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Jason Calacanis at his finest

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Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#31
I'm just going to ask a question to the 110 people that voted for this "story".

Do we really think it's appropriate to air a company's dirty laundry and/or conflicts on Hacker News? I mean, that's the type of shit they do over at TMZ isn't it? Gossip about people?

I don't care who's an ass, who's been wronged and who has sand in their ovaries today. I don't come to HN for this.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#32
post #19
post #13

I've never worked at a company where I tried to be professional and gave 2 weeks notice and was NOT immediately shown the door (hence I learned to prepare and not be surprised). Does it really happen in this day and age? Don't companies lockout high value employees immediately as a matter of security and anti-sabotage?

I've seen several people leave at places I've worked, but never seen one of them locked out. When people are asked to "resign" I've seen them told to finish out their paid term at home, but that's obviously a lot more confrontational than someone who chooses to leave.

It happens all of the time. For many situations, there is considerable risk in letting somebody hang around for two weeks. The employee's mind is going to be elsewhere. He will be excited about the new job, and eager to talk to co-workers about the move. The employee may even decide to save some of his more valuable work to use in the next gig.

The manager is almost always better off by letting the departing employee off immediately to hedge risk. You pay him for the two weeks, and let him sit at home.

What I find most puzzling is why announce the resignation via email? This is almost always best done face to face, or at least via phone. Doing this electronically strikes me as immature.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#33
post #5

I feel like if we knew who he quit to go work for, we'd have a better idea of why Mr. Calacanis was so upset. Must have been a powerful direct competitor - I hope..

We do know: Yahoo @evanculver Good luck at Yahoo, dude. It's not as dead as some say, as is evidenced by the excellent code they churn out. -- http://twitter.com/codeshaman/status/12584315658 @codeshaman Thank you sir. I was going to delay the announcement, but you know, people do things that make you jumpy. -- http://twitter.com/evanculver/status/12585519584

Yahoo is not only dead, it is a large, rotting carcass on the landscape of the web. To imply otherwise suggests a lack of critical thinking.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#34
Let's be fair here. For all we know, the guy might have done something quite bad. Or not. But if he did, Jason couldn't say so.

We just don't know. But what we do know is that this is exactly the kind of half-story that gets people going on forums: an antagonist everyone loves to hate, and structural reasons why we're probably not getting the whole story.

Many, many times I've seen users on a forum go on the warpath after hearing half of a story, then look like fools when the second half emerges. I don't like to think how many times I've been fooled myself, between Reddit and HN.

It would be nice if Internet culture could evolve to reserve judgment when a story like this appeared, in the same way it has evolved not to trust any story that appears in a much-forwarded email. I would be proud if HN was the place that mutation began.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Mahalo is a top 200 site, over 10M uniques and operationally profitable. 2. Open Angel Forum has been hosting in five cities in the first four months of 2010. 3. I've done seven angel investments including gdgt.com, gowalla.com and blippy.com. 4. TechCrunch50 has made millions of dollars, but more importantly launched amazing startups like Mint.com, Powerset and yammer. 5. This Week in Startups about to have it's…

1. you could be #3, I couldn't care less, mahalo does not exactly contribute, it just rehashes. 2. good for you 3. The only one I've heard of is 'blippy', and that's only because of some fairly sloppy coding there. 4. great. I'm fairly sure they would have made it without your personal contribution though, you can't possibly take personal credit for that, just like Paul Graham doesn't take personal credit for dropbox…

And to bring the point further: no one cares what you accomplish if you act like a total asshat while doing it. Mussolini and some trains come to mind.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#36

I'm just going to ask a question to the 110 people that voted for this "story". Do we really think it's appropriate to air a company's dirty laundry and/or conflicts on Hacker News? I mean, that's the type of shit they do over at TMZ isn't it? Gossip about people? I don't care who's an ass, who's been wronged and who has sand in their ovaries today. I don't come to HN for this.

Well said. Lately many of the items posted on HN seem to be more about drama than thought provoking subjects.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#37
post #11

Seriously, Jason Calacanis has not done anything considered smart since he sold Weblogs, Inc. to AOL. Other than that he's not a graceful entrepreneur and an attention seeker (I refrain myself from using a harsher term).

1. Mahalo is a top 200 site, over 10M uniques and operationally profitable. 2. Open Angel Forum has been hosting in five cities in the first four months of 2010. 3. I've done seven angel investments including gdgt.com, gowalla.com and blippy.com. 4. TechCrunch50 has made millions of dollars, but more importantly launched amazing startups like Mint.com, Powerset and yammer. 5. This Week in Startups about to have it's…

[deleted]

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#38

This wasn't meant to be public, but then, lots of things that aren't meant to be public should be to deter people from being total jerks. I think this falls in this category. And I say this as someone who used to quite enjoy Calacanis's podcasts a few years ago.

Actually just not wanting to be a jerk should deter one from being a jerk, public or not.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#39
This email exchange is the equivalent of breaking up with your girlfriend over a text message and letting her know that you will now start dating her roommate. Obviously, there is no right way of letting someone know that they are no longer what you desire, but sending an email at 10 o'clock at night is hardly the right approach. How about "Hey Jason, I have some rather bad news that I need to share with you, are you free for a cup of coffee right now; it's an urgent matter." At least have the decency to say it to you his face.

I'm an undergraduate student at University of Texas with entrepreneurial ambitions who met Jason personally at SxSW for the first time. I am pretty much a nobody and yet he treated me with utmost respect and was a pleasure to talk to. Personal relationships are a delicate matter. You can't use a computer to solve all your issues.

Re: Jason Calacanis at his finest

#40
If the point of the story is sometimes people say moderately unpleasant things I would fully agree. Some people choose to self-censor, some don't. Personal choice really.
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