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Susan Wojcicki has died

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Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#151

Post by katzinsky »

zht wrote: post #144
lchengify wrote: post #73

Was shocked to hear this news. I worked for Google years ago but I was in the NYC office, so we didn't run into the YouTube folks much. Opinions about YouTube may be mixed here on HN, but it is objectively one of the most successful businesses in tech or media to emerge in the past 15 years. If it weren't buried inside Alphabet, Youtube would be worth on the order of $400 billion, more than Disney and Comcast combine…

I hope that when I die no one spends so much focus on the business aspects of what I built or the valuations

HN is essentially a business development forum so it makes sense that's what people here would focus on.

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#152

Post by lotsofpulp »

pavlov wrote: post #123
TMWNN wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Opinions about YouTube may be mixed here on HN Who? Who has a negative opinion about YouTube? The occasional "My kids watch too much of it" != "mixed opinions" about the site in general.

YouTube’s algorithm feeds increasingly radicalizing content to young people. It makes celebrities of people like Andrew Tate and is a primary enabler of fringe belief bubbles. Any time someone posts a YouTube link to a political discussion, it’s guaranteed to be the worst nonsense that pries on people who “do their own research.” (No matter if they’re left or right on the political spectrum, there’s endless junk on Y…

That is not an “algorithm” unique to YouTube. See 24/7 news channels for a much earlier example. It is simply the nature of loosening standards on broadly available media, and throughout history, even strict standards have not always prevented the “bad” stuff from getting through.

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#153

Post by [deleted] »

lchengify wrote: post #73

Was shocked to hear this news. I worked for Google years ago but I was in the NYC office, so we didn't run into the YouTube folks much. Opinions about YouTube may be mixed here on HN, but it is objectively one of the most successful businesses in tech or media to emerge in the past 15 years. If it weren't buried inside Alphabet, Youtube would be worth on the order of $400 billion, more than Disney and Comcast combine…

[deleted]

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#154

Post by pshirshov »

You may ask me where my tinfoil hat is, but something strange seems to be happening. My neighbour who never smoked suddenly discovered he has terminal lung cancer. Radon tests in his house were negative. The cases of early lung cancer in healthy non-smoking individuals seem to be on rise in Ireland over last 5-6 years according to the official statistics. In the news I'm reading about massive amount of cases of persistent cough which "takes weeks to resolve".

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#155

Post by meiraleal »

daveed wrote: post #49

I'm not a Googler, but would still ask commenters to show some respect for the person who died, and save your opinions about youtube for another day.

You know that Google has an intranet, right? The CEO of a division that extracts rent from almost every living person doesn't deserve more respect than a homeless person in SF

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#156

Post by layer8 »

zht wrote: post #144
lchengify wrote: post #73

Was shocked to hear this news. I worked for Google years ago but I was in the NYC office, so we didn't run into the YouTube folks much. Opinions about YouTube may be mixed here on HN, but it is objectively one of the most successful businesses in tech or media to emerge in the past 15 years. If it weren't buried inside Alphabet, Youtube would be worth on the order of $400 billion, more than Disney and Comcast combine…

I hope that when I die no one spends so much focus on the business aspects of what I built or the valuations

Luckily, you will never know, so I wouldn’t place much weight on it.

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#157

Post by meiraleal »

cowsup wrote: post #124
tomohelix wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I am a callous person, but I have never agreed to this "don't speak ill of the dead" thing. People live and die. It is inevitable. To the grieving family, I can understand why refraining from insulting the dearly departed is necessary. They are grieving and can be irrational. No need to make things worse for them. But between unrelated people? Why can't I discuss the legacy of the dead? We are defined by our de…

I feel like there's an unwritten "recently" in there. If you were to speak ill of Colonel Sanders, nobody would berate you for speaking ill of the dead. But when a CEO like Wojcicki, who made changes that were unpopular to the end-users (but helped turn YouTube into an actual profitable company) dies, it's considered very impolite to use that opportunity to bad-mouth decisions she made. When her son died earlier this…

> "Don't say things that will hurt the feelings of those who are grieving"

I for one would prefer "don't get attached to evil people"

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#158

Post by meiraleal »

surgical_fire wrote: post #119
daveed wrote: post #49

I'm not a Googler, but would still ask commenters to show some respect for the person who died, and save your opinions about youtube for another day.

I have no dog in this game - literally no opinion on what kind of person she was. I use YouTube, even though I don't particularly like it, much like every other Google product. Not sure how much of what I dislike on YouTube is her fault or not,and it doesn't really matter anyway. It is not like I hold any hopes of YouTube becoming any better now. But I find this kind of comment curious. Someone noteworthy and controv…

Don't kill Chomsky, he is still alive

Re: Susan Wojcicki has died

#159

Post by badpun »

chr1 wrote: post #126
yyyfb wrote: post #45

Next time you're thinking "I wish I was the one who had made a billion dollars with my startup idea", remember that only health and family matter, and to have fun while you're alive. RIP. Edit: some people misinterpreted my comment. I'm just one anonymous voice on the Internet, but am deeply saddened by the passing of Susan Wojcicki, who meant a lot to me as one of the many people who crossed paths with her professio…

Health is only temporary, and everyone in your family is going to die, until someone makes a trillion dollar startup to cure aging. So it is fundamentally wrong to put health, family, and work as things opposing each other, ultimately they are all needed on a way to get all of the galaxy filled with life. And as Susan have shown one can both do great work, and have a big family with 5 children.

Why it's a good idea to fill galaxy with life? Why should we care about it? Also, seeing that our current civilization-system is already at the brink of catastrophe, we should focus on less ambitious goals, such as preserving life on Earth.
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