Hacker News Reader

Comment by cloudhead | Hacker News Reader

Maybe you should let us know what the startup was, as well as the people behind it, so we can avoid working with them.

I'd prefer to be the better person here rather than defame them publicly. If anyone would like more information or to discuss this privately, however, my email is in my profile.

I respect that, but maybe people wouldn't get away with this kind of thing if it was made more public.

I don't like that this position is assumed by default by so many wronged parties on HN. If you're really eager to take the noble path, explain the story as objectively as you can and let other people decide. Letting other people get burned when they easily could've learned from your experience is not a noble thing.

I don't think it's really about being noble. When money is involved you don't know who is going to take offense with what you say. People with money or opportunity may not like the concept of you airing their or other people's "dirty laundry". It's also hard to verify information & a whistleblower can just as easily be painted as a hater/whiner or someone who has ulterior motives.

So shady people or companies continue to be shady because people don't want to risk loss of potential income or reputation.

I'd prefer to be the better person here rather than defame them publicly

Idly allowing bad and potentially evil behavior to go unrecognized and unchallenged is by no means being a good person. Not to Godwin the thread, but your attitude is why evil flourishes, and on much grander scales than stock allocation.

He is a victim here, why blame the victim over the perpetrators? Makes little sense to me. As well as saying "evil flourishes"...

Victims do have the responsibility to report their crimes.

You mean "the crimes they were subject to" I guess..

It's pretty obvious that this is Scoopler, no?

It's only defamation if it's not true. And if it's not true, why are you posting it in the first place?

No, James is doing the right thing taking a more noble path and not publicy defaming the company. There is a time and place for that and these sort of discussions will not be conducive for the HN community. Talking about his experience will be what most of us be interested in.

Having said that, all you need is 2 minutes, google and you can easily deduce yourself what company he is referring to.

An easier way to publish the info without defaming the company is to encrypt it with ROT13.

Encrypting with ROT13 does not cause you to be not defaming the company, either legally or ethically. (Encrypting with SHA-1 might, but I wouldn't bet your out-of-court settlement on it. IANALATINLA.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com