Comment by hn_throwaway_99
2 days ago
What was the point of this blog post? To re-use the shit metaphor, to the author of this blog post: Shit or get off the pot. I have a general disdain for these types of post where the author has to know that the very first thing every reader would do is google around to try to figure out exactly who he's talking about (in this case, the psychopathic VC). I.e. leave plenty of details where a determined searcher can figure out the subject of the post, but without naming names. IMO, if you're going to go that far, you should either name names or shut up.
Secondly, the only other takeaway I got from this post is "beware of narcissistic psychopaths, especially in the VC world." Yeah, and water is wet.
VC industry likes to mention that there are bad actors without actually mentioning the bad actors. It's a faux pas to actually name and shame. The industry happens to be small enough and super relationship-driven so, for better or worse, observing the faux pas matters.
I cannot think of a selfish upside to broadcasting who the alleged bad actors are.
But I can think of selfish downside to doing so. Retaliation and discrediting, by someone you already know is underhanded. Also, you don't want to be known as someone who might violate a confidence, or air industry dirty laundry. Also, when someone Web searches your name, you don't want some scandal headline to come up.
I can also think of selfish reason to say that there are bad actors, without naming them: "Of course, we're good ones, just warning you, because we're looking out for you."