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What I Didn't Say

paulgraham.com

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Re: What I Didn't Say

#211

Post by pdonis »

loteck wrote: post #193
pdonis wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Publishing remarks made as background when you make it clear that they were made as background and that they weren't part of an actual interview is not unethical--though it is still unfair to the person being quoted, IMO, for reasons which are well explained by pg in his article. Publishing remarks made as part of background for a completely different topic, in such a way as to make it seem as though they were made d…

Publishing remarks made as background when you make it clear that they were made as background and that they weren't part of an actual interview is not unethical So, you're just wrong about this. Filed under: Ethics - Human Sources: "'On background' is a kind of limited license to print what the source gives you without using the source's name." http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/ethics-handbook/human-s... And, kno…

I didn't actually use the specific phrase "on background", but perhaps I should have said "given as background on a different topic" or words to that effect to make myself clearer. I don't think pg was saying that he made his remarks with an understanding that they would not be printed as coming from him; I think he was just saying that he thought he was giving background information for a profile on Jessica Livingston, not answering questions as part of a formal interview on the topic of women startup founders.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#212

Post by YuriNiyazov »

In John Gruber's words: "I’m sure this will get just as much attention as Valleywag’s misguided hatchet job that started the whole thing, and that everyone on Twitter who excoriated Graham will apologize."

Re: What I Didn't Say

#213

Post by MartinCron »

001sky wrote: post #190
marquis wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pressure of not being a 25 year old guy, basically. Or 25 for that matter.

This raises a good point, but informal inferences about age, ethnicity, and sex can be made from other parts of the application. Statistics on the discrimination of Ivy league schools show that (east) Asian face a stacked deck in college applications at "selective" schools[0]. Its plausible that much of this is inferred from ethnic names. To the extent it impacts the short-lists for interviews (ie, before candidates…

The last time I was hiring, I wished I could easily review resumes without seeing the names, email addresses, physical addresses, school names, or even telephone numbers as I felt that I was bringing in my arbitrary bias.

Telephone numbers? I found that I identified a lot more with area code 206 than 425 or 253, just as I identify a lot more with an @gmail.com address than @hotmail.com or @aol.com.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#214

Post by jusben1369 »

hooande wrote: post #158
ericabiz wrote: post #32

As a female founder, I think this is a well-thought-out, articulate response, and I appreciate pg stepping up to say something about women in tech. In a similar vein, I'd love to see YC take on one or both of the following: 1) Do at least one application cycle completely blind. How could you accomplish this? Much like in the concert auditions where this was first tried, put people behind a curtain--and then use techn…

A reputation can be a blessing or a curse. YCombinator has a great reputation as the best startup incubator and it's founders have sterling reputations as being the people you absolutely need to talk to if you're considering a tech startup. It takes a lifetime to become known as superlative, the proverbial gold standard. It's as true on the mean streets as it is in the halls of power: You are what people think you ar…

Hey I think your intentions are in a good place but I think you're placing the onus on the wrong party. @ericabiz is very open, transparent and direct about what she has seen and heard. It sounds like she's quite talented and had a choice available to her in the marketplace. Based on her market research she went with what she believed to be the better option for her situation. It's possible that she may have decided to go against her instincts and research and go with YCombinator anyway but it's odd to argue that she should have taken the risk and done it over her preferred solution. These are very big decisions involving where you live in the short term and how your life turns out in the long run. The onus really is on YC to address the perceived or real notion in the marketplace (that it's not female founder friendly) to continue to attract the best startups. That is, if there is an onus on any party here it's not on the buyer but rather the seller to address these issues. If these notions are false and unfounded it won't be too hard to clear them up. If they're based on something that does have a grain of truth then go tackle that. (Female founders focus FTW!) I just think it's unfair that you have a somewhat lecturing tone in your comments. It's a little bit of shooting the messenger.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#215

Post by jacalata »

throwaway135 wrote: post #152
marquis wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pressure of not being a 25 year old guy, basically. Or 25 for that matter.

