Hacker News Reader

Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

Billy McFarland's Wikipedia page [1] is an entertaining read.

My favorite part of his story: "federal prosecutors in Manhattan said that from late 2017 to about March — months after Mr. McFarland had been charged ["with wire fraud in relation to Fyre and Fyre Festival"] — he ran a company that sold fraudulent tickets to exclusive events like the Met Gala, Burning Man and Coachella. In one case, the authorities said, two customers flew from Florida to New York for the Grammy Awards, only to be turned away at the door" [2].

Not sure how someone becomes this irredeemable at just twenty-seven year old.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_McFarland_(entrepreneur)...

[2]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/12/arts/fyre-festival-organi...

View on HN

The Wikipedia entry is a gift that keeps on giving:

> She added that McFarland's short but eventful career showed a "pattern of deception" and "overpromising luxury experiences that were not delivered". McFarland told the court that he was broke and could not afford a private attorney. McFarland later hired a private attorney.

Real estate developer parents could've flipped for it.

Yes. I read this. It seems he was so brazen to commit fraud even after he had been charged. I'm not a psychiatrist but its either he is a egomaniac sociopath or just really unintelligent.

Another point of view: at no time is any human being irredeemable.

This doesn't have the appreciation of nearly enough people in this world.

Too many people in the world appreciate this. The world would be a much better place if fraudsters never got second chances.

Look at who is running the world now.

Amen, brother. A high trust society is bred by religiously killing off the dishonest. "Nice guy" weaklings make the world a much worse place.

We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the site guidelines. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

You do good work dang, but I think you're being a little overzealous in this specific case. This is the first complaint I've received about my presence here, and in general my comments seem to be well received.

On second look, yes—a bit overzealous in this case. I've unbanned your account. But can you please follow the basic idea here? if you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; if you don't, please don't comment until you do.

If by well-received you mean upvoted, that alas isn't enough to ensure that commenters are following the rules. If it were, HN wouldn't need moderators.

Thank you. I'll do my best.

The tempting question: would you have shot Hitler at the height of WW2?

It doesn't work. All the alternate timelines are worse, usually because Germany has more time to prepare, gets atomic weapons and there's a global nuclear war. That's why the time cops have a permanent covert bodyguard detail on him. Hardest target in history - except maybe the Time Traveller's Ball. Their cordon on that one was pretty tight too.

On what possible objective basis can this be stated as fact?

"None." Got it.

Our economic system happily churns through people like a factory production line.

The question is; would you rather give this guy a second chance or give that chance to someone else who hasn't yet had any opportunity to prove themselves (there are many of these)?

You give second chances to people who make an honest mistake. This is not an honest mistake. It's fraud. He is rotten at the core. He goes straight in the trashcan.

But at some point, it's not worth trying anymore, like a house which is 90% on fire.

As soon as you discard someone as such, you're just basically just consigning them to do even more of the same. Why even bother trying change if you are actively expected to not do any better?

It's refreshing to see a viewpoint that doesn't jump straight to throwing bad guys to the wolves.

Auto-monkeysphering - involuntarily deciding you won't need to think about that person again in the future, reducing the cognitive load of humans to need to care about by one, forever.

> "two customers flew from Florida to New York for the Grammy Awards, only to be turned away at the door"

Those were beta users of a growth startup; the bugs are going to be ironed out in the next version /s

> Not sure how someone becomes this irredeemable at just twenty-seven year old.

How is this a function of age?

More time on earth means more opportunities to commit fraud.

How come? Opportunities are out there up for anyone to grab.

If anything, the guy deserves credit for spotting them earlier (than usual, if that's what you imply).

No one, anywhere, at any time, deserves any credit for "spotting opportunity for committing fraud"

More-over, he had time on earth to accumulate the experience/maturity that eliminates stupidity as an explanation, but also not enough time to accumulate the responsibilities that sometimes explain fraud.

Fraud at 18? -> Stupid kid (obv., fraud is never ok)

Fraud at 45 with three dependents on the verge of bankruptcy? -> poor bloke, the choice between a big personal risk vs. failing your family really sucks (obv., fraud is never ok)

Fraud at 27 with no real responsibilities in life? -> WTF?

Insufficient time on Earth to accumulate the skill & cunning to avoid getting caught, also.

die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain

I wonder how long until his wikipedia redirect gets changed from "entrepreneur" to "con artist".

When I read it on the page I was trying to figure out how to combine fraud and entrepreneur. Fraudtrepeneur? Entreprenfraudster? Frentreprenaud?

Fraudrepreneur

Contrepeneur

Oh that's better than what I had aha.

"Consultant" is also fitting. http://dilbert.com/strip/1998-08-24

Looks like the wikipedia page got taken down (?!?!)

> Not sure how someone becomes this irredeemable at just twenty-seven year old.

Bro culture.

I dunno. I knew a couple people in high school that I wouldn't have been surprised at all to hear they got arrested for something like this. And one particular little shit in junior high...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com