Adam Curry. John was kicked off of Leo Laportes network after years of misogynistic antics to women at the TWiT studios and stealing from the host. I’m surprised that Marco still promotes that crap on Overcast.

This is a good troll post.

No Agenda is not "white supremacist" in any way shape or form, and Curry is not an Islamophobe.

Dvorak got kicked from TWiT because he (correctly) thought there was something fishy about the clock kid story... and he sure wasn't the "misogynistic" one at TWiT...

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#155
That’s a real shame, he was the only reason I read PC magazine. We canceled our subscription years ago, but I’d still go to Kramers and pick up a copy to read the columns. Aging out of the tech industry is a tremendous problem, but I don’t see there’s much we can do about it.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#156
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His right to free speech? Sure I am.

The right to free speech is not the right to a platform.

Dvorak: "Twitter and Facebook Are Publishers, Not Platforms" https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/363100/twitter-and-facebook...

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#157

John runs a white supremacist podcast - NoAgenda - with noted Islamaphobe and Sandy Hook crisis actor believer, Adam Curry. John was kicked off of Leo Laportes network after years of misogynistic antics to women at the TWiT studios and stealing from the host. I’m surprised that Marco still promotes that crap on Overcast.

This is a good troll post. No Agenda is not "white supremacist" in any way shape or form, and Curry is not an Islamophobe. Dvorak got kicked from TWiT because he (correctly) thought there was something fishy about the clock kid story... and he sure wasn't the "misogynistic" one at TWiT...

TotalDrama.net

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#158
post #74

Wow, that is a pitiful way to let a long-term employee go.

The email says outside columns, he probably was a contractor.

Does this matter on a personal level? He's been writing for PC Mag for more than 3 decades.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#159
post #133

About 12 years ago I was working for a PC Magazine competitor when they cut the Managing Editor loose, a man who'd worked there 20+ years and was in his late 50s. I ran into him in the bathroom, tears in his eyes, asking me what he was going to do now? That this is how they reward decades of loyalty? Ironically that magazine, dedicated to predicting future technology trends, would go down the toilet some years later…

"Companies have no loyalty folks...neither should you." That's a broad brush to paint with; companies are just a group of people, not some inhuman construct. People make the decisions and just like every other aspect of life, some people care don't put their impact on others first, or can't because of circumstances. Not every company discards employees like garbage, and it's a lousy narrative to propagate.

>Not every company discards employees like garbage, and it's a lousy narrative to propagate.

Depending on which industry you are in or nations. But generally speaking there are less than 10% chance of this so call Good company, so I argue this is not a broad brush at all.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thre's also the "faux friend" situation too. The people you work with have to get along with you but they are not your friends. If you're laid off you'll probably never heard from any of them ever again. And HR isn't your friend either. Many young people misunderstand the role of HR and believe it is a shoulder to cry on. Think of HR as just another company product or tool.

HR is there to maximize the value and minimize the risk from your humans. Everything in a company is designed to maximize (short term) shareholder value. This isn't evil; the company needs shareholder value to survive.

"This isn't evil; the company needs shareholder value to survive."

Viruses need animal hosts in order to survive. That isn't evil either. But if you're the host it's bad for you.

Companies as embodied in capitalism are generally bad for most humans in the long term. They are an irrational and little understood mechanism receiving un-critical, near-religious adulation.

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