> For every company that successfully uses gray and black hat techniques to spur growth there are literally hundreds that don't achieve the desired result.

Exactly. But every such campaign contributes to the erosion of trust on the Internet and generally makes the world suck more.

Sorry. My comment was not positive. I love YC and what they are doing. But the fact that they are turning a blind eye to these kind of practices has been a sore point for me. First AirBnB, then Rapgenius(now genius) with their black hat SEO and now you. I though YC was about helping geeks succeed without making compromises to their moral principles.