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Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

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Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#211

Post by DarylZero »

aerosmile wrote: post #135
DarylZero wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you're using the word "contrarian" correctly.

"a person who opposes or rejects popular opinion." [1] That meaning is exactly that I was looking for. Many people, myself included, believe he's wrong. But what the hell do we know? It feels odd to be giving business advice to a self-made billionaire. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=contrarian+meaning

Seemed like you were focusing less on "contradicting popular opinion" and more on "offending powerful people" which is a related but different concept.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#212

Post by rkk3 »

greyf wrote: post #75

YC invited Ryan to apply again and he declined? If the establishment was so anti-Bolt that they were colluding against him, why would they want him to apply again? Regardless, why wouldn't he? It seems like he's had a chip on his shoulder ever since the initial rejection, and he deliberately made it more difficult for himself and his team by passing up another opportunity to get into YC. If YC is as powerful and as b…

I just assumed it was an "invitation" to apply again like you get on a form rejection email from companies that use Lever or Greenhouse.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#213

Post by nkotov »

that_guy_iain wrote: post #167
nkotov wrote: post #77

To be honest, this feels like a PR stunt since we all know if you add "YC is bad" and share it on HN, people will look and react. I haven't heard of Bolt, I'm not familiar with the space at all. I use Stripe because the product just works and I can trust my business with it. Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. On a related note - I helped review a little over 100+ Y…

> Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. I see comments like this all the time. I'm pretty sure these companies are happy they drive people away who seem to be high maintenance. Companies hate high maintenance customers. Yes, they want customers but they want good customers and not high maintenance customers.

It’s not an issue of high maintenance (which we and many other companies are not), but more of an issue of accusations and trying to frame a “David vs. Goliath” story. I’m all for a good underdog story, but publicly ranting with untrue statements about a huge conspiracy out to ensure they don’t succeed is borderline unhinged.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#214

Post by rattray »

dang wrote: post #196
emerongi wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could a competitor have its employees flag a submission? Does HN have automatic vote manipulation detection? Does HN have automatic flag manipulation detection?

Yes, we've worked a lot on detecting such manipulation. I looked into whether it was employees doing the flagging, but I didn't include that in the GP because I can't tell for sure who was or wasn't an employee. What I did find is that of the flaggers, most haven't ever voted for a stripe.com submission (before or since). There were two flaggers who have voted for quite a few stripe.com submissions, but not enough to…

Thank you for this! Can you share whether the people who flagged the article were YC-affiliated (eg; funded by YC or YC employees)?

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#215

Post by skinkestek »

dang wrote: post #196
emerongi wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could a competitor have its employees flag a submission? Does HN have automatic vote manipulation detection? Does HN have automatic flag manipulation detection?

Yes, we've worked a lot on detecting such manipulation. I looked into whether it was employees doing the flagging, but I didn't include that in the GP because I can't tell for sure who was or wasn't an employee. What I did find is that of the flaggers, most haven't ever voted for a stripe.com submission (before or since). There were two flaggers who have voted for quite a few stripe.com submissions, but not enough to…

I'd almost suggest reducing the power of flagging on posts even more, but I won't for two reasons:

- This is your job and from everything I see you already put a whole lot of thought into it and I don't think I can outsmart you here.

- IMO things have become better the last decade so it seems to me some adjustments (either technical or in the user base) have already happened. [1]

That said, maybe we as a community could become even better at not flagging things that others enjoy?

[1]: alternative explanation, I've learned to look at /active instead

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#216

Post by greatjack613 »

dang wrote: post #184

His claims about HN are false. Short version: his post was 2+ hours later than Stripe's, not an hour earlier, and fell in rank because users flagged it, not because moderators did anything (which I suppose is what his mafia/mob language was intended to imply). The longer version is going to involve a tedious barrage of links, but I want this to be something that people can check for themselves if they care to. Quotin…

Honestly the fact you felt the need to try to answer up the claims by throwing dirt at one single point that they made makes it clearer to me then ever that the claims are true.

Everyone knows that the best pr strategy when your being attacked by someone who's claims appear true to anyone who has their eyes open is to keep quiet and let it pass, instead you blew this up.

I now believe them. Congratulations.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#217

Post by rkk3 »

enigmatic02 wrote: post #90

Guy's name is Ryan King (not his real last name), and his handle is Ryan Takes Off elsewhere... Almost certainly some truth to this, but majorly blown out of proportion

This was a provocative ad hominem take but kinda underwhelmed when I bothered to look.

> Guy's name is Ryan King (not his real last name)

It's "the Ryan King" and I'd have to guess with the lion picture, is a play on "the Lion king" and similar pronunciation between l & r and ending sound to lion and ryan.

> his handle is Ryan Takes Off

As in takes off... from work. Pretty innocuous? https://ryantakesoff.com/

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#218

Post by dang »

caaqil wrote: post #118
sailingparrot wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can someone confirm? Hover over the dates in the links. Stripe's post [1]: 17:41 UTC Bolt's [2]: 20:08 UTC Considering this is the only thing he claimed to have "proof" on, and it turns out not only to be false but to be the actual opposite, this is really damning for the rest of his claims. If that was such a traumatizing event, how can one not think of checking the timestamp once in 4 years to at least know if yo…

> An ~hour later, this showed up Could it be about who hit the front page first, and not exact timestamps? (i.e., he meant the Stripe post hit the front page an hour after their post did?) That makes sense, since some posts quickly hit the front page and then disappear. Just as an alternative explanation.

No, the Stripe post was on the front page for at least an hour and half before the Bolt post was submitted. I covered this in (mind-numbing) detail here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30070287

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#219

Post by dang »

adenozine wrote: post #203

Seeing mods immediately show up, post "proof" that could be easily manipulated, decry the post rather than respond, imo it all lends credit to what this person is tweeting about. I've long considered HN a source of techno-entertainment and never a source of news or integrity of any kind. It's just fun to look at. It is certainly manipulated often, in obvious ways, that are directly beneficial to YC companies. I think…

> decry the post rather than respond

Do you really think that https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30070287 is "decrying" rather than "responding"? and that archive.org (or hnrankings.info, for that matter, which we have no connection to) "could be easily manipulated"?

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#220

Post by dang »

rattray wrote: post #214
dang wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, we've worked a lot on detecting such manipulation. I looked into whether it was employees doing the flagging, but I didn't include that in the GP because I can't tell for sure who was or wasn't an employee. What I did find is that of the flaggers, most haven't ever voted for a stripe.com submission (before or since). There were two flaggers who have voted for quite a few stripe.com submissions, but not enough to…

Thank you for this! Can you share whether the people who flagged the article were YC-affiliated (eg; funded by YC or YC employees)?

None of the flaggers were YC employees or YC-funded founders. Does that answer your question?
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