Do we generally feel like they have a good reputation these days though? Like I don't know what people say on Twitter now I guess, but I do remember when they were advertising Elon speaking at their conference at the height of the Government Efficiency saga, and it really dawned on me that something like public sentiment is kinda low priority for them.

And for what its worth (very little), I have worked at this point at various YC startups over close to a decade now, and it can't help but be a quite negative signal to me as non-CEO, lowly dev worker. I get that they have a bunch of successes under their belt, and this is near superstition on my part, but the heuristic of staying away from YC companies has made me a much happier employee.

I thought the reputation that mattered to YC was for taking on could-be-very-profitable startups, and making them (statistically) much more profitable.

Also, might your argument require that YC's leaders eventually gain access to a time machine, so they could advise their earlier selves against supporting projects which later proved disreputable?