
Paul Graham and his "no asshole" rule (Interview) - zeedotme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UacbJ72dluU&feature=channel
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Estragon
It's actually Bob Sutton's rule.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No_Asshole_Rule>

~~~
pg
Incidentally, we don't call it a "no asshole rule." I think what I originally
said to Robert was that we try not to accept jerks, and since he'd heard the
phrase "no asshole rule" he used that to describe it.

Our criteria aren't the ones listed in this article, either. We're not trying
to avoid people who make other people feel bad so much as those who are bogus,
or dishonest. That's what we mean by a jerk: someone you can't trust.

~~~
SkyMarshal
> someone you can't trust.

Judging who you can trust, especially based on brief, early impressions, is
quite a skill. Some have a natural intuition for it, others don't, but like
many things I bet that intuition can be deconstructed into a series of
learnable techniques. Would you consider writing an essay deconstructing how
you and Robert judge who you can trust in business?

~~~
jackowayed
He's said in previous interviews that they all just ask Jessica, who is
extremely good at judging character, because the rest of them aren't very
good.

~~~
SkyMarshal
Ah, she's one of the intuitive ones. Some of it is probably due to women being
more perceptive to body language and non-verbal communication than men are, on
average. I wonder what else there is.

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qeorge
A friend lived in a co-op at Oberlin, which had only one house rule: "don't be
an asshole."

That one rule supplanted all the traditional ones for group living: don't
leave dirty dishes, don't play obnoxiously loud music late at night, etc.

~~~
pg
Like the domestic version of "Don't be evil."

~~~
kscaldef
It's also a more succinct variation of Caltech's honor code: "no member of the
Caltech community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the
community."

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beilabs
Having read all of his essays I have never heard Paul speak before. Seems like
a pure gentleman.

~~~
JeanPierre
Never heard him? Not to derive this into some "list of Paul Graham's speaks",
but I really suggest to watch <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7K0vRUKXKc>. A
good speak, I think.

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vaksel
In regards to twitter...they should just give pg this guy's twitter account
<http://twitter.com/paulg>

He only used it once, and that was back in 2007. I'm sure the twitter guys
would pull some strings to get pg as a user. Especially since they have no
problem securing unused accounts "We have a rough guideline of 9 months of
non-use."

Other viable alternatives:

<http://twitter.com/realpg> \- only used 2 times a year ago.

I've also registered <http://twitter.com/pgyc> so you can use that if you
want(registered so some asshole doesn't go and hold it hostage). I figure YC
is something you'd be known for...and even if you stop doing the whole YC
program...it'll still be part of your legacy. And it's a short username.

~~~
buro9
Why should twitter give anyone's account to anyone else?

Besides, you're assuming because they're not posting publicly that they're not
DM'ing or anything else. I'd be pretty peeved if I had registered an account
and when I finally decided to make use of it had discovered that it had been
removed to give it to some other person of the same name.

Twitter should leave people's accounts alone unless there is a good reason
(preferably legal) for interfering with it.

~~~
allenp
I guess the question is - why should someone (non-paying) be able to reserve
an account name and not use it for nine months or more and expect to be able
to keep the account? It doesn't serve any benefit to the community to have
squatted accounts.

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JesseAldridge
On a related note, I've always thought a better title for "How to Win Friends
and Influence People" would be, "How not to be an Asshole", or at least, "How
to avoid acting like one."

[http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/06...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/0671723650)

~~~
dasil003
"How to avoid acting like an asshole"

It has a nice ring to it.

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doubleg
relevant part: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UacbJ72dluU#t=4m18s>

~~~
wccrawford
So, to save everyone the time, the 'no asshole' rule means they don't accept
assholes and has the obvious benefit that there aren't many assholes in the
'alumni'. That's it.

~~~
maxklein
How do they know who is an asshole and who is not?

~~~
pg
We ask Jessica, who has near perfect judgment of character.

~~~
Eliezer
I can see how you could tell that most of the people she told you to hire
ended up as non-assholes, but how do you know that the people she tells you
not to hire would actually have been assholes?

~~~
riffer
That's an opportunity cost, and it turns out that the main thing to understand
about opportunity costs is that nobody thinks about them the right way
(including me, of course).

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jacquesm
<http://electricpulp.com/guykawasaki/arse/>

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maxawaytoolong
This is an interesting rule in the context of Hacker News. Now that it's not
really about hacking any more, it seems like the common trait is that everyone
is an asshole.

~~~
mkramlich
I'd love to see a No Assholes rule on HN. By that I mean if an admin saw a
post that was asshole-ish, the poster account would be disabled. It would
encourage polite discussion. The current point system mostly encourages point-
baiting and groupthink/PC-ness. Internet posting seems to encourage rude
behavior, and it's exacerbated when you have a bunch of geek personalities who
often lack good social skills.

~~~
maxawaytoolong
The problem with that approach is long, drawn out threads filled with phony
politeness.

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mudge
I love how his name tag is partially peeled off. Very casual and some how
nice.

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Keyframe
the_real_pg is available on twitter, just sayin'... _nudge nudge_

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eogas
Paul Graham uses the word 'right' where most people use periods...right?

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teoruiz
I am so sorry, but I have to say this because it is what came to my mind when
I watched it: Robert 'Scobleizer' Scoble is, most likely, an asshole.

And that's what I can read all over PG's body language throughout the video.

And again, I'm sorry for this mini-rant.

~~~
kloncks
I think whatever you saw is probably due to the fact that this was a very
quick interview done outside in an impromptu way. PG's body language could
have meant a million other things.

Scoble's one of the greatest advocates of startups and not just in Silicon
Valley, so I'll strongly disagree with the "asshole" description.

~~~
chunkbot
I'm a great advocate of startups, but I'm also the first to admit I'm an
asshole.

