Comment author: Mestroyer 05 October 2013 06:20:28AM 40 points [-]

The market doesn't give a shit how hard you worked. Users just want your software to do what they need, and you get a zero otherwise. That is one of the most distinctive differences between school and the real world: there is no reward for putting in a good effort. In fact, the whole concept of a "good effort" is a fake idea adults invented to encourage kids. It is not found in nature.

--Paul Graham (When I saw this quote, I thought it had to have been posted before, but googling turned up nothing.)

Comment author: hankx7787 27 October 2013 02:28:27PM 4 points [-]

Completely wrong.

As a software engineer at a company with way too much work to go around, I can tell you that making a "good effort" goes a long way. 90% of the time you don't have to "make it work or get a zero". As long as you are showing progress you can generally keep the client happy (or at least not firing you) as you get things done, even if you are missing deadlines. And this seems very much normal to me. I'm not sure where in the market you have to "make it work or get a zero". I'm not even convinced that exists.

Comment author: hankx7787 18 March 2013 11:13:11PM *  -1 points [-]
Comment author: hankx7787 19 March 2013 04:01:24AM -1 points [-]

Anyone can join the group, right?

Comment author: Nova_Division 18 March 2013 06:51:22PM 1 point [-]

Yeah! I've had new people interested in the facebook group who are going to come!

Comment author: hankx7787 18 March 2013 11:13:11PM *  -1 points [-]
Comment author: hankx7787 17 March 2013 11:07:21PM 0 points [-]

Hooray!

Comment author: hankx7787 18 March 2013 08:24:37AM 0 points [-]

Definitely looking forward to any new people

Comment author: hankx7787 17 March 2013 11:07:21PM 0 points [-]

Hooray!

Comment author: Eneasz 14 March 2013 08:46:11PM 1 point [-]

My answer was that you are inferring information that the question doesn't actually provide. Look at it closely and try to locate what the question even is.

Comment author: hankx7787 15 March 2013 04:49:50AM 1 point [-]

no he's right

Comment author: TimS 12 March 2013 04:58:46PM *  4 points [-]

"It would hurt the program's budget to treat them fairly" could be perfectly rational behavior. You don't know the event organizer's instrumental goals - although there does appear to be some disconnect between the expressed goals and the revealed preferences.

The event organizer's actions might even be legal ("Your contract is garbage," without a lot more context, is not a legal argument).

It's still a jerk move. And I sympathize with the people being hurt by it.

Still, I don't care about Cryonics events. I'm writing only to try and help you calibrate how to write persuasively and informatively.

Comment author: hankx7787 12 March 2013 05:19:14PM *  -7 points [-]

I'm not trying to write persuasively. I already have all the information in the first place. I know the organizers reasons, she told them to me. I know the contract is garbage, I just looked at it last night to make certain I was actually corresponding fully with reality here. If I wanted to be persuasive I would have just laid all of that on the line. But I don't want to do that here. I'm not trying to persuade the people who don't believe me, I'm just trying to make sure anybody who seriously cares about this can see it, and knows they can get more information from me if they want it in order to better make a decision. Since it's relatively costless to simply ask me for the evidence, it's silly for anybody who seriously cares about the answer to complain that they don't believe me without even asking.

Comment author: TimS 12 March 2013 02:51:40PM *  1 point [-]

Hank,

That is not your call to make. If you don't like how the conference is run, don't go. Encourage others not to go by telling them how the event is organized, not by throwing around wild, entitled accusations of mental illness. There is no evidence that the conference organizer is mentally ill. Writing "lol" is the functional equivalent of pointing and laughing - what gave you the right to point and laugh? You shouldn't be surprised that appearing and being petty is not rewarded in this forum.

If you had written what iceman wrote, you wouldn't have been downvoted. NPOV writing enhances credibility, and you are going out of your way to avoid NPOV. In fact, you seem surprised that your wisecracking is not being appreciated.

I'm sympathetic to the people hurt by the conference organizer. I have suspicions about behind the scenes issues that the conference organizer has not revealed because the issues would make the organizer look bad - even if they aren't illegal or immoral or even the organizer's fault.

By contrast, your original post seems uninterested in their problems or in the quality of the conference, except as a bloody shirt for you to wield to support your ad hominem attacks.

Comment author: hankx7787 12 March 2013 04:45:37PM *  -6 points [-]

So why don't you respond down here?

http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/gys/young_cryonicist_gathering_warning/8loh

Why don't you tell me that it's ok to screw our friends with an enormous, unexpected bill because your contract was garbage and it would hurt the program's budget to treat them fairly? Even though it's against all of your your own instrumental goals, even though you have no legal basis, even though that's an incredibly heartless, dick thing to do.

You seem to be suggesting that's perfectly rational behavior and not crazy at all, so why don't you elaborate on that.

Comment author: iDante 11 March 2013 04:33:45PM 16 points [-]

The lady who runs this is quite literally, nuts.

I do not think this means what you think it means, but thanks for the funny image anyway.

Comment author: hankx7787 12 March 2013 06:02:44AM *  -7 points [-]

The lady who runs this is quite literally, nuts.

I do not think this means what you think it means, but thanks for the funny image anyway.

I do not think this means what you think it means, but thanks for the funny image anyway.

Comment author: hankx7787 12 March 2013 05:38:46AM *  -5 points [-]

The sad part for me is that I wasn't smart enough to figure out on the spot how to fully convince her to change her mind and make nobody here have to pay anything...

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