I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. AMA(reddit.com)
reddit.com
I’m Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. AMA
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/
23 comments
Honestly, of the two icons shown in the movie, I'd rather take Gates to dinner over Jobs. Sure, he's shown as being a conniving schemer, but at the same time much less of a reprehensible human being (PoSV was not kind in its depiction of Job's handling of his daughter).
I had dinner with Bill a few times in the 1980s. Discussions were intense. Somewhat too much of trying to prove ourselves (both our faults).
I only talked once w/ Steve for a couple of minutes, in the same era. He seemed like a jerk.
I only talked once w/ Steve for a couple of minutes, in the same era. He seemed like a jerk.
Any funny stories you'd care to share from those experiences?
From the IAmA:
Q: "How was your relationship with Steve jobs? I always hoped that y'all were really good friends and competitors."
A: "He and I respected each other. Our biggest joint project was the Mac where Microsoft had more people on the project than Apple did as we wrote a lot of applications."
So Bill might be giving away some money nowadays, his character doesn't seem to have changed much, still taking credit where it isn't due.
Q: "How was your relationship with Steve jobs? I always hoped that y'all were really good friends and competitors."
A: "He and I respected each other. Our biggest joint project was the Mac where Microsoft had more people on the project than Apple did as we wrote a lot of applications."
So Bill might be giving away some money nowadays, his character doesn't seem to have changed much, still taking credit where it isn't due.
All I have to go on is a handful of interviews, but I've never seen Steve Jobs act like anything other than a condescending douche bag towards Bill Gates and Microsoft.
Anyone know if there's any public evidence that they shared a mutual respect? If there is, I'd like to read / watch it.
Anyone know if there's any public evidence that they shared a mutual respect? If there is, I'd like to read / watch it.
Well, Walt Mossberg interviewed both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at D5 in 2007. The gents seemed to have fun, and they complimented each other plenty.
Video: http://allthingsd.com/video/?video_id=60C4F9FA-9AD5-4D04-8BB...
Transcript: http://allthingsd.com/20070531/d5-gates-jobs-transcript/
Video: http://allthingsd.com/video/?video_id=60C4F9FA-9AD5-4D04-8BB...
Transcript: http://allthingsd.com/20070531/d5-gates-jobs-transcript/
Thanks. I'm not surprised that it exists, I just think the media likes showing the clips where Steve is busting Bill's balls over Windows supposed inferiority.
I'm going go finish the video now. I appreciate it.
I'm going go finish the video now. I appreciate it.
I didn't get the sense that this was meant with disrespect. Overall, I think he did stay classy throughout the AMA.
In that movie Gates is shown to be ruthless in his business dealings with other companies, but Steve Jobs is ruthless in his dealings with his own staff. In the movie, Steve Jobs actively promoted infighting between teams and mandated insane working conditions.
Based entirely on the movie, Steve Jobs is clearly shown as the worse of the two.
Based entirely on the movie, Steve Jobs is clearly shown as the worse of the two.
It's an interesting showdown of personalities. Steve Jobs had invited the actor who portrayed him at WWDC. So looks like Jobs also thought portrayal was accurate. I think both of them had their own flaws as individuals but their strengths made them what they are.
Of course, Gates mandated insane working conditions as well.
The keyword was 'reasonably accurate'
Post-Microsoft Bill Gates is a much more interesting person. I'm not a Microsoft fan, but I have a huge amount of respect for how he's choosing to spend the money he made. Interesting contrast to Larry Ellison, for example.
It's kind of crazy when you think about his goals of eradicating some diseases completely. Totally. From the face of the Earth.
There are definitely worse ways to spend your time and money.
There are definitely worse ways to spend your time and money.
He's uniquely suited to the task, that's what he did to Be and Netscape.
Be was so hard to catch, you practically had to infect yourself with it. Netscape mutated into the Communicator Virus, and what with it's bigger molecular structure, transmission became so difficult, that it eventually died out.
Since smallpox I've heard of several diseases removed, but no talk about saving a few vials. Is this still done?
I'd guess it is. Diseases are still organisms, and we try pretty hard not to let them go extinct.
What's the reason for keeping them though? Is it to make vaccines if they potentially come back or more sinister pre-emptive military reasons?
Larry Ellison has put virtually all of his assets into a trust with the intent of giving away 95% of his money to charitable causes when he dies.
I wasn't sure of this, so I looked it up:
http://cms.givingpledge.org/#larry_ellison
The full letter is an interesting read
http://cms.givingpledge.org/#larry_ellison
The full letter is an interesting read
I did not know that. Do you have a source?
I'm not judging Ellison at all. Bill could have done the same, but I think it's cool that he is choosing to oversee how that money is spent while he's still alive.
I'm not judging Ellison at all. Bill could have done the same, but I think it's cool that he is choosing to oversee how that money is spent while he's still alive.