There is no age limit for YC. Many people in their 30's (some in their 40's) have gone through the program.

There is no age limit for going to college either, but I have seen many people feel reluctant to begin/return to college later in life, for many reasons - they think they won't fit in with other students and hence will miss out on shared experiences, they think it's "too late" to get any use out of the degree by the time they finish, they think other people will think they are slow/stupid for being in college at their age, they think that colleges might not want to admit older people, they aren't sure if they can afford to support their family while being in college (not a concern for the traditional student), etc. I think that most of these fears are unfounded, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. One way to reassure them is often to give them specific examples of 'x went back to college to be a doctor when he was 33, and has had a long and successful career since then that totally let him pay off his student loans even though they were so huge!' or 'z did a degree in Mathematics in her 40s, and she said sure nobody invited her to keggers, but she was able to find partners for her group projects easily'. Are any of the older previous alumni open to being known as 'the guy who did YC in his 30s', or to being contacted by prospective entrants, to provide similar success stories?

Re: What I Didn't Say

#216

Post by MartinCron »

Osiris wrote: post #122

To avoid these kinds of problems, why don't journalists just post the entire interview transcript instead of, or in addition to, editing it for brevity and thus injecting their own biases?

There's a movement to get journalists to do this for some time. I remembered this interview with public radio's On The Media from 2007 on this very subject.

http://www.onthemedia.org/story/129436-just-email-me/transcr...

Re: What I Didn't Say

#217

Post by smtddr »

jsmthrowaway wrote: post #210
smtddr wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Provided you aren't a sexist/rapist, I see no reason why you need to be walking on eggshells all the time at a place where you spend a large percentage of your day. It's been my experience that when men feel like they're walking on eggshells around women in the workplace it's because they're normally comfortable making sexists/rape jokes and/or have sexist beliefs. The feeling of eggshell walking is them trying to…

Or, we're concerned about being misinterpreted and that misinterpretation being escalated instead of discussed with us so we can clear it up. But yeah, it's easier to just label us as sexists that like to joke about rape, right?

That's just an excuse. Why are you more worried that a female coworker will misunderstand you than a male one?

Re: What I Didn't Say

#218

Post by jusben1369 »

marquis wrote: post #123
sp332 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

blind applications would make me more comfortable to consider applying What kind of pressure are you feeling about applying to funds now?

The pressure of not being a 25 year old guy, basically. Or 25 for that matter.

Can I ask you to go one deeper there? Do you think age is more critical here than sex? Would you rather be a 25 year old female applying or a 38 year old male?

Re: What I Didn't Say

#219

Post by jsmthrowaway »

smtddr wrote: post #217
jsmthrowaway wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, we're concerned about being misinterpreted and that misinterpretation being escalated instead of discussed with us so we can clear it up. But yeah, it's easier to just label us as sexists that like to joke about rape, right?

That's just an excuse. Why are you more worried that a female coworker will misunderstand you than a male one?

I'm not. I'm more worried that people, regardless of gender, will escalate said misunderstanding rather than talk to me about it, which is training I'm receiving from observing these folks on Twitter. I realize now my earlier comments made the unintended implication that I was painting solely women with this brush and that's my bad, and not what I meant. In context with your comment it looks that way but I lament this behavior regardless of gender or creed.

Re: What I Didn't Say

#220

Post by marquis »

jusben1369 wrote: post #218
marquis wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pressure of not being a 25 year old guy, basically. Or 25 for that matter.

Can I ask you to go one deeper there? Do you think age is more critical here than sex? Would you rather be a 25 year old female applying or a 38 year old male?

I'd rather have been me, 10 years ago (i.e. 25yr female) applying to an accelerator. Looking back however, that me needed an incredible amount of guidance regardless of talent and I'd think it's a million times easier to get productive work out of a me-now. In that sense I don't need an accelerator like YC at this point, more guidance and mentorship on how to get past the post-startup phase. And that's perfect for a 38 year-old anyone.
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