I don't have a quesiton of yours. I know just what your motives are. You're kissing ass, and you've been doing it as long as I've been here.
Ironically, I don't find much that I dislike about Paul Graham. But the cult of PG is another matter.
If you read my posts you will find that I always provide an alternative solution and generally argue for why it is a better solution. Dont' get VC funding- you don't need it, you can lease the infrastrcture you need, and use open source tools. I even quoted PG saying essentialyl the same thing-- yet this position is the number one thing that people argue with me about here.
I do find it curious that the primary argument made against me is the fallacy of authority:
"But people who are clearly more experienced and successful than you seem to disagree."
I am not making any arguments based on my success, and you certainly don't know my level of success or lack of it. But you sure seem to think you do.
":and yet they seem to think YC is an amazing opportunity that they would have loved to have when starting out."
The thing that most makes this community cult-like is the constant reliance of repeated ideology. The third time you hear the same "Argument" you start to wonder if everyone isn't reading from the same textbook. (And this text book seems to be full of appeals to authority.)
And the worst thing is that there's an ideology here!
Why does it have to be combative? Why does anyone who provies a different opinion need to be attacked or percieved as attacking?
You start off by impunging my motives... but I am more tame than Paul Graham is. Do you question the motives of his essays simply because he's not tame? Again, colored perception.
"clearly more experienced and successful than you"
You know, I think that's the core of it-- Paul had a mild success, and he's written a lot of opinionated articles. The cult of personality is therefore one that worships success... I haven't bragged about my success, I've argued without appeal to authority. But that carries less weight, doesn't it?