From a purely selfish point of view, if I was to choose one path or the other, Bill's seems more pleasant.
By spending the money on charity while alive, Bill is celebrated as a benefactor while he is alive and charities (and people) worldwide will mourn his death.
Larry, on the other hand, is not celebrated as a benefactor while alive, and charities will celebrate after he dies and they finally get the money.
By spending the money on charity while alive, Bill is celebrated as a benefactor while he is alive and charities (and people) worldwide will mourn his death.
Larry, on the other hand, is not celebrated as a benefactor while alive, and charities will celebrate after he dies and they finally get the money.
And ofcourse Larry will live to be 105.
What's he using to buy all his boy's toys, like yachts and plans and sports cars? Or is that just a meaningless percentage of his wealth?
The man has a net worth of $41B. 5% of his wealth is still $2B.
I don't know about you, but I don't begrudge a man worth $41B who plans to give away nearly all his wealth, a yacht or two.
I don't know about you, but I don't begrudge a man worth $41B who plans to give away nearly all his wealth, a yacht or two.
He said "95%". 5% of Ellison's wealth is 2 billion. His yacht was in the $200m range.
Who cares if he spends his money on that?
And without pretending that he can fix the world. Which is fatuous and provides a cover for business to continue as usual. Ellison is satisfied with being destructive in one domain of affairs. Gates isn't happy with just screwing up computing. He has to poop other people's parties, too.
Give me Ellison over Gates any day.
Give me Ellison over Gates any day.
I don't believe the children who would have died from diseases the Western world doesn't even have anymore would call it "screwing up" their lives.
He's trying to eradicate disease and help people who don't have billions of dollars, or even millions...or even hundreds of dollars to their name.
Bill Gates didn't screw up computing. The Microsoft that exists today is an entirely different animal than it was when it was just a startup, just as Google and Apple are different.
This isn't cynicism about startups' growth trends; this is a point that Bill Gates has revolutionized the entire industry multiple times over. How he chooses to spend his wealth is what most people would call generous and altruistic.
He's trying to eradicate disease and help people who don't have billions of dollars, or even millions...or even hundreds of dollars to their name.
Bill Gates didn't screw up computing. The Microsoft that exists today is an entirely different animal than it was when it was just a startup, just as Google and Apple are different.
This isn't cynicism about startups' growth trends; this is a point that Bill Gates has revolutionized the entire industry multiple times over. How he chooses to spend his wealth is what most people would call generous and altruistic.
Wow. That was amazingly insightful. However, comparing Microsoft to Linux or Macintoshes is like comparing Sushi to French Fries or Pork. Each one has its draws and vehement opponents. So yes, they are all different, even Microsoft today and Microsoft circa 1994.
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, as I thought everything I said was pretty self-evident. But thank you.
Although I wasn't comparing the operating systems, I was comparing the pattern of the companies' growth and changing management over the years. That's why I included Google.
Although I wasn't comparing the operating systems, I was comparing the pattern of the companies' growth and changing management over the years. That's why I included Google.
Bill Gates showing off his baller touchscreen is priceless: http://i.imgur.com/1JqrLVc.jpg
"Yeah, I have one of these. I'm Bill Gates."
Fanboys and haters flagging this HN article is more priceless to me.
Grow up guys, you can upvote your Apple and Google posts all you want, you don't need to go out of your way to flag this post out of spite and abuse your moderator privileges.
Grow up guys, you can upvote your Apple and Google posts all you want, you don't need to go out of your way to flag this post out of spite and abuse your moderator privileges.
If I could go a week without someone on HN using the word "fanboy" I'd be a happy man.
Yet, you seem to be okay with the folks who flag this story.
What do you call people who go out of their way to flag even product announcements and posts like this? Tech enthusiasts? I'll be happy to use a less abrasive substitute.
What do you call people who go out of their way to flag even product announcements and posts like this? Tech enthusiasts? I'll be happy to use a less abrasive substitute.
I'm guessing he intended to mean it would be nice if there was a week without necessity for the word, rather than the word itself being entirely bad (it's over-used, but I agree in this instance it was apt).
Forgive my ignorance. How do you know people are flagging the story?
No, I think that's pretty lame too.
how do you know it was flagged?
It has 222 points and is at #17, far below other posts posted longer ago and with less points. This is an indication of heavy flagging.
http://i.imgur.com/hFFueFf.png
This isn't the first time anyway. Pretty much any post mentioning Microsoft in a not bad light seems to get flagged by people with good karma abusing it.
Edit: It's at 325 points(posted 4 hours ago) right now and stuck at #14. Has to break some record for the most upvoted and flagged story.
http://i.imgur.com/hFFueFf.png
This isn't the first time anyway. Pretty much any post mentioning Microsoft in a not bad light seems to get flagged by people with good karma abusing it.
