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I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

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Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#141

Post by madaxe_again »

throwaway283719 wrote: post #126
madaxe_again wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto. I actually actively don't look at peoples qualifications when it comes to hiring, as I fervently believe that the ability to get a degree does not correlate to, well, anything in real life, other than what your tolerance to debt is, or how rich your parents are, or how compliant you are. None of those are really endearing qualities in a potential employee. It usually comes out conversationally months down the…

You say you believe that your ability to get a degree doesn't correlate to anything other than your tolerance to debt or how rich your parents are. But you clearly believe that your 2:2 in Physics (for Americans, a 3.0 GPA) is worth more than someone else's 1 in Urban Forestry Management (for Americans, a 3.7 GPA) so presumably you think that there is some variation in difficulty among degrees, and presumably you bel…

But you clearly believe that your 2:2

Nope, I believed that. I now realise it's total bunkum, as while one degree may be more challenging than another, from a hiring manager's perspective it's the GPA/class that counts, and little else, and value is in the eye of the beholder.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#142

Post by drstrangevibes »

how many of you people that site Xah as irresponsible would be homeless in siz months if they lost their income? I'm a slightly older hacker and I've seen bubbles like this before, they dont always last and just because you are riding the wave at the moment doesnt give you the right to look down at someone who has made a few wrong turns. If half of you critics had found yourself in his proposition you wouldnt have the skills, resources, or courage to try fight you way out of it. Its shameful that you think your minor contribution in 1 or 2 companies gives you the right to look down on someone who has done so much for the community

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#143

Post by cmiles74 »

15thandwhatever wrote: post #70
thegeomaster wrote: post #33

I don't think anyone should judge him based on the small amount of information available. I understand that his situation is mostly his fault, but there may be other things at play. Why be so fast to condemn someone when an unfortunate sequence of events could've put some of us into a similar situation? I'm not defending Xah Lee's irresponsibility nor I am defending people who condemn him, I just want to say that we…

he still hasn't learned his lesson. he's actively asking people to send money to him in a way that skirts the lien the irs has filed against him. if the irs notices this and gets pissed, it absolutely puts his 'helpers' in harm's way. by continuing to not file taxes, the probability of irs aggression only increases with each passing day. i'm all for giving people a 2nd chance, but he still hasn't realized that it's h…

He feels confident that he doesn't owe the IRS taxes since he has never earned sufficient money to file (less thank $1,000). It turns out, according to the present rules, that he is incorrect: self employed and earning more than $400 a year requires filing income tax.[1]

It does not appear that he is purposely evading taxes. I agree that it is his fault that the IRS is pursuing him, on the other hand it seems pointless for the IRS to pursue someone with so little material wealth.

[1]: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Do-You-Need-to-File-a-Federal...

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#145

Post by jckt »

JasonFruit wrote: post #38
wfjackson wrote: post #11

Edit: He seems to have a lot of interest and worked a lot on good documentation, which is the bane of the typical OSS project. Why doesn't Red Hat/Google etc. throw some money at him to write docs for underdocumented OSS stuff? Sounds like win win for all. It's hard to find really smart developers that are interested in writing documentation.[End edit] If you don't really know him, his LinkedIn profile shows more det…

What is MyLinux? Xah Lee seems like a helpful guy and a decent coder, and I was saddened to find out later that he could also be a highly unpleasant troll. Now, I'm saddened to learn that being an unpleasant troll and failing to file taxes has caught up with him. I hate to hear of him washing dishes for a living, but I can't say I'd jump to give him money, and I wouldn't put my reputation on the line by recommending…

Same for me. I came across his site (through some usenet emacs stuff) and read his blog entries...I'm all for free speech and all, but I don't think a lot of his opinions would be considered, especially on HN, "unacceptable". Some of it might even be considered "creepy"[0].

It also doesn't help that he is insistent on using his own brand of English[1].

I don't mean to say that you shouldn't help him out. And I definitely can't say if he "deserves to be homeless/near-homeless". Just want to point out that the reason why he hasn't been hired isn't mainly because he has had "no corporation to witness to [his] ability", as someone else pointed out.

[0] Recent example blogpost: http://xahlee.org/sex/pretty_girl_racism_facial_expression.h... [1] http://wordyenglish.com/musing/xah_style.html

Edit: Just realised his writing style is only used on his blog, and not in professional stuff.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#146

Post by loup-vaillant »

nkozyra wrote: post #118
pekk wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really gotta prove you have the chops to deliver judgement on Xah Lee. I have no idea who you are and I can't tell you did anything as helpful as Xah Lee did. Maybe you should just refrain from judging people like this so harshly when you don't really know anything about them. Your attitude sucks. I would never, ever want to work with you when you talk smack on people like this without knowing anything about them…

I didn't talk smack about him, so I have no idea what you're ranting about here.

Yes you did:

> I think there's a lot of room for boisterous, outspoken and even aggressive developers, but you really gotta prove you have the chops to earn that.

This sentence of yours strongly suggest that you think Xah Lee didn't prove he has the chops to earn being outspoken. You may even think he probably did not earn such a right at all. Even if you don't think so, the suggestion is there for all to read.

Besides, I have read a good chunk of his website. Even when he goes full insult-mode, he generally has a point.

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#148

Post by test1235 »

jgrahamc wrote: post #83
throwaway283719 wrote: post #26

He could start by rewriting his resume. This in particular stands out - Accomplishment highlights: * Autodidact. High school dropout. No degree. To almost any employer, that is not an accomplishment, much less a highlight! If you're a high school dropout who is very accomplished since then, just silently drop any mention of your education from your resume. Everyone will assume that you left it off because it's irrele…

Sad. A couple of months ago at the Go London User Group a young guy came up to me and told me he didn't have a degree, was totally self taught, and wanted to know if it was even worth him applying to CloudFlare. I told him to apply. He started last Monday. I can only speak for CloudFlare, but educational background is _a component_ of a candidate. But it's only _a component_, it's not everything. We're interested in…

Theoretically, do you think CloudFlare would hire Xah Lee?

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#149

Post by chaostheory »

pawelkomarnicki wrote: post #144

WTF? "why i didn't seek job all these years? well, i can only say i procrastinate and is ok living on a dime."

my question is, if he's "procrastinating" why didn't he just rent a room instead of a whole apartment? Better yet why not move back to his parent's place? When I was single, I never rented an apartment on my own. I always had a roomate(s).

Re: I'm About as Good as Dead: The End of Xah Lee

#150

Post by gebe »

madaxe_again wrote: post #123
userbinator wrote: post #94

Did he just post a screenshot of his bank account with the session key visible in the URL !? (I know it's probably not too significant and there are other checks in place, but I found it rather ironic when the text right above it happens to be "I try to be VERY VERY careful".)

Actually, it's even better. He was browsing pr0n when taking that screenshot. Google those imgur filenames in the downloads bar.... facepalm

I don't think that bothers him. He has discussed his views and tastes regarding pornography (with explicit examples) before on his site. He also has a travellog from Las Vegas that includes a visit to a prostitute. He's quite a character and his site includes posts about everything from math and tech to the stuff I mentioned above.
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