

Here’s the HN post that Paul Graham, BDFL of Silicon Valley, won’t let me write. - qubitsam
http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/heres-the-hn-post-that-paul-graham-bdfl-of-silicon-valley-wont-let-me-write/

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pg
I investigated and those comments were autokilled. There are handful of
phrases that cause comments containing them to be autokilled, and one is
"circlejerk." I doubt we have lost any insightful contributions to HN by it.

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michaelochurch
Thanks for explaining that.

I was using it as metaphor, but I suppose that token is negatively correlated
with post quality.

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ColinWright
It's this kind of bitchy, behind-the-scenes, handbags-at-ten-paces crap that I
hate. Long on surmise, short on evidence, and it's not going to help.

I'm sure it matters to you, but I wish you'd take it somewhere else.

~~~
michaelochurch
I hate it too, but I didn't start it.

The VCs have basically filled technology with petty high-school drama. By
funding people like Jack Dorsey and Evan Speigel, they're directly responsible
for the toxic climate.

The fact that Paul Graham goes to extremes to manicure the reputation of the
VC-funded ecosystem deserves attention. Why? Because it shows the underlying
weakness of this system. Things that are strong can stand to have bad things
said about them, because the truth favors them.

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tptacek
Where by "manicure the reputation of the VC-funded ecosystem" you mean
"autokilling comments with the token 'circlejerk' in them". Got it.

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yuhong
This was written before pg's comment.

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tptacek
What difference does that make?

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mildtrepidation
Yes, I'm sure Paul Graham cares so much about VC negativity that he personally
killed this commentary. Also, close your blinds, I think there are black
helicopters circling...

~~~
michaelochurch
I doubt he personally killed it, given that it was instantaneous and happened
around 5:00am Pacific time.

The reason it's of interest is that Hacker News has been assigning personal
penalties to the posts of people who are critical of venture capital. This is
just one episode in an ongoing campaign of nonsense.

I'm not upset about this stuff. It doesn't bother me. In fact, the degree to
which I was personally targeted (my posts invariably appear below where they
should based on votes and post age, but I still have a 5+ karma average) makes
me happy. I just like to draw attention to it because it shows how obsessively
PG is working to manicure the reputation of a pseudomeritocracy that
apparently can't handle people saying bad things about it.

VCs are passive-aggressive little girls if they can't handle people telling
the truth about them.

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QuantumGood
Formulaic linkbait, almost looks auto-generated [this website]+[well-known
figure]+[buzzphrases]+[won't let me write]

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cdcarter
Can anyone explain the "Paul Graham won't let me" part of this post?

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geuis
Yeah I have no idea why pg is mentioned.

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pstuart
linkbait.

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edgeman27
It sounds like this business isn't making any money and will go bust shortly.
I'd say not buying it would be a good idea.

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yuhong
I turn on showdead and I found a comment about Vic Gundotra by a throwaway and
posted a link to it in another thread.

~~~
yuhong
Link to comment in question:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6732425](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6732425)