Edit: It's at 325 points(posted 4 hours ago) right now and stuck at #14. Has to break some record for the most upvoted and flagged story.
I think some sites have a bonus point degrader applied to them, so they age off faster. Prevents what may otherwise be popular sites from dominating the front page.
I should hope so. I didn't flag this (as robber baron parasites go, Gates is pretty interesting and topical) but #1 on the Reddit front page isn't exactly obscure.
As far as I know, there is nothing of that sort on HN. If you know more or can list sites that have the degrader applied to them, I'll be thankful.
Looks like even mentioning the flagging is taboo. My top level comment on this story[1] calling out the flagging is sitting at the bottom of the comment pile, very grayed out.
[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5203191
[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5203191
Or people just decided to downvote it because they felt it didn't add anything. shrug
Flagging on HN isn't really the same as downvoting on Reddit.
From the HN guidelines:
If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.)
From the HN guidelines:
If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.)
I think 27182818284 is talking about the downvoting of your comment, not the flagging of the original story.
Also, Reddit has the same guideline as you quote (only downvote things that don't belong) whereas HN has the creator saying that downvotes can be used to express disagreement.
Also, Reddit has the same guideline as you quote (only downvote things that don't belong) whereas HN has the creator saying that downvotes can be used to express disagreement.
I created a Reddit account simply for this moment.
Amazing. Bill has had his fair share of flak and has made some decisions in his career that I wouldn't approve of, and I am not particularly a fan of Microsoft, but his humility, modesty, and great work has made him one of my greatest inspirations.
He's a multi-billionaire with a heart that is worth so much more.
Amazing. Bill has had his fair share of flak and has made some decisions in his career that I wouldn't approve of, and I am not particularly a fan of Microsoft, but his humility, modesty, and great work has made him one of my greatest inspirations.
He's a multi-billionaire with a heart that is worth so much more.
They've already said it on Reddit; but, he has to be the fastest Reddit AMA that I've ever paid attention to. He's responding to so much, so quickly; and a lot of the questions don't seem like ones he could pass off to someone else, not to mention the wording, etc seems consistent throughout.
That's probably because he's one of the more computer-savvy people to do an AMA.
It also helps that he is very quick, very intelligent, and has a sense of self-deprecating humor
The enormous touchscreen probably helps.
How so? I seriously doubt he's typing on that 82" touchscreen, it wouldn't be very fast and it'd be hard to keep up. So if he uses an external keyboard, how does using that giant gimmick help him in answering quickly?
EDIT: Ah, I didn't notice the sarcasm tags, +1.
EDIT: Ah, I didn't notice the sarcasm tags, +1.
That was humor.
Made me laugh :)
I just finished reading the entire AMA.
If there's anyone who doesn't want to dig deep into the comments, here's a cool thing:
Bill Gates intends to eradicate Polio within the next six years and then eradicate Malaria within his lifetime.
Kudos, Bill.
If there's anyone who doesn't want to dig deep into the comments, here's a cool thing:
Bill Gates intends to eradicate Polio within the next six years and then eradicate Malaria within his lifetime.
Kudos, Bill.
That would be an incredible legacy if he can achieve it.
Q: "Anything left on your bucket list?"
A: "Don't die..."
He has some humor too :P
A: "Don't die..."
He has some humor too :P
Q. What do people give you for your birthday, given that you can buy anything you want?
A.Free software. Just kidding.
Books actually.
A.Free software. Just kidding.
Books actually.
I will send him a Trisquel GNU/Hurd CD for his birthday :p.
or he has enough money to cure death.
I just asked him the following question: Do you still program? I have always been incredibly interested to find that out.
Oh thanks for posting that. It was pretty hard to search and find if someone had already asked that.
I was very surprised he said Basic.
Of course, he presume he doesn't do much hard core software engineering anymore, but I assumed that family was pretty much a thing of the past (and legacy code).
Of course, he presume he doesn't do much hard core software engineering anymore, but I assumed that family was pretty much a thing of the past (and legacy code).
Gates founded Microsoft to sell a Basic interpreter. His company spent a lot of time keeping Basic as a core part of its line up long after it was considered passé. I suspect that Gates has some nostalgia for it.
Yeah, Microsoft really is the "BASIC company". From the early 8bit machines (did you know the Commodore 64 BASIC ROM is (c) Microsoft?) through qbasic and all the way up to visual basic and VBA...
Not just the Commodore; the Apple II, TRS-80, and MSX all used Microsoft's BASIC in one form or another. It shouldn't be any surprise at all that their dev tools continue to be rather well done (regardless of what you think of the platform they're on)
VB.Net is a completely different beast from older Visual Basic (up to VB6). It's still under active development as a first-class citizen on MS's .Net stack. It has iterators, generics, partial classes, anonymous types, lambdas, and other stuff you wouldn't expect to find in a BASIC.
