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OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

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Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#91

Post by ams6110 »

vaksel wrote: post #44
zrgiu_ wrote: post #15

Like Notch said... "you are an insane idiot!". What did the CEO of OMGPOP had to gain from making those remarks ? He surely didn't expect the world to take his side.. Even if Shay Pierce really was "the weakest link of the team", you just don't say that. You just got bought for $200 million, now it's the time to show that you deserved to be the CEO of that company, by being diplomatic, respecting those around you (or…

yeah, the 2nd one was even dumber: What's so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many... since the guy specifically went out of his way not to "ride on his back" because of morals. Frankly from his tweets it sure looks like the biggest failure on the team is the CEO...they just got lucky and instead of being humble, he is doing the completely wr…

I don't know anything about Dan Porter. I have to admit my first thought reading this was that he's another 20-something CEO who hasn't developed the communication and political skills an good executive needs. But this guy is a seasoned executive (http://danporter.org/?page_id=4). Astounding.

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#92

Post by j_baker »

binxbolling wrote: post #65
j_baker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of all the ways I can think of to describe Pierce's article, "incredibly polite and graceful" is probably at the bottom of the list. Pierce branded a potential employer "evil" because of a minor detail in his contract (granted, a minor detail he had every right to turn the contract down for). Zynga isn't exactly well known for having the most integrity as a company, but it's certainly neither polite nor graceful…

An ant throws a pebble at an elephant, and the elephant stomps on the ant in response. How courageous of you to side with the elephant here.

I said no such thing. What I did do is question whether it was a good idea for the ant to throw the pebble at the elephant. The pebble did little to harm the elephant and might have earned the ant a reputation for being a pebble-thrower.

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#93

Post by zedshaw »

j_baker wrote: post #28

Porter forgot the number 1 rule of politics: If your opponent is making a mistake, don't stop him. I understand what Pierce is saying (and can't help sympathizing), but I can't help thinking that writing that editorial was poor taste on Pierce's part, and probably would have reflected poorly on him had Porter kept his mouth shut and not turned him into a martyr. I mean, if you disagree with a potential employer's" va…

> I mean, if you disagree with a potential employer's" values", it's career suicide to...

It's not career suicide. People should talk about shitty places to work more often, and there's no way Zynga can keep another company from hiring the guy. The only time you see "you'll never work in this town again!" work is when all the companies are colluding to control the labor market. In programming that hasn't happened yet, so he can say pretty much whatever he wants and still get a job.

In fact, it was easier for me to get a job after I demolished Ruby on Rails for being the piece of shit that it is. People like honesty.

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#94

Post by mikeryan »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #27
zrgiu_ wrote: post #15

Like Notch said... "you are an insane idiot!". What did the CEO of OMGPOP had to gain from making those remarks ? He surely didn't expect the world to take his side.. Even if Shay Pierce really was "the weakest link of the team", you just don't say that. You just got bought for $200 million, now it's the time to show that you deserved to be the CEO of that company, by being diplomatic, respecting those around you (or…

True. It is indeed very unprofessional. But how come people like him are held up to such high standards? When you're not anyone important you can be brutally honest and say what you want like everyone else does. But as soon as you're in the public eye you're put on this pedestal. This is what scares the hell out of me. I'm a very uncensored person who says what he means and means what he says (and am an asshole somet…

wtf did Notch gain by saying "You're an insane idiot"?!

- More of my respect.

Which of these two gaming CEO's would you now want to work for or with?

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#95

Post by loso »

While I don't agree with how Dan Porter came across on Twitter I think I can understand the frustration. You are having one of the best days of your life and then out of left field someone you know does an article that sideswipes it.

I read the Shay Pierce article when it was published and it was very respectful of his former employers...but it didn't have to happen now. Why did he write that article NOW? There is already a well deserved Anti Zynga sentiment and that article made his fellow employees look as if they were traitors to the forces of good. He admits that he has done work for Zynga in the past but then drops lines like "Not everyone shares my values, and not everyone is in a position to pick and choose job offers.". While true I can see how it can rub the people who choose to move forward with the Zynga acquisition the wrong way.

