Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Drop Dropbox

drop-dropbox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

801–810 of 1001 posts

Re: Drop Dropbox

#801

Post by steven2012 »

ameen wrote: post #790
steven2012 wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument could be made that she was mislead by the CIA, just like Colin Powell was. I do agree that the Iraq War was a crime against humanity. Personally, I admire Rice, and don't think I would personally boycott Dropbox because of that choice. But I understand why some/many people would boycott Dropbox, and I don't think they're wrong to want to do so. The hypocrisy isn't in that the OP feels stronger about the…

Opposing gay marriages and killing people aren't the same, and the magnitude at which both of these events took place is also important. Prop 8 was a legal process, you could've successfully opposed it (and it was). But going to war isn't something the public could vote on. Also Eich's donation was $1000, Rice's War was several billions and massively haemorrhaged US Economy.

The magnitude is absolutely irrelevant. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy, and the core issue here is whether or not people have the right to boycott a product over the beliefs or actions of the people who are associated with the product.

If I believe that cars are causing global warming, I have the right to boycott the uses of cars and to publicize it. If I believe that eating meat is wrong, I have the right to boycott meat and to publicize it. If the CEO of a company supports a campaign that I believe infringes on human rights, I have the right to boycott that product and to publicize it. If the company of a product I use adds a person who was involved with what I believe was an unjust war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, the I have the right to boycott them and to publicize it.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#803

Post by DanielBMarkham »

mkr-hn wrote: post #791
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #466

I'm not even going to ask you guys to stop with the angry villager thing. Almost a thousand of you upvoted it, you must be enjoying yourselves. But I will ask that you take this off HN. All kinds of people in the world. They do all kinds of things and hold all kinds of opinions. I don't want to visit HN each morning and find the top item is the result of the latest googling and angry mob. Go get a room or something.…

I'm half with you on this. People can choose software based on their needs and values, and they should be free to encourage others to do so. It's perfectly valid to make a campaign like this. But HN has proven itself uniquely incapable of discussing political matters without making a mess of itself, so it doesn't fit here.

I deeply support people's right to talk about these things, boycott, and so on.

I'm even in favor of talking about moral issues here. As technologists, we bear a lot of the blame for many bad things that go on in the world. Too many times we like to feel like we're somehow above the fray.

My problem from a system standpoint is that we're starting to see a trend of engineering these things. Person X joins tech company. They get googled -- or they're just controversial. Then I got the top 3 spots of my HN feed full of Person X.

If it happened once a year it'd be one thing, but I'm feeling like this is going to be a new trend for us, and frankly, that's bullshit. The goal here isn't to have a conversation, it's to form up into little groups and go to war with each other. It's manipulative.

Nobody is going to read this thread and suddenly decide "you know, maybe I was wrong about that Iraq war decision all along" We're in cable news land, where we just want drama.

Today was the first time I actually felt that HN actively didn't want me here.

That's not the community I joined.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#804

Post by afterburner »

cmsmith wrote: post #503
afterburner wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While there is often little difference in foreign policy, their approach to social issues is vastly different. You probably don't pay any attention to this though. It does however ultimately affect you, since such a powerful but broken country could wield incredible damage abroad. However even in foreign policy matters, there would have been different results with respect to the Iraq war. The invasion was a quick and…

>While there is often little difference in foreign policy, their approach to social issues is vastly different. I think that this is a fiction put forth by the parties to inspire their more extreme members, but is false when you consider where the two parties fall on a full political spectrum. Take for example a couple of the most divisive social issues today: Same Sex Marriage: Clinton signed DOMA 15 years ago, Obam…

You are looking at the end results only, not the goals, the efforts taken by both sides before the result. With regards to health care, the Democrats have been expending huge amounts of political capital over decades trying to move the health care system towards single-payer, while the Republicans have been resisting such change. The Democrats finally succeeded with Obama's reforms, and Republicans have been desperately hoping it will crash and burn, and repeatedly trying to or threatening to repeal it given the first chance they can; they even tried to get the Supreme Court to declare Obamacare unconstitutional. Your claim that both sides want the same thing makes no sense.

The direction the parties are pushing policy towards are what makes the party. Remember when Bush tried to dismantle Social Security, to the cheers of practically no-one?

