Dear Marissa: Think Different • Hacker News Board

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#51

Post by drgath » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 7:10 AM UTC

djt wrote: post #33

Err, Yahoo is making less profit, but it's still making $1B profit on the bottom line last year. Why is everyone acting like it's on it's beyond redemption? Sure, Yahoo and Microsoft are boring, but they're still profitable. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials...

> Why is everyone acting like it's on it's beyond redemption?

Because the only things that get attention in SV are products with growth. Yahoo is a very profitable company and has billions in the bank, so it'll be around for a while, with or without a rebound.

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#52

Post by iand » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 8:11 AM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #46

Cushman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This presupposes that the industry-wide preference for male employees is not discriminatory, which scarcely goes without saying.

The industry doesn't prefer male employees; male employees prefer the industry.

Male employees prefer the industry because the industry prefers male employees.

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#53

Post by lwhi » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 8:54 AM UTC

IMO this isn't doing much to advance the cause of women in technology.

Suggesting the highest ranking woman CEO in the tech sector should concentrate on serving women, is slightly sexist.

Both men and women use Yahoo. Demographic splits aren't necessarily as gender specific as the author assumes. We're not living in the 1950s.

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#54

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 9:35 AM UTC

mkramlich wrote: post #35

I'm not a woman, but I agree this is a great strategy to consider. I think one of the reasons that both Pinterest and Instagram caught so many of the startup & wantrepreneur crowd off-guard was that their success, to a large extent, came from a predominantly female user base, and typically feminine interests. Google, for all it's strengths, is mostly run by intelligent but geeky male nerds. Same for Microsoft, Amazon…

[deleted]

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#55

Post by rimantas » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 9:43 AM UTC

danilocampos wrote: post #44

ericabiz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't use the word "raped" in that context--as there are some people on here for whom that word conjures up a much worse image.

I hate the shitheads here who down voted you for pointing that out.

I am one of those. Let me tell you why: shitty attitude like this helps no one. What kind of stupid censorship is this? I hate every move towards "thought-crime" and I will downvote either on HN or in real voting anything what tries to bring us closer to this orvelian world. People may be upset by the metaphorical use of the word "rape"? How about the litteral use then? Should we just censor it out? What if someone was raped on the table, should we no longer mention database tables? And the last one: who are you anyway and who has entitled you to decide and advice others what words to use? Usually the ones on this kind of moral high grounds are the most harmful.

"Offense is taken, not give". However sad someone's experience may be this is not a good excuse to censor the expression of others. And not very effective at that.

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#56

Post by rimantas » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 9:48 AM UTC

davemc500hats wrote: post #47

kyro wrote: post #20

Dave, just curious, did you properly capitalize and punctuate this or did Svbtle do that for you?

nope that was me, not svbtle. just occasional change of pace, maybe give the trolls less to blather on about (altho seems like i got plenty of shit for using too much pink). personally, i think proper grammar is mostly a waste of time... as has happened previously, its use will be eroded by pop culture and mainstream behaviors rather quickly. also, for some reason i think capitalizing the word 'I' is somehow king of…

  > i think proper grammar is mostly a waste of time...

It is is you think that clear communication is also the waste of time. I may tolerate someone who cannot write properly because they never learnt (or are non-native speakers, like myself), but when someone can write properly but chooses not to—I cannot see that in any other way but the lack of respect to the target audience. "You cannot decipher some gibberish I wrote? Your problem"—this is arrogant. And to the hell with popular culture where signal to noise is so low that you cannot see the signal any more.

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#57

Post by to3m » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:34 AM UTC

rimantas wrote: post #55

danilocampos wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the shitheads here who down voted you for pointing that out.

I am one of those. Let me tell you why: shitty attitude like this helps no one. What kind of stupid censorship is this? I hate every move towards "thought-crime" and I will downvote either on HN or in real voting anything what tries to bring us closer to this orvelian world. People may be upset by the metaphorical use of the word "rape"? How about the litteral use then? Should we just censor it out? What if someone w…

"Thought crime"! Thought crime my arse. This stuff is just simple good manners. Behaviour designed to put others at ease.

Thought crime! God's teeth. Were you dragged up?

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#58

Post by paulsutter » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:35 AM UTC

ericabiz wrote: post #4

As one of the few women on Hacker News, I'm going to come right out and say it: I think this is a fantastic idea, and Marissa Mayer would do well to take it to heart. Imagine if Yahoo made a serious bid for Pinterest, and then Marissa went really crazy and made their homepage into a Pinterest-like site. Not only would it cause a great sensational uproar in the press, but it would make Yahoo a serious contender again.…

I love it just because it's an actual strategy (in the Michael Porter sense), which Yahoo has been missing all along.

Michael Porter defines strategy as how you are different from your competitors. Strategy means saying no, whereas Yahoo has always said yes. Southwest has a strategy (one class of service, only 737s, no reserved seats, no hub/spoke...) whereas United and American Airlines do not. Yahoo has been a tech version of a conglomerate. With no clear way to decide what projects are off strategy, all projects survive and the company has no focus.

Yes its a concern that yahoo's strengths (sports, finance) may not fit that direction. But this is the first time, ever, tht I've heard an actual strategy of any kind proposed for Yahoo. And that's cool because I was skeptical there could be one.

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#59

Post by nkohari » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 11:59 AM UTC

drgath wrote: post #51

djt wrote: post #33

Err, Yahoo is making less profit, but it's still making $1B profit on the bottom line last year. Why is everyone acting like it's on it's beyond redemption? Sure, Yahoo and Microsoft are boring, but they're still profitable. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials...

> Why is everyone acting like it's on it's beyond redemption? Because the only things that get attention in SV are products with growth. Yahoo is a very profitable company and has billions in the bank, so it'll be around for a while, with or without a rebound.

Who cares about attention in the valley when you're netting $1B?

Re: Dear Marissa: Think Different

#60

Post by Tycho » Mon, Jul 30, 2012, 12:09 PM UTC

The thing is, Yahoo is a really good portal site. Probably the best. It turns out that being a portal isn't as lucrative as people thought it would be 15 years ago, but there's definitely still a demand for them. Yahoo just need to focus on being the beat portal on the internet, IMO. It's a sound long term strategy.