Larry Flynt has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#21

Post by teh_klev » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:40 AM UTC

soheil wrote: post #18

teh_klev wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we really have to censor or edit titles to suite a bunch of potentially "offended" people? Oh the irony. We all know what Hustler is. And if you're a gormless startup founder picking that as a name for your app or product, well that's your fault, learn you some history and watch "The People vs Larry Flint"[0]. Flint's case in the Supreme Court was hugely important, despite being a "purveyor of filth", and strength…

No we don't. I was not objecting to Larry Flynt or the Hustler Magazine in any way, it was just a point of grammatical ambiguity, see my reply to another user complaining about the same thing as you are: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26097449 Looks like I've struck a chord among some HN users unintentionally.

See my comment addressing the sibling comment to yours. If instead the title was "Stripe founder...." I highly doubt anyone would blink an eye.

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#22

Post by gkoberger » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:40 AM UTC

gogopuppygogo wrote: post #6

Andrew Torba is following the footsteps of folks who pushed the boundaries like Larry.

No, Andrew Torba is a racist asshole who uses the guise of "free speech" to peddle hate. And I say this as someone who knew him many years ago during YC.

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#23

Post by teh_klev » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

soheil wrote: post #12

eyelidlessness wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit on top because I don’t want to improperly malign the parent commenter or get undue upvotes. I misunderstood the intent of parent comment and my response was to a criticism of sex work/publication of such, not to a criticism of the ways the title might be misread. Leaving my original comment below for posterity/accountability, and for anyone else who comes along and does think it’s inappropriate to discuss sex wo…

Not sure where you're going with this, but I was just referring to the ambiguity in the title since there are a lot of stories on HN about SV founders who are viewed as hustlers. Quotes or moving the word would work, not a big deal obviously.

> about SV founders who are viewed as hustlers

Well this is likely an age thing. And to be honest, in my 10 years reading HN, the use of "hustler" to describe a Silicon Valley founder on the front page (and second) is pretty thin on the ground. There is no ambiguity unless you're a bit deficit in the history department (which is not our problem).

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#24

Post by p1necone » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

teh_klev wrote: post #20

p1necone wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this person is complaining about the title being offensive, just grammatically confusing. If you don't recognize who he is it's hard to tell whether the title is saying that he's "a hustler and a founder" or "the founder of Hustler".

> just grammatically confusing. I disagree, it says "Hustler founder". Replace "Hustler" with and you have many a title on HN any day of the week that is " founder...." with no confusion. The parent to my post said "The word Hustler being the first word of the sentence is unfortunate." . I'm guessing this is because of the nature and business of the company, i.e. hardcore porn, not due to a grammatical misunderstandi…

Of course replacing "hustler" with the name of another company wouldn't produce the same confusion, because most other companies names are not also adjectives commonly used to describe people in the tech world.

You're so intent on being offended by imagined offence taken by someone else that you're ignoring them telling you first hand that you've misunderstood them. The irony is astounding...

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#25

Post by kstrauser » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

He did an unknown amount of sketchy and questionable stuff, but when it came to defending our right to say things the government disapproves of, Flynt was an absolute hero.

Thanks for everything you did for us, Larry. You’ve done good.

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#26

Post by teh_klev » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:49 AM UTC

marcodiego wrote: post #13

Time to watch The People vs. Larry Flint. It's been in my list to watch for a long time but never watched it.

It's a great movie, I can highly recommend. Especially seeing Falwell getting put in his place (fictionally of course).

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#27

Post by p1necone » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:51 AM UTC

soheil wrote: post #18

teh_klev wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we really have to censor or edit titles to suite a bunch of potentially "offended" people? Oh the irony. We all know what Hustler is. And if you're a gormless startup founder picking that as a name for your app or product, well that's your fault, learn you some history and watch "The People vs Larry Flint"[0]. Flint's case in the Supreme Court was hugely important, despite being a "purveyor of filth", and strength…

No we don't. I was not objecting to Larry Flynt or the Hustler Magazine in any way, it was just a point of grammatical ambiguity, see my reply to another user complaining about the same thing as you are: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26097449 Looks like I've struck a chord among some HN users unintentionally.

Some people seem to be so invested in the boogeyman of "cancel culture" and other people being "snowflakes" that they invent things to be upset about.

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#28

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

soheil wrote: post #2

The word Hustler being the first word of the sentence is unfortunate.

Only in that the lack of typographic options for HN titles prevents the clearer Hustler from being used in the title, which might suggest he's a mere “hustler founder”.

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#29

Post by p1necone » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:54 AM UTC

teh_klev wrote: post #21

soheil wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No we don't. I was not objecting to Larry Flynt or the Hustler Magazine in any way, it was just a point of grammatical ambiguity, see my reply to another user complaining about the same thing as you are: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26097449 Looks like I've struck a chord among some HN users unintentionally.

See my comment addressing the sibling comment to yours. If instead the title was "Stripe founder...." I highly doubt anyone would blink an eye.

Of course they wouldn't, because "Stripe" is not a word commonly used to describe people in the tech world.

Re: Larry Flynt has died

#30

Post by chipotle_coyote » Thu, Feb 11, 2021, 2:54 AM UTC

soheil wrote: post #12

eyelidlessness wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit on top because I don’t want to improperly malign the parent commenter or get undue upvotes. I misunderstood the intent of parent comment and my response was to a criticism of sex work/publication of such, not to a criticism of the ways the title might be misread. Leaving my original comment below for posterity/accountability, and for anyone else who comes along and does think it’s inappropriate to discuss sex wo…

Not sure where you're going with this, but I was just referring to the ambiguity in the title since there are a lot of stories on HN about SV founders who are viewed as hustlers. Quotes or moving the word would work, not a big deal obviously.

Or simply saying "Hustler magazine founder...."

I immediately got it, but I know who Larry Flynt was. The technical writer in me approves of your observation, though! "Hustler founder" would be a rather odd phrase to use to describe a founder who hustles -- you'd be more likely to say "hustler and founder" or "hustler-founder" or "hustling founder" -- but when there's any possibility for confusion, it's best to be (ahem) explicit.