Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

realdanlyons.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 210 posts

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#121

Post by smokinn »

Hopefully more people will start realizing that this is what techcrunch has always done.

I remember watching a techcrunch50. I showed some people I knew the swype demo and everyone was blown away. That's so cool! What won? Yammer. Twitter for the enterprise.

There's no way Yammer could possibly have won other than silicon valley tunnel vision/influence circle.

That was the only tc50 I watched. I also only ever read tc very briefly because the quality was awful. For the occasional scoop they got (and fewer right) it's just wasn't worth wading through the drivel.

At least now they have a new business model I suppose.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#122

Post by njharman »

davidtyleryork wrote: post #20

So basically it's only a matter of time before the ideals of the "gold rush" go away and everyone's just in it for the money? I came to Silicon Valley to escape that (the alternative, at the time, was Wall Street). Unfortunately, this kind of behavior (and these kind of people) seem to 'follow the money'. *Note: This is both about the conversation that companies are abusing consumers and then apologizing later, and t…

"Gold Rush" is the definition of "in it for the money". It means people go somewhere / do something to "get quick rich".

And Silicon Valley has been "about the money" for 20-30 years now. When Wozniak left Apple is a good milestone for when it became "about the money".

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#123

Post by siavosh »

njharman wrote: post #122
davidtyleryork wrote: post #20

So basically it's only a matter of time before the ideals of the "gold rush" go away and everyone's just in it for the money? I came to Silicon Valley to escape that (the alternative, at the time, was Wall Street). Unfortunately, this kind of behavior (and these kind of people) seem to 'follow the money'. *Note: This is both about the conversation that companies are abusing consumers and then apologizing later, and t…

"Gold Rush" is the definition of "in it for the money". It means people go somewhere / do something to "get quick rich". And Silicon Valley has been "about the money" for 20-30 years now. When Wozniak left Apple is a good milestone for when it became "about the money".

I think the warning signs of a 'gold rush' are when ethics go out the window (most recent example is the mortgage industry). Capitalism is all about going where the money is but if the correct rules aren't in place and the culture isn't strong enough the whole system goes to hell like a badly moderated news forum. The key question about SV of today is: are the correct rules and culture in place to keep the gold rush healthy and sustainable?

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#127

Post by nowarninglabel »

Steko wrote: post #68
oldstrangers wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fanboys on either side of the aisle love to pat themselves on the back and reaffirm--almost daily--that yes, they did buy the best product imaginable. It's the same reason Gruber makes half a million a year writing snarky one liners. Some sort of subconscious need to find superiority in consumer purchases and brand loyalty. It's kind of disturbing.

The "fanboy dismissal" is here, as usal, a cop out. It's the same copout that 2/3 of the commentariat falls back on whenever the subject comes up of why Apple is so successful. Must be those fanboys, that pixie dust, that RDF... "Some sort of subconscious need to find superiority in consumer purchases and brand loyalty. It's kind of disturbing." Or maybe it's just a good blog? Despite happily not owning a Mac for alm…

Eh, I'll be the counter-point here in that I do own a Mac, love it for the hardware which is amazing, but can't stand Gruber or his ilk. I'm not really sure what draws you to him, but I can tell you just cause I like Mac doesn't mean I want to go find superiority in it or read Gruber's nonsense.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#128

Post by glyph »

VonGuard wrote: post #118

Oh... My... God.... Lyons is a fucking god. As a journalist in the valley, I can just say that the first paragraph he's written here hits the nail right on the fucking head. ---"It’s tough being a journalist, especially if you’re covering technology and living in Silicon Valley, because it seems as if everyone around you is getting fabulously rich while you’re stuck in a job that will never, ever make you wealthy. Wh…

But that's the whole point of the article: the whole value of the CrunchFund (and its ilk) is that Arrington (and his ilk) will be a douche on your behalf. If it were just the money, it wouldn't be worth it for the companies they invest in: the amounts are too small. It's an alternative compensation scheme for a PR flack who masquerades as a journalist. There's no ethical way to run the fund, because it would be worthless if it were ethical.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#129

Post by seanp2k2 »

beedogs wrote: post #75
martythemaniak wrote: post #17

It's tempting to dismiss this as just e-lebrity gossip, but I think that this kind of rottenness is probably more dangerous to the Valley than threats from Washington or talk of bubbles. If who you know and how well you can politic overshadows what you did and the results you got, then you're in trouble. If somebody is an unscrupulous douchebag, don't to business with them, don't read their blogs, don't upvote their…

In other words, stop visiting TechCrunch. I'm way ahead of you.

The mere suggestion that this story is true makes me want to just quit IT, go back to college, and go into a more honest industry.

Is this seriously what we're all working at? A complex power play to get yourself rich at the expense of any morals or integrity?

How much is /your/ soul worth?

We have real problems in the world, but instead we have a bunch of boys with computers trying to rule the world through their control of media.

Is the world seriously this disgusting and I just haven't realized it yet?

Post reply on HN