Re: Drop Dropbox

#805

Post by dragontamer »

araes wrote: post #789
slapshot wrote: post #742

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The HN community has always held strong beliefs about political issues, but what did we do about it? The problem is that "the HN community" doesn't have unified beliefs about nearly anything. There are people who are violently for and against: higher taxes, lower taxes, affirmative action, race-neutrality, abortion choice, life, fracking, nuclear power, wind power, birds, etc. If we declared that we couldn't work t…

Then we'll democratically argue and fight about it, and people will cast votes for the news they want to see, which will determine what the general "mood" of the site is. Its the bane and blessing of all social groups. As they get larger, people get exposed to / interact with lots of viewpoints that might not have originally been part of the core. To some level this is good, as it broadens horizons and enhances discu…

Unlike Democracy in real life, people who hold different ideologies from you on a website will simply leave and start their own websites.

Real Life Democracy forces you to work with your political opponents. Website Democracy forces everyone to think the same, or leave.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#806

Post by jon_black »

I'm tempted to write nothing more than the following quote:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

But of course, Ms. Rice would probably have said the same thing about the reasons why she made the decisions she did.

We are all struggling with the same thing. I want/expect/believe the following, and here is my excuse/reason/proof of it. I find it hard to be open minded when so many are driven by their dirty ideals - myself included.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#807

Post by dragontamer »

mindcrime wrote: post #779
bguthrie wrote: post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about what it means to the HN culture to have a subject that normally would have been flagged out of existence as overtly political suddenly be featured front and center It means that a bunch of people who once thought they were somehow above or apart from politics find that they are not, and that the things that happen in the world constitute news of real interest to hackers. That's growth. It's also misleadin…

That's growth. So is cancer. HN really isn't the place for political discussions. It's even in the guidlines[1]. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon OK, yeah, they're fun in a way; and I've made the mistake of participating in a few myself (largely NSA stuff). But the thing is, there are plenty of other forums for discussing politics.…

I'll publicly state my support of your viewpoint.

All this political talk has poisoned Hacker News for me. It has been a constant onslaught. Instead of a focus on building cool stuff, Hacker News is becoming a location for internet activism.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#808

Post by angersock »

mindcrime wrote: post #779
bguthrie wrote: post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about what it means to the HN culture to have a subject that normally would have been flagged out of existence as overtly political suddenly be featured front and center It means that a bunch of people who once thought they were somehow above or apart from politics find that they are not, and that the things that happen in the world constitute news of real interest to hackers. That's growth. It's also misleadin…

That's growth. So is cancer. HN really isn't the place for political discussions. It's even in the guidlines[1]. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon OK, yeah, they're fun in a way; and I've made the mistake of participating in a few myself (largely NSA stuff). But the thing is, there are plenty of other forums for discussing politics.…

Try out lobste.rs

It's way too easy to argue about politics on the net without any real effect--too fun, too easy, and too useless.

Re: Drop Dropbox

#809

Post by mindcrime »

angersock wrote: post #808
mindcrime wrote: post #779

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's growth. So is cancer. HN really isn't the place for political discussions. It's even in the guidlines[1]. Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon OK, yeah, they're fun in a way; and I've made the mistake of participating in a few myself (largely NSA stuff). But the thing is, there are plenty of other forums for discussing politics.…

Try out lobste.rs It's way too easy to argue about politics on the net without any real effect--too fun, too easy, and too useless.

Try out lobste.rs

I do, and I like lobste.rs, but it's a little bit of a catch-22. Lobste.rs is more "ideologically pure" because the userbase is smaller, but that smaller userbase also means there is a lot less discussion going on at any given time. But I think we're clearly starting to see aspects of the "Eternal September" effect here, due to the user growth over the years. So what can ya do? sigh

It's way to easy to argue about politics on the net without any real effect--too fun, too easy, and too useless.

So very true. :-(

Re: Drop Dropbox

#810

Post by honksillet »

grellas wrote: post #538

Think about what it means to the HN culture to have a subject that normally would have been flagged out of existence as overtly political suddenly be featured front and center in the apparent belief that ideological purity is now a litmus test for who can serve on a board of directors in the startup world. In a free society, people can unite in their business ventures even though they might be far apart in how they v…

Well put.
Post reply on HN