Tell HN: “Troubles at Grooveshark” was deleted by its submitter | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: “Troubles at Grooveshark” was deleted by its submitter

57 pointsdang21 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7974727 was posted an hour ago and quickly went to #1. It's gone now because the submitter has deleted it. We didn't touch it, and we don't know who wrote it or whether it was true. Since the post would otherwise be at #1, I thought some people might be wondering. Normally I'd post this as a comment in the thread, but there is no thread.

For the curious, "deleted" is like "dead" except users can't see it, even when they have "showdead" turned on. We never delete posts, except on rare occasions when users have a good reason for asking us to. The most we ever do as moderators is make a post "[dead]", and those are always visible if you have "showdead" turned on.

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Maybe not the place to discuss this, but I attended Florida as an undergrad and Grooveshark has a terrible reputation among my grad engineer friends there (they're especially well-known for underpaying devs who don't know any better). I'd steer clear of them if you're in Gainesville.

I'm an undergrad in the CISE derpatment at UF and did an (unpaid) internship there this past semester.

They are definitely way below market rate for their developers, but you also have to consider how far $40,000 can go in Gainesville, where 'expensive' rent is $600. Grooveshark lets its employees create their own schedules (some devs work 4 PM - 2 AM), have a lot of control over what they're doing, and enjoy a fun and relaxed workplace.

The internet likes to look at the pay figure and cry out that these employees are being mistreated, but the majority of people I know at the company love their job and the lifestyle it allows them.

Agreed that cost of living is lower -- $40k in Gainesville maps to $88k in NYC -- but my friends mentioned offers much lower than $40k.

Having read the pastebin link below, the author (regardless of it being true or not) could be liable for slander of individuals and probably in violation of his employment agreement constraints about sharing private data.

A likely scenario is that this post was circulated internally at Grooveshark and their executive team and/or HR team reminded their employees about their obligations.

I am concerned for the submitter - I don't think this is the last we hear of this.

Last Line: "I'm working here until I can find a decent job somewhere else where I won't have to sell my soul anymore."

Ya.... Maybe that plan won't work out now.

It's not I haven't felt similar about work.. but when they pay you and you stay there willingly maybe you should keep your frustration to yourself and a few close friends. And.. there may be something you don't know about what your bosses are doing. Ever think of that?

If you really feel the way you do and you want to warn people, quit, then do your rant. Don't continue to take their money while betraying them. To do otherwise is not good practice at all. Even if you are right.

I don't think it was a downright lie to say Grooveshark was worth $375MM if they were making $13MM/year in revenue. Heck valuations aren't necessarily tied to revenue. If they were then a lot of pre-revenue companies would have a zero dollar valuation and that clearly isn't the case.

Reading the pastebin text, it seems a little petty and most of all a bit of a big emotional rant.

So the author does not agree with the valuation, many people do not agree with valuations of companies, in fact companies which lose money in some situations still have high evaluations as the valuation is market driven in some cases.

People getting fired, well that happens all the time. Lawsuits happen to companies, HR not getting fired happens, companies hiring for growth happens.

The problem with the author is the way they have stated their case, there is common problems framed with insinuating remarks which are further compounded by a use of profanity. Not to say if the post is true or not, but the author could have done a great deal better to establish credibility.

Weird coincidence that glassdoor is under maintenance.

Come now, it must be a coincidence! Either way:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:w3g4Msy...

Initially confused about the "Greek culture" bit but I guess the author is comparing the executive staff to the stereotypical bro fraternity. I winced every time a real name was used. Brutally honest (and possibly slanderish) writing.

It's not that the executive staff are like fraternity bros--it's that they ARE (or were, from what I recall) fraternity bros.

Completely inaccurate. Neither Sam Tarantino (Cofounder, CEO) nor Josh Greenberg (Cofounder, CTO) were at all involved in Greek culture during their short undergrad careers.

Sorry, I misspoke. The managerial staff, not the C-level people. Should have been specific.

I assumed it was removed for slander, as there was no basis behind the accusations. Thanks for clearing that up!

I can actually mark this is fact. They tried to hire me and i shot them down.

That's honest of the HN team. Thanks.

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