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Comment by zb | Hacker News Reader

Technically this was more of a parody rather than satire. Satire would imply that you were making a deeper statement about Buzzfeed. In fact you were just re-using the form in a joke-y way as a linkbait headline for something unrelated.

Hopefully the mods will enforce the HN guidelines and rename this submission with a non-linkbaity title :)

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Yes, and we'll scold sama for you too, but I actually can't think of a good (accurate and neutral) title.

"Working at a YC startup can help you get into YC" isn't right, since what the post says is that a recommendation from a founder of a YC-funded startup that you've worked at can help get you into YC. 80 chars, anyone?

Edit: ok, thought of one. We've changed the title from "One surprising hack to get into YC". If anyone can suggest a better title, we're happy to change it again.

Thank you for having a consistent policy that even sama isn't above. :)

I deserve to be scolded. It's been a rough day. I was up all night. I thought I'd try to be funny. It didn't have the intended effect.

In case it makes you feel any better: I immediately understood the reference, and I thought the joke was funny.

Oh, no need for scolding. It wasn't like you submitted this to HN yourself, and you're entitled to write whatever linkbait you like on your own blog. FWIW I found it mildly amusing.

Naw. It was funny. It was just too subtle for me the first time 'round (but I'm not the sharpest brick in the deck).

How about: "Your network matters: work at a YC startup"

We are mostly adults here, why so much equivocation?

That doesn't stick closely enough to what the article actually says. (If someone posted it that way, we'd call it editorialized.)

When trying to come up with a better title, our rule of thumb is: stick to the language of the article as much as possible. Don't paraphrase. Best case is when you can find a sentence or phrase that expresses the article's actual point neutrally, in which case we can just use that. He didn't make this easy, did he. :)

Not following your bit about equivocation.

How to get into YC: get vouched by YC alumni

Doesn't include the bit about working at a YC-funded startup. That's arguably the most significant bit, since alumni recommendations were already a thing, and this is different.

(I like your use of the word "vouch", though, for unrelated reasons that will become apparent in the next week or two...)

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