I don't agree how Dan Porter dealt with it, but I can understand being upset by that article being published right at this moment.

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#96

Post by pud »

moe wrote: post #62
vaksel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, the 2nd one was even dumber: What's so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many... since the guy specifically went out of his way not to "ride on his back" because of morals. Frankly from his tweets it sure looks like the biggest failure on the team is the CEO...they just got lucky and instead of being humble, he is doing the completely wr…

they just got lucky Can't stress this enough. I liked OMGPOP from the start, when they were still that obscure flash-site for 6-12yr olds. But that was before the CEO announced that he's an asshole... "DrawSomething" most likely got popular mainly because the implementation is much better than the other Pictionary clones (which have been around forever). And that's an aspect that Mr. CEO probably wasn't involved with…

they just got lucky

That's what unsuccessful people say when someone becomes successful.

I think there are two reasons for the typical "he just got lucky" insult.

1) When you tear down a successful person, you get to transfer a little of their success to you. (aka "player hatin'")

2) Level playing field. It's nice to imagine that everyone has the same amount of "luck," and therefore the same chance of being successful. It's disheartening to accept that some people might work harder or have more natural talent than you. Chalking it up to "luck" gives you hope that it could just as easily happen to you one day.

"Hope is the only thing stronger than fear" - Hunger Games

Btw, I think what the OMGPOP guy wrote on Twitter was mean and dumb. He shouldn't have written it. And I don't know these guys.

And I actually believe that most success is rooted in luck (or chance or circumstance). But everything I've read about OMGPOP says that they struggled for 6+ years and finally made it big with Draw Something.

"The harder I worked, the luckier I got." - Samuel Goldwyn

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#97

Post by notatoad »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #27
zrgiu_ wrote: post #15

Like Notch said... "you are an insane idiot!". What did the CEO of OMGPOP had to gain from making those remarks ? He surely didn't expect the world to take his side.. Even if Shay Pierce really was "the weakest link of the team", you just don't say that. You just got bought for $200 million, now it's the time to show that you deserved to be the CEO of that company, by being diplomatic, respecting those around you (or…

True. It is indeed very unprofessional. But how come people like him are held up to such high standards? When you're not anyone important you can be brutally honest and say what you want like everyone else does. But as soon as you're in the public eye you're put on this pedestal. This is what scares the hell out of me. I'm a very uncensored person who says what he means and means what he says (and am an asshole somet…

When you're nobody, nobody listens. If I say one of my co-workers is useless, the only people who are going to care about it are people who need to know that information - the other members of my team, and the boss. It's a private matter

When the CEO of a recently acquired company says it, it's not a private criticism anymore, it's a public shaming. He could have found a way of being honest to the developer without mocking him on twitter

The other celebrities you mention don't get criticized Because they have a limit. They say stupid things, but stop short of direct, public, unprovoked personal attacks.

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#99

Post by Klinky »

loso wrote: post #95

While I don't agree with how Dan Porter came across on Twitter I think I can understand the frustration. You are having one of the best days of your life and then out of left field someone you know does an article that sideswipes it. I read the Shay Pierce article when it was published and it was very respectful of his former employers...but it didn't have to happen now. Why did he write that article NOW? There is al…

There is already a well deserved Anti Zynga sentiment and that article made his fellow employees look as if they were traitors to the forces of good.

How would holding off on the article change the contents? It wouldn't.

Timing matters, he struck while the iron was hot. There is no reason he should self-censor himself for the benefit of a company that looks like it's run by a bit of an ass.

Re: OMGPOP CEO tweets: "Shay Pierce was the weakest employee on the team"

#100

Post by read_wharf »

tzs wrote: post #9

The subject misquotes the tweet. It did not say "Shay Pierce". It just said it was the one employee who turned down going to Zynga. However, there was a second tweet that did explicitly mention Pierce. Here's a screenshot showing both: http://i.imgur.com/Dob8n.jpg The text of the other tweet is "What's so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many…

If I worked for him I'd be wondering if he thought of me as one of the many.
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