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Re: undefined

#111

Post by iJohnDoe »

divbzero wrote: post #10

The decision was made to ban him here, try to get him fired though I don't know if we succeeded, and attack him with sockpuppets on Reddit, and it seems to have worked because you don't hear his name much. Ten years later, I'm still stuck thinking about this. Am I the kind of person who does shitty things? I was. Am I still? How would I even know? Corporations and governments often get flak for doing shitty things, b…

I agree with this point. I hate it when they say, for example, “Ford lays off 11,000 employees.” It really should say, “Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, lays off 11,000 employees.

Companies and employees are truly an enigma when the shit hits the fan. It’s extremely rare to show any loyalty to anyone. People put their heads down and pretend like nothing is happening.

Re: undefined

#113

Post by romanhn »

Huh, I do recall a certain anti-corporate individual (with the initials MOC) that was fairly loud and prolific on both HN and Reddit around that time, including insisting that pg and other tech leaders were trying to get him canceled (well, before the term existed, I think). If this was him, perhaps he wasn't as much of a crackpot as many assumed he was.

Re: undefined

#114

Post by rekabis »

> I had a lot of interaction with a startup incubator you know well, and ended up sitting in the discussions and planning around banning and erasing a young programmer we considered a threat to our financial interests, due to his concerns about authoritarianism in technology.

And… this wasn’t immediately seen as being deeply unethical and downright evil? Most of the western world punched Nazis on purpose 80 years ago… that doesn’t get to stop, because authoritarianism never goes away.

>In retrospect, he was harmless, but an example had to be made.

Wow. Just… wow. To destroy a life simply because of greed and because a person’s passion of fighting evil made you uncomfortable.

You need to understand you are very much the bad guy, here.

Re: undefined

#115

Post by n2d4 »

romanhn wrote: post #113

Huh, I do recall a certain anti-corporate individual (with the initials MOC) that was fairly loud and prolific on both HN and Reddit around that time, including insisting that pg and other tech leaders were trying to get him canceled (well, before the term existed, I think). If this was him, perhaps he wasn't as much of a crackpot as many assumed he was.

Here is dang's comment back when they banned Michael O' Church: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10017538

The year was indeed 2015, and his political content would fit OP's description, but the reason for the ban was that he was repeatedly being a total asshole, not "YC is scared of anti-fascists".

Re: undefined

#116

Post by arghpirate »

smitty1e wrote: post #19

> 3. Ethics matter. I don't believe there's any life after this one Serious, non-troll question: why bother? If there isn't any scope outside of the current perceived existence, and we're all so much "smart dirt", then the difference between kindness and malevolence seems moot. Note: I do subscribe to an explicit meaning to life, so this is posed more to express bewilderment at the alternative than reveal any anxiety…

that's what I thought if you don't believe in God then the only sensible option is to maximise your function while you still breathe.

Re: undefined

#117

Post by arghpirate »

baubino wrote: post #57
gtest wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if there is no afterlife, why does building caring and just society matter? If you (and everyone else, and the universe) is going to die, you might as well train your conscious and trample on the lives of others if it leads to success in life.

> But if there is no afterlife, why does building caring and just society matter? Because some (most?) of us are empathetic and compassionate people. We care about others and hurt when they hurt. We want to live in a just society and want to leave behind a just society for others after us. The fact that it requires „training your conscience“ to „trample on the lives of others“ suggests that such an outlook is not a d…

Most of us are egoistic a-holes, and most of us like to build false picture of them in their minds so we can have nice time thinking that we are good persons.

Re: undefined

#118

Post by b3nji »

We look forward to your redemption post next year. Sounds like you have a lot of unaddressed things you need to sort out. You know what to do.

Re: undefined

#119

Post by romanhn »

n2d4 wrote: post #115
romanhn wrote: post #113

Huh, I do recall a certain anti-corporate individual (with the initials MOC) that was fairly loud and prolific on both HN and Reddit around that time, including insisting that pg and other tech leaders were trying to get him canceled (well, before the term existed, I think). If this was him, perhaps he wasn't as much of a crackpot as many assumed he was.

Here is dang's comment back when they banned Michael O' Church: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10017538 The year was indeed 2015, and his political content would fit OP's description, but the reason for the ban was that he was repeatedly being a total asshole, not "YC is scared of anti-fascists".

You know... one of the charges leveled at Michael was creation of sockpuppet accounts in various media (Wikipedia, HN, Quora). I suppose it could be within the realm of possibility that this is another one of these, given the oddly specific example in the middle of general musings. The fact that all follow-on replies have to do with this particular incident and nothing else in the post, painting the victim in the most positive light, makes this especially questionable. If I'm wrong, I apologize and wish the OP well, but I gotta say, it looks pretty sus to this observer.

Re: undefined

#120

Post by Jommi »

romanhn wrote: post #113

Huh, I do recall a certain anti-corporate individual (with the initials MOC) that was fairly loud and prolific on both HN and Reddit around that time, including insisting that pg and other tech leaders were trying to get him canceled (well, before the term existed, I think). If this was him, perhaps he wasn't as much of a crackpot as many assumed he was.

https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2016/04/ looks like it.
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