LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator • Hacker News Board

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#491

Post by shkkmo » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 4:59 AM UTC

tyre wrote: post #399

slownews45 wrote: post #207

I'm in Oakland, I drove someone to a clinic. It was a day of pouring rain. We got there end of day. I didn't meet whatever high priority groups were getting vaccinated (though I do have a breathing related health condition). They had extra shots, they said come get a shot, their form didn't have a spot for leftover shots being used, so the women said I'll put you down as X (which I wasn't). This whole thing of trying…

Your case is a bit different. If you hadn’t taken the shots, they would have been wasted because half-filled vials are disposed of at the end of the day. So in your case it was either vaccinate someone or vaccinate no one. It’s not the same as the accusation of someone skipping the line.

Can you explain exactly what the "skipping the line" accusation is then? I don't see any evidence that is not what happened in this case.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#492

Post by choppaface » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 4:59 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #210

The submitted title was "Y Combinator kicks out Paul Biggar over a tweet". That is inaccurate, so in keeping with the HN guidelines (" Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ), I've replaced the title with the tweet text. That's the standard thing we do with titles, when people post Twitter links. Much as I'd love to,…

What?!! There are many, many posts with “inaccurate” titles. Would you like to change the John Carmack post to include his entire tweet as the title? YC moderation here on a YC-related post is not fair. It’s also unfair that this reply is placed above substantive discussion.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#493

Post by angry_octet » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:01 AM UTC

angry_octet wrote: post #66

minimaxir wrote: post #10

The person who the original tweet was referring to (it's not private; they admitted it), just tweeted a GIF about "witnessing karma". https://twitter.com/Prafulfillment/status/140093402468041523... EDIT: Reply on HN by the author: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27400221

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.

Postscript: the person in question states that this was an open site with no restrictions, and I am pleased to read that. However, it is still unclear if this was because of a special campaign to reach at risk populations (like undocumented people) and I can't help but think there was a naive element of playing the system here.

Regardless, they or YC should have addressed this publically at the time, rather than waiting and staying silent. The YC brand is damaged because we don't know if they acted ethically, or enforced the omerta. Everyone's reputation is taking an acid bath because of unclear communication.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#494

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:02 AM UTC

neonological wrote: post #472

grzm wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The fact that it's the top post is the most questionable thing here, it seems pinned to the top." I thought he might have pinned it, but that isn't the case: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27401409 > "I certainly didn't intend it to be the top comment; that was entirely by upvotes."

I mean he can lie right? Like I said, it's a conflict of interest. Most of the things I remarked on are 50/50 in the sense that I'm only 50% sure something sketchy is going on, worth remarking on, but I am not confirming anything. But Dangs post here looks like a freaking announcement where the intention is to indeed pin it at the top of the thread with fake upvotes or whatever mechanism they use with this site. This…

[deleted]

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#495

Post by edanm » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:11 AM UTC

slumpt_ wrote: post #334

dang wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I think that was probably because your comment was unsubstantive enough that it was unclear what you meant, which probably put it in a worst-case situation. Also, unsubstantiveness attracts downvotes in its own right, especially when it contains traces of snark. Also, your account has quite a history of posting unsubstantive comments—could you please not do that? We're trying for something different here. https…

We can set aside my history and focus on the simple point being made: labeling this issue as "petty drama" speaks volumes . It speaks volumes about you and the values you are espousing for this site and community, and reflects poorly upon YCombinator as an establishment in general. In early March we were at a point in a global pandemic where vaccines were hard to come by in the US and real lives were at risk and chan…

I don't think it's "petty" (to use dang's wording) because the underlying issue ("cheating" to get a vaccine) is petty. You're right - the underlying issue is serious.

It's "petty" because the discussion isn't about the underlying issue, the discussions is about someone claiming that they were kicked out of YC for posting to Twitter about someone else posting about skipping the line to a separate internal forum. That's very far removed from the underlying issue of vaccines, and brings in so many other topics into play, many of which are just not best reasoned about in this kind of forum (e.g. is the tweeter telling the truth? If they are, was it ok that they publicly tweeted about something from an internal forum? Did they first approach the original posted? etc.)

Much as you or I might like the discussion to be "Does YC condone lying/cheating to get the vaccine early", that's just not the topic we can actually answer here, since we have no access to the real underlying facts (and probably only one side speaking).

That is what to my mind makes this issue "petty", not the seriousness of the subject matter.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#496

Post by s5300 » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:12 AM UTC

arolihas wrote: post #411

garmaine wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could just say “As there is a conflict of interest, I will not comment on the substance of this tweet.”

But then he couldn't subtly minimize or delegitimize it.

Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

Any HN user should most definitely be applying this rule on Dang of all people. He deals with a lot of shit on here.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#497

Post by jamiequint » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:14 AM UTC

plusbryan wrote: post #22

This is really distressing, especially considering the ongoing public behavior of the original founder. Kicking out Paul seems like the opposite reaction for YC to have. It would be helpful to hear a public comment from them about this situation.

YC isn’t the moral police of when one should get a vaccine (nor should they be). YC are the police of other YC community norms, they owe nobody an explanation.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#498

Post by natch » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:16 AM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #362

natch wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe what are being thought of and judged by some (not you necessarily) as hard rules are actually just guidelines as you mentioned. And individual sites are encouraged to use their discretion in giving out available doses, when extra doses are available, to people who would otherwise not fit the guidelines. Because having doses go to waste is not desirable. So, people passing judgement may be being overly harsh…

It’s perfectly acceptable to do this thing (in theory), but if stories about it turn into he said/she said there is part of the context we are missing.

Maybe the takeaway is that organizations may (fairly, imho) try to limit the toxicity when people initiate he said/she said accusations in public without having all the facts.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#499

Post by shkkmo » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:16 AM UTC

pmiller2 wrote: post #452

Guess what? It can happen to you, too, if you dare criticize a celebrity CEO. I got flagged & chastised for “breaking the guidelines” over a comment that stated facts about a certain CEO whose initials are TK. Remember when y’all kept saying there’s no free speech on Facebook or Twitter? Well, it’s worse here, because if you don’t toe that line and bend the knee, you might get your user privileges limited. Edit: here…

It wasn't what you said, but how you said it:

> I would like you to email me your contact information so that I never end up working anywhere near you. My email is in my profile.

I agreeing with the point you are making in that comment. However, I would happily flag any comment that makes disagreements unnecessarily personal in such a manner. It is the type of non-productive discourse that drags the whole conversation down.

Re: LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator

#500

Post by JoeyBananas » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 5:18 AM UTC

ping_pong wrote: post #342

dfabulich wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got vaccinated at one of these West Oakland "first come, first serve" vaccination sites back in March. They were administering J&J vaccines (which do not thaw) with no residency check, and not even a poster saying "please don't line up unless you live in this neighborhood." No statement of intent at all. Others standing in line asked coordinators walking the line, "Am I eligible here?" and the coordinators responde…

Gotta love the rationalization. In March there was a lot of issues with supply of vaccines and the program was intended to specifically target underprivileged people because COVID is drastically affecting them more than people. But you said to yourself, fuck their rules, I found a news article that justifies me jumping the line. So you hacked the system and jumped the line and got yourself vaccinated ahead of someone…

As an outsider, I see no real reason to believe that this guy is not just as deserving of a vaccine as anybody else. It's hard to express how judgmental this post is.

Imagine you're browsing HackerNews and you see that there's a controversy. So, you instantly associate one side with "the plight of underprivileged Oakland residents" and the other side with "Greedy bourgeoisie colonizer." Because it's completely obvious who is in the wrong, you proceed to type this comment.