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Comment by rahrahrah | Hacker News Reader

Hey, good catch, thanks for sharing. In my view that increases the credibility of the Buzzfeed article.

That said, nothing wrong with pointing out that it's an unfair attack now as it may have been in 2011. (I didn't know Ball has written about Assange extensively until googling it after reading the BuzzFeed piece).

Since it's a piece by someone who has a personal dispute with Assange, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. I think its most interesting contribution at this time is its argument that Assange, for better or worse, hasn't changed, it's the world.

Every single person who works with Assange ends up having a personal dispute with him. The old saying is still true - "if you think everyone's an asshole, chances are it's just you".

Wikileaks collaborators and repeatedly walked away on bad terms. At this point I'd be curious to know if there's anyone who actually gets along with him.

I can't wrap my mind around why people are so concerned about whether he's an easy guy to get along with or not. If you don't have to work him personally, why do you care? Surely you can hear his message and separate that from his personal character?

It goes far beyond just being easy to get along with. He actually seemed pretty nice when I met him in 2005. But this is about demanding blind disobedience, accepting his authority, not tolerating any criticism (or advice), and apparently even using psychological pressure to force people to sign an NDA.

I suspect that the people who left Wikileaks did and still do agree with the original cause, but not with the cult of personality that Assange seems to have created around it.

Ok, that is good criticism but all that says is that his methods are probably not as effective for obtaining his goals as they could be. Doesn't detract from A) the goals that he's aiming for and B) the goals that he's already achieved.

The goals he's currently aiming for seem different from the ones he used to have. I support their original goals, and they've done some good stuff, but these days Wikileaks seems to be entirely about Assange, his cult of personality, and his vendetta with everybody he imagines is after him.

The stuffed giraffe, I presume.

> nothing wrong with pointing out that it's an unfair attack now as it may have been in 2011

True.

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