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I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

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Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#651

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

lolinder wrote: post #612
encoderer wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re being downvoted for poor critical thinking in this case, which led you to write a comment that doesn’t add to the conversation. Of course the father is “heavily invested” in his son. That comes from decades of raising him, diapers, dinners, driving and him around, and probably also sharing 50% of his genes.

It's less a lack of critical thinking and more an overabundance of cautious wording to avoid unnecessary offense. I'm suggesting that this father may have engaged in nepotism once before, which makes me question his integrity. Not every father does that, so it's more relevant than just "of course, it's the dad". I phrased it cautiously because I don't know the full story, but the pieces are there and I think it's wor…

Helping your own son in life is not nepotism, nor does it indicate a possible lack of integrity.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#652

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

lolinder wrote: post #614
mrmanner wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> at the expense of the parent's other employees rather at the expense of the business owners, which may well be the parent themselves? (ok fine the other employees could have equity in the business, but other than that)

I've been at companies where the owner prioritized their family over the business and the other employees. It's a sucky place to work.

Sucky, sure, but entirely within the moral and legal rights of the owners to do so.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#653

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

lolinder wrote: post #578
croemer wrote: post #556

His (presumed) dad commented this on LinkedIn: > I have seen all the emails now and it's as bad as described. I thought there might be some hyperbole but the "University Registrar and Chief Officer of Enrollment Information Services" is clearly saying "work with us to build this for free or you're not graduating". They even specify that he needs to set up the meeting "well before registration opens on February 13th f…

It's worth noting that the dad also gave his son a job at his company while the kid was still in high school. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it does show that the father is heavily invested in this kid and willing to act affirmatively to give him a leg up, which means I personally would not count this as additional testimony backing up the story. The dad's testimony doesn't make it less likely to be…

I didn't downvote you, but only because I can't downvote.

This comment is so out of touch with human family norms and morals that I do think it detracts from the overall discussion.

Totally fine to say "uh guys, it's the kid's dad, not exactly an unbiased party", but to suggest that a father using his resources to raise his son is an indication of a lack of integrity shows that you have a poor or distorted grasp on how the human world works (and should work).

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#654

Post by potato3732842 »

fullofbees wrote: post #433

It is wild to me that the bulk of responses here seem to take how this is being described by the poster at face value. As well as the question of interfering with registration, he has also gone about this in a way that causes reputational damage (& UW have probably caused their own, but that's not necessarily relevant here), which I cant imagine they'll take that kindly either. But I work in a public university in th…

>It is wild to me that the bulk of responses here seem to take how this is being described by the poster at face value.

Because it squared with just about how everyone expects universities to behave based on their own experience

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#655

Post by turbojet1321 »

zifpanachr23 wrote: post #429
turbojet1321 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was more thinking that there's not a particularly natural overlap between sports and academic ability. You'd think that by tying the two together, you'd get both worse sporting and academic performance than if they were unrelated.

The US has a decidedly liberal viewpoint on education. Sports ability is in some sense an educational endeavor. The ancient Greeks called it "athletics". So US educational institutions don't really have any hangup against treating sports any differently than they might treat a CS class. They are a subject you have to study and train at...and sometimes sit in a theatre and have a class time about (watching scout foota…

I never meant to imply that athletics wasn't a serious pursuit. I agree that physical capability is part of being a well-rounded person. It's certainly common here (Aus) for schools and universities to have sports teams and to strongly encourage participation.

What I find strange in the US context is the emphasis on it as a (revenue generating!) spectator sport. I understand that amateur (for want of a better word) sports can be highly entertaining; what I don't understand is why you'd go to university teams to find the best amateurs. I've played and watched enough sport to know that it's common for academic and physical abilities to be not particularly well correlated, particularly at tails of the distributions.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#656

Post by digging »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #634
digging wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does `this` refer to in your comment? If "hiring his son," I don't think anybody is indicating that it is a mark of integrity or honesty.

Thanks, I edited to clear that up. Yes, I meant hiring his son. I think loliander was explicitly claiming that it impacts their honesty and credibility. >I'm suggesting that this father may have engaged in nepotism once before, which makes me question his integrity.

Oh, then I misunderstood that too, yes. I read "mark of integrity" as being a strictly positive thing. Your edit looks good though.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#657

Post by jjulius »

tantalor wrote: post #609
Jcampuzano2 wrote: post #572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until they post evidence, legal counsel comments on it, or its reported by a news agency its a bit moot. I personally would have gone full nuclear and posted all evidence to put pressure on the school already by now. If I'm already defacto expelled I'd have nothing to lose by putting this on blast. Its weird that he hasn't posted anything given the retaliation he is receiving, hence why its hard to take completely se…

This is an internet discussion forum; everything is moot.

Assuming the eventual heat death of the universe is real, everything is moot! :D

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#658

Post by dang »

lupire wrote: post #442
hooverd wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, I don't understand the response to him here. You can just tell the random student who wants the keys to the student database "no" and go about your day.

[flagged]

Please don't cross into personal attack.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#659

Post by croemer »

rtkwe wrote: post #583
hooverd wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish they would post the emails. It's all hearsay still.

Email text can be easily faked too, there's really no reason to weigh them higher than the story other than they can be slightly tricky to fake the style and verbiage you might expect to see from that type of email.

Can be faked but that takes effort and raises the stakes. Now you'd not just misrepresent, you'd also be forging stuff.

We could then also discuss whether the text was credible or had some signs of being forged. Data is always good to have even if it could be fake.

Re: I had to take down my course-swapping site or be expelled

#660

Post by croemer »

lolinder wrote: post #575
croemer wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure whether I can trust the story as he presents it. The fact that he might be out for attention is a reason to have doubts, because he might have made the case look more extreme than it is so it trends better. There are a couple of other question marks: - Says he'll graduate this year, but he's only started at UW 1.5y ago, his project team mates also started 1.5y ago, so the course does not seem to be super…

In general I worry about ragebait stories that trend on HN. They're sometimes legit, but way too often there's a quiet coda where someone figures out it was all a sham, but that discovery occurs after the story has already been drawing attention for 24 hours or more, and the recall doesn't get the attention the initial rage did. So people walk away remembering a story that was a lie, while the truth gets quickly forg…

I also worry about this which is why I've been researching things and posting my findings here. I wish this got picked up by at least the student newspaper. UW should be able to present their side. Hard to predict whether we will ever know the truth.
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