Fan Mail from Mr. Spam!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rob Whiz <robwhiz22@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 8:33 AM
Subject: HN comments
To: [snipped]


You mentioned me in relation to a hackernews thread that mentioned
#bitcoin-assets, this one:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8795280

You asked "<< is this ninjashogun posing as a woman".  No, I didn't post it.


I didn't post in that thread and would not post there.  If I *had *(which I
refrain from as a rule) I would have posted,

"I found #bitcoin-assets a complete waste of my time, extremely uncivil and
the only genuinely troll community I have ever tried to engage with.  I
think anyone who likes the community here on HN will be extremely put off
and consider it a complete waste of time.  This is by design: several of
the posters are active here as well, where they behave civilly and in a way
that contributes, but this is not the culture that is encouraged there.  Of
course, you're free to try it.  Nobody has voice there unless an operator
gives you one, and the direction of the conversation is carefully
controlled by its operators.  Despite constant name-calling that extends to
the level of slander, it's a logged forum so you will want to take this
into consideration."

It's instructive to look at the fact that Hacker News is a forum run by
YCombinator, which has made 716 investments to date.  (How many have you
made, Mr. Popescu - not an insignificant number, either - perhpas by now
percentage points of that number.)  How has it been doing?  The 716
investments to date have a market cap in excess of $30 billion - this is
just ones that have had priced investment rounds recently, with 2
companies, Airbnb and DropBox, worth over $10 billion each.

http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-portfolio-stats

Collectively the companies have raised over $3 billion in cash.
YCombinator is built for the long game, and there is a good chance that the
true present discounted value of the companies it has already invested in -
even if it never made another investment - is in excess of $100 billion.
 (Based on companies that are very early in their trajectory and that have
not raised their Series A yet, or based on ones that are clearly intending
to continue growing at an exponential rate.  YC recently invested in a
fusion power-plant startup for example.)

It is instructive to look at the commenting guidelines on YCombinator's own
'echo chamber', Hackernews.  The link is here -
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html


*In Comments*

Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation.

When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names.
E.g. "That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened
to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

Please avoid introducing classic flamewar topics unless you have something
genuinely new to say about them.

Please don't sign comments, especially with your url. They're already
signed with your username. If other users want to learn more about you,
they can click on it to see your profile.

Please don't use uppercase for emphasis. If you want to emphasize a word or
phrase, put *asterisks* around it and it will get italicized.

Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate
for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going
to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this;
there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also
comment that you did.

If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments
saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.)

Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it
makes boring reading.

Please don't bait other users by inviting them to downmod you.



What is interesting is that these guidelines could be almost literally
reversed to get the posting guidelines for #bitcoin-assets:

*In Comments*

*Don't *be civil. Don't say things you would say in a face to face
conversation, this is the Internet.

When disagreeing, please do *call people names*. e.g. why write "1 + 1 is
2, not 3.", when you can write "*that is fucking idiotic*; 1 + 1 is 2, not
3"

*Do introduce* classic flamewar topics even if you have nothing new to say
about them.

etc

Some of the other guidelines could apply, I suppose, but don't translate
directly to IRC.  Mainly the stylistic ones do.

I object to the way you run bitcoin-assets and think the only end-result
will be the same as a certain channel that I joined on freenode that I
noticed had this description:

 Welcome to #____. The only rules are terms of the Freenode Network. *Ops
reserve the right to kick/ban/ridicule & threaten disruptive, uninteresting
and ignorant users at will. This channel is rated R. If you can't handle
the language and are under the age of 18, please leave.*


What is interesting is that the channel was a ghost town, and had zero
users in it.  I was the only one, along with ChanServ, nobody had been
there for years.

I saw you complain about sexy_saffron leaving.  (And I consider it likely
you posted a 'rebuttal' with a fake signature on that link, given your MO.)
 While I *didn't *think her comment on HN was great (being a rich man or
not doesn't really matter, it's more the general tone and behavior that's
trollish), I think it's a good example of people leaving.  (Though who
knows - both the post and the rebuttal were from a brand new account on HN,
it could be someone trolling or parodying that style.)

On the more genuine forum of HN, I have over 1300 points to Adlai's 84 and
Bboingo's 6, and 1100 on a previous user.   Nobody cares about troll
aggression there, it just gets downvoted and disappears.  Real
contributions are valued, and, of course, anyone can contribute.

It's your choice which kind of a forum you want.  One that historically
speaking has resulted in people actually leaving and it becoming a ghost
town, or one that historically speaking results in a vibrant, welcoming,
and open community with a free exchange of thoughts where the best thoughts
- and not loudest, rudest attacks - win.

I have no interest in participating in the former, and very, very few
people do, which is why I have stopped visiting.


Robert