Hackernews And The ‘dirty’ Black Founder Question • Hacker News Board

Re: Hackernews And The ‘dirty’ Black Founder Question

#11

Post by bballant » Tue, Mar 22, 2011, 2:27 AM UTC

chittis wrote: post #10

petercooper wrote: post #5

Some people like to base their identity on the intrinsic elements of their genetics or demographics. Other people prefer to base their identities on their actions, interests and achievements. It's merely my hunch that most HN users are in the latter group and are perhaps turned off by the idea of identifying people primarily by demographic or genetic factors. This does not invalidate the discussion but is my hunch as…

Sorry, but if this were true, then wouldn't the post about the lack of female founders also be similarly flagged?

It makes sense that the post on women founders wouldn't be similarly flagged if the difference is related to comfort level.

Comfort comes from trust and exposure, among other things, and I'd say that most white men have more relationships with women than with people of color.

The legacy and history of the feminist struggle and the civil rights struggle, although related, are vastly different. I would be careful equating the two under any circumstances.

Re: Hackernews And The ‘dirty’ Black Founder Question

#12

Post by petercooper » Tue, Mar 22, 2011, 3:56 AM UTC

chittis wrote: post #10

petercooper wrote: post #5

Some people like to base their identity on the intrinsic elements of their genetics or demographics. Other people prefer to base their identities on their actions, interests and achievements. It's merely my hunch that most HN users are in the latter group and are perhaps turned off by the idea of identifying people primarily by demographic or genetic factors. This does not invalidate the discussion but is my hunch as…

Sorry, but if this were true, then wouldn't the post about the lack of female founders also be similarly flagged?

I think many of them are. The topic comes up every couple of weeks in various forms. The ones that seem to do well, however, are more specific and link to well written external posts rather than "Hey, how come there are only X women in Y Combinator?" chatter.

Re: Hackernews And The ‘dirty’ Black Founder Question

#13

Post by abhikshah » Tue, Mar 22, 2011, 5:26 AM UTC

petercooper wrote: post #5

Some people like to base their identity on the intrinsic elements of their genetics or demographics. Other people prefer to base their identities on their actions, interests and achievements. It's merely my hunch that most HN users are in the latter group and are perhaps turned off by the idea of identifying people primarily by demographic or genetic factors. This does not invalidate the discussion but is my hunch as…

Racial disparity doesn't just result from racism or "like preferring like". There are many institutional and structural issues that are partially causal and a frank discussion could help uncover them as they relate to the startup world. Sadly, frank discussion of race is very difficult in this country.

Btw, I do agree that the valley is very meritocratic so I don't think racism is a big factor.

Re: Hackernews And The ‘dirty’ Black Founder Question

#14

Post by adlep » Tue, Mar 22, 2011, 5:52 AM UTC

Trying to start a controversy where there isn't one. Money $$$$ talks and it sees no color. The IT people tend to be rational. They are swayed by a good, well explained idea that has potential - rather than anything else like a race or gender. So do not expect to be discriminated in the IT world, but at the same time do not expect that the color of your skin, or gender, or anything else gets you an advantage. Please, stop blowing smoke. I personally do not care how many founders are black, white, green, German, Polish, Russian, or Jewish. This does not concern me. I judge your idea and it's usefulness to my situation and not anything else.

Re: Hackernews And The ‘dirty’ Black Founder Question

#15

Post by duck » Tue, Mar 22, 2011, 1:47 PM UTC

noodle wrote: post #9

RiderOfGiraffes wrote: post #3

The author writes: From my understanding of how HN operates, there are two possibilities to explain this anomaly * It was moderated by the admins (Which I do not believe was the case) * It was flagged seriously (which I believe was the case) There is another force at play. Items which are text, and not links to external sites, are penalised. I don't know how severely, or whether this is enough to explain all of the r…

its also my understanding that submissions that are controversial (a lower upvote to comment ratio) weighted lower.

See: http://amix.dk/blog/post/19574