Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fuck your downvotes.
Sweet, I can now say I've been told "fuck you[r downvotes]" by a professor from Cornell.
"visiting assistant professor"... isn't that like a glorified TA?
My Public Apology
51–60 of 116 posts
Re: My Public Apology
#52Re: My Public Apology
#53I voted up your original comment. I thought it was smart and witty.
I think people who voted you down probably regularly vote up witty remarks about the Bush administration or the war in Iraq, and are guilty of extreme hypocrisy.
Human beings make fun of everything, including death, pets being run over, wars of occupation, rape, incest, ignorance, stupidy, disease, racism, the holocaust... Perhaps the same crowd would have voted down Benigni's "Life is Beautiful" because of the jokes about an event in which 6 million jews were murdered.
Some jokes are less appropriate than others, but no subject is off limits. To censor your ability to jest about something is to censor your ability to think about it. I truly loathe people who impose their sensitivities on others as censorship. Fuck them.
Stand up for your comment. Even in a minority of one, the truth is still the truth. You're not alone in having the freedom of thought to find a humorous angle in unlikely places. We're with you.
PS: For reference, my comment on that justin.tv thread was equally caustic:
"Idiots: also available on justin.tv."
Re: My Public Apology
#54Obviously the root subject matter is very serious.
Neverless sadly there are many deaths and suicides in the world. So...
Please let us not turn this place into something like a reality TV series where the participants become more important than the content.
Re: My Public Apology
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
thats harsh
It was not meant to be harsh, simply a statement of fact. I certainly don't share the "Life is [harsh]. Adapt." mentality. I do believe in judging opinions based on how well they are substantiated. If you post an argument that is backed up by some sort of reasoning or proof, I'll be upvoting you whether I agree with you or not :-).
"I hope that you do not feel negatively about our company; one that I work on each day because I want to make it better for our users. And, if nothing else, please do not think poorly of Dan, YC, or anyone else. If you want to hate someone, please simply let it be me; I'm much better adjusted to it."
Its very clear that he is apologizing just because he is worried that his business is impacted because of what he did and not because he realizes that it was wrong thing to say.
You may down vote me for saying this but, thats what the truth of the matter is.
Re: My Public Apology
#56this is a community of smart people, not computers. what this incident did was demonstrate certain tendencies in our nature as humans--that is, the collective is still susceptible to certain modes of groupthink and, as rational and logical as we are/intend to be, we are still emotional beings. what i take away from this incident is nothing negative about tdavis--as swombat pointed out (and demonstrated), there were other comments that just as easily could have become the focus of HN's ire. instead, i see this is a reminder that no community is immune to the problems inherent in growth and longevity. so, let's recognize that fact, and simply double-check our motives before posting. i think it's necessary to take a step back in this case, as opposed to moving in closer for a better look.
Re: My Public Apology
#57There are things in life that matter more than others. Startups, money, reputation; all that shit is worthless once you need to deal with the pain of someone dying. Someone taking their own life is one of those things that should cause you to stop and think of his family, friends and wonder what pushed him to this. I dunno man, maybe you haven't experienced it, but once you do (and everyone does), I hope you forgive…
Fuck your downvotes.
Oh yeah? well...
Morra di!
Re: My Public Apology
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wasn't shocked at all. My favorite thing about HN is the community and the discussion that goes on here. I don't have comments on my blog for a reason, and it is precisely so that I don't have to deal with anonymous trolls that don't think before they comment. To me, Tom's comment was highly reminiscent of why I can't stand Reddit or Digg or YouTube comments. I expect more from HN discussions. This community has bu…
Perhaps I should have been more clear: The downvoting of the joke was expected. The massive upvoting of the snarky "oh, snap" comments that followed, is what was surprising. You are supposed to upvote intelligent discourse, and downvote the cruft; ie. encourage the "community and the discussion that goes on here", and discourage the "anonymous trolls that don't think before they comment". Or at least that's how I lea…
"Just apologize for the comment, man. You're not going to change anyone's mind with a childish rant like this." +20
This turned out to be very insightful.
Re: My Public Apology
#59jeez...
the world at large will find fault with ANYTHING ANYBODY says...
if you felt that way... so b it...
every person on the planet has a few rough edges...
(i'm still in awe of your intellect, and i've worked most of my life around geniuses)...
my vote is to accept rough edges for truth in facts, and forgive side effects...
:-) :-) :-)
Re: My Public Apology
#60(1) Your comment was callous, yes. (2) Your comment also had a grain of media meta-criticism truth. Falling asleep to die is about the least webcam-friendly method of suicide imaginable. This poor guy is sure to be outdone by a more telegenic webcam suicide, sooner or later. Such is the often-grim nature of 'progress'. (3) Your comment also had a grain of humor. Choosing to die in front of a camera is inherently melo…
I didn't downvote, but I didn't upvote either, for the simple fact that it wasn't funny. To paraphrase the pythons, humor is not the automatic gainsaying of the common sentiment.