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LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

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Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#121

Post by fruityrudy »

ezekg wrote: post #31
rafaelero wrote: post #18

It's a bit distressing how organizations try so hard to keep a good reputation all the time. I mean, is it really that bad to publically admit that you are composed of people with questionable morals? For example, in the first company I used to work, I was always bitching about how things could improve. I got fired because I was "bringing the moral down" and was "working against the company". I could see why they wou…

People don't know how to disagree anymore. It's disheartening, because I like a good disagreement and the deep debates that can come out of them ... that is, as long as the conversation is void of emotional temper-tantrums (and in a lot of cases these days, fear of cancel-culture.)

There needs to be trust for this. And there is always a power dynamic at play. Manager to employee. Or even employee to employee where one will eventually get promoted above the other.

Its actually really hard to agree to disagree. You need to have a situation where each person has the same propensity to concede an argument. Like a code review - just do what the other person suggests instead of arguing about it if it really doesn’t matter that much.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#122

Post by rafaelero »

chillacy wrote: post #30
rafaelero wrote: post #18

It's a bit distressing how organizations try so hard to keep a good reputation all the time. I mean, is it really that bad to publically admit that you are composed of people with questionable morals? For example, in the first company I used to work, I was always bitching about how things could improve. I got fired because I was "bringing the moral down" and was "working against the company". I could see why they wou…

Not exactly the same as orgs but it reminds me of the very very difficult skill of "criticizing the king". It's possible, but it requires a lot of finesse and skill, and even then you might get beheaded. And it goes without saying, overtly criticizing the king is pretty obviously a bad idea.

I guess you are right. After that experience, I was very cautious to work for another company, because I find it very difficult to keep my mouth shut. I love to discuss how things are wrong and how I had an idea of how to improve things. Now, I am building my own company and will try to walk that walk when bringing my own employees.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#123

Post by beaner »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #109
angry_octet wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has a real "snitches get stiches" vibe to it. You have no expectation of privacy if you announce (let alone advocate for, or instruct how-to) behaviour against public health policy _during_a_pandemic_. The contrast with people who have been working hard to match people with appointments couldn't be more stark.

At this point in the US, anyone who wants to get a vaccine can get one. That makes getting it a personal choice. Then you have this person try to damage Ycombinator because one of their founders spoke internally about the matter. Absolutely tactless. You'd expect future founders to be able to consider potential repercussions for biting the hand that's serving them.

"Try to damage Ycombinator"... How?

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#124

Post by nine_k »

jollybean wrote: post #84
angry_octet wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has a real "snitches get stiches" vibe to it. You have no expectation of privacy if you announce (let alone advocate for, or instruct how-to) behaviour against public health policy _during_a_pandemic_. The contrast with people who have been working hard to match people with appointments couldn't be more stark.

It does indeed have that vibe, and irrespective of what actually happened - it makes him look bad. If he was indeed talking about inappropriately skipping the line, then this guy is a bad actor. But I should point out that we don't have any idea - the situation could have been very misrepresented - and he could have done nothing wrong. But given the public information ... this Tweet is going to come of 'Snitches Get…

> Why are adults in the US using Twitter/GIF memes instead of finding thoughtful and mature ways

This way they evoke more emotion, so, more of the unthinking (feeling-based) approval: retweets, reposts, just being remembered. When it's funny, it makes people happier along the way, when it's angry, it may make people also feel anger, but a righteous, just anger.

It's a potent drug which is very hard to stop taking recreationally, and also for a just cause. Not as a poster, but most importantly as a reader.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#125

Post by Fnoord »

vharuck wrote: post #79
chain-- wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you say the purpose or goal is of unconstructive critique?

One example would be a food critic. They give an honest description of a restaurant so readers can decide if they want to go there. The article doesn't need to be helpful for the restaurant. But I can't think of an example where a company keeps unconstructive critics on the payroll.

Food critic is a third party. If the description is honest and contains reasoning it can be constructive to readers (potential/current customer(s) and/or the restaurant(s)). Something along the line of "sucked, bad taste" contains no substance whereas "food was burned and flavor X and Y was a bad combination" does contain substance.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#126

Post by Hamuko »

whimsicalism wrote: post #63
nailer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He seems to have not advocated lying though just showing up: https://www.reddit.com/r/oakland/comments/m4bqx9/comment/gqu...

I'm not going to necessarily trust that reddit comment, especially when I know there were plenty instances of people lying about eligibility, and I think it is largely unlikely that most YC founders would have been eligible for this mobile clinic in west Oakland in mid-March.

Might be a letter of the law vs. spirit of the law sort of a situation.

AFAIK, the FEMA mobile clinics were meant to boost vaccinations in underserved communities. So they go to one of those communities, set up shop and then jam the needle in as many arms as they can find.

I don't know but it's completely possible that as long as you are there and you are 18+, you will be eligible for it. However, since it's meant to vaccinate underserved communities, you were probably not supposed to be there if you live somewhere else.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#127

Post by YuriNiyazov »

minimaxir wrote: post #68
saltedonion wrote: post #19

I’m confused. So YC kicked out the guy who complained about it on Twitter and not the people who advocated for lying to skip lines? Wtf?

Per the tweet replies, Paul Biggar's company that YC funded has been defunct, so that likely makes YC's calculus to remove him easier (optics aside).

This is the part that I don't understand. CircleCI is alive and well last time I checked.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#128

Post by [deleted] »

Hamuko wrote: post #119
TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this point in the US, anyone who wants to get a vaccine can get one. That makes getting it a personal choice. Then you have this person try to damage Ycombinator because one of their founders spoke internally about the matter. Absolutely tactless. You'd expect future founders to be able to consider potential repercussions for biting the hand that's serving them.

> At this point in the US, anyone who wanted to get a vaccine can get one. Pretty sure when this actually happened, vaccines were not actually open to anyone that just wanted one.

[deleted]

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#129

Post by throwaway0a5e »

chillacy wrote: post #50
pton-throw wrote: post #15

When did public denunciations become popular in the US? I know they've been a part of the Chinese internet since the early days. It wasn't always so intense in the US.

Probably starting with Puritan (proper noun, religious sect) witch hunts.

In 1627 they got on Thomas Morten's case for a whole bunch of nothing that basically amounted to being too friendly with the natives.

There's a reason "puritanical" has a derogatory connotation. I'm gonna stop short of calling them the Christian Taliban but only because the Taliban haven't yet gotten onboard with female literacy. It suffices to say that there were good reasons the Puritans were unwelcome in Europe. Rhode Island basically popped up overnight because there were just that many people that wanted out and were willing to throw in their lot with the first guy to flip everyone the bird on his way out. These weren't good people. The OG Pilgrims were a tiny bit better but not much.

The early history of New England is a good read. Amazing how quickly the cultural differences between the various regions developed and how little things have changed since.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Morton_(colonist)#Mount...

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#130

Post by whimsicalism »

Hamuko wrote: post #126
whimsicalism wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to necessarily trust that reddit comment, especially when I know there were plenty instances of people lying about eligibility, and I think it is largely unlikely that most YC founders would have been eligible for this mobile clinic in west Oakland in mid-March.

Might be a letter of the law vs. spirit of the law sort of a situation. AFAIK, the FEMA mobile clinics were meant to boost vaccinations in underserved communities. So they go to one of those communities, set up shop and then jam the needle in as many arms as they can find. I don't know but it's completely possible that as long as you are there and you are 18+, you will be eligible for it. However, since it's meant to…

Eligibility was determined by zipcode in those areas, even for mobile clinics, that's the "letter" of the law.
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