Comment by argonaut
10 years ago
What I find disappointing about the conversation here is that, in typical HN fashion, many people just assumed that this experiment was like one of those contests where you sign the legal "terms and conditions." As if the process was simply mechanistic.
As I understand, this could not be further from how this works. It was always obvious to me that votes would only be one objective factor among many subjective factors.
The discussion around Pinboard was somewhat polarized and tended to focus on the wrong aspects. I was partly guilty in that, but it's not great when the question mark is over whether or not you're serious, rather than over your business (having a question mark over your business is totally fine! that's the right kind of risk). And it was always obvious to me that the YC partners would do a final pass on selection.
It's comments like this that are the reason YC's communications here are so upsetting. Pinboard isn't a joke. It's how the guy pays his rent. Not only that, but it's a valuable and important service. I use it every day. Less than I use Google, but more than I use Wikipedia.
Pinboard's YCF application being perceived as a joke is due entirely to Pinboard's YCF application.
YC has no responsibility for that at all.
No one communicated that Pinboard, the company, was a joke. I feel quite the opposite.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11441978
I think you mean to say, "no one intended to communicate that Pinboard, the company, was a joke."