Gates has a long history with BASIC. It would, IMO, stand to reason that he would keep his hand in.
There is "Small Basic" which is a bit more capable than the QBASIC of yore.
http://smallbasic.com/about.aspx
http://smallbasic.com/about.aspx
I'm pretty sure he meant VB. I don't think anybody programs in pure QBasic anymore.
I really wish reddit had a better interface to see the questions and Bill's answers all at once without scrolling through random comments.
Why hasn't reddit's AMA been surpassed by a dedicated AMA site with a user interface designed for AMA?
Why hasn't reddit's AMA been surpassed by a dedicated AMA site with a user interface designed for AMA?
You will be able to use http://www.topiama.com when the topic will have been crawled.
Chicken and the egg problem.
It takes a while for the scraper to kick in, but this is what you are looking for:
http://www.reddit.com/r/tabled/
Remember http://formspring.me?
I think there just aren't enough interesting people doing Q&As for a business model based on this to make much sense.
Reddit's AMA format is pretty bad, especially if it's a woman/girl answering questions, though.
I think there just aren't enough interesting people doing Q&As for a business model based on this to make much sense.
Reddit's AMA format is pretty bad, especially if it's a woman/girl answering questions, though.
voomly is building a business model around Q&A...
voomly.com
Fred Wilson wrote about them here: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2013/01/voomly.html
voomly.com
Fred Wilson wrote about them here: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2013/01/voomly.html
I'm curious what someone's sex has to do with their ability to conduct an AMA...
I think what he meant is that if a girl is giving an AMA she gets a lot of off topic "wow you're hot" type posts from the peanut gallery, something that wouldn't happen if the system were more moderated. OTOH, the lack of moderation is part of the charm of AMAs IMO even though it does result in the trolls being trolls.
(The "Woody Harrelson"/Rampart AMAs would be the norm if not for the chaotic nature of reddit).
(The "Woody Harrelson"/Rampart AMAs would be the norm if not for the chaotic nature of reddit).
"Charming", sure. Must be great for women to sift through comments like
Just hi-larious.
I would like to marry you... or just buy a pair of your
used undies. It's funny that people actually do that.
Just hi-larious.
I'm not suggesting they are all charming, some of them are pretty terrible, but that's the price you pay for having relatively free speech. While moderating the questions would eliminate posts like the one you linked, it would also eliminate ones which aren't terrible but are certainly "off the script" of what would be asked if everything were cleanly moderated.
I don't see anything to support that.
And if it's a trade-off where more "impulsive" comments are deleted, then I prefer that to subjecting female respondents to constant come-ons from pubescent, sad human beings.
I think it's clear what Emmy Rossum prefers.
And if it's a trade-off where more "impulsive" comments are deleted, then I prefer that to subjecting female respondents to constant come-ons from pubescent, sad human beings.
I think it's clear what Emmy Rossum prefers.
It seems that Emmy Rossum prefered Reddit's version, not the version you prefer.
Emmy Rossum went to reddit for an AMA, and used the site's commenting functionality to ask people not to be rude. She did not cancel her AMA, ask to have the rude comments deleted, etc.
Emmy Rossum went to reddit for an AMA, and used the site's commenting functionality to ask people not to be rude. She did not cancel her AMA, ask to have the rude comments deleted, etc.
Awesome victim-blaming right there. Good grief.
The offensiveness of a large number of the comments that you have to scroll through while answering legitimate questions.
Haha steady now. He means peoples responses to their AMA.
[deleted]
I am just viewing his comments page: http://www.reddit.com/user/thisisbillgates/comments/
The context link will show the comment he is replying to.
The context link will show the comment he is replying to.
http://www.reddit.com/user/thisisbillgates
Not the best interface, but it is what you asked for...
Not the best interface, but it is what you asked for...
The same reason craigslist classified haven't been surpassed by a more modern system -- it is much easier for everyone to live with the shortcomings (which really aren't that bad) than it would be to recreate an equivalently large, diverse and vibrant community on another site.
Especially since any focused site that came up to do this would almost certainly put way more barriers to entry into the community than reddit (which still allows you to create a new account virtually instantly, with no email verification) has.
Especially since any focused site that came up to do this would almost certainly put way more barriers to entry into the community than reddit (which still allows you to create a new account virtually instantly, with no email verification) has.
[deleted]
Page search for '[s]' to find comments by the submitter.
http://reddit.com/r/tabled, after a few hours.
Even though I hate it, install the Reddit Enhancement Suite extension and enable the comment navigator and navigate via submitter. Or ctrl-f for "[s]"
I have the "Reddit Enhancement Suite" extension installed, and it allows me to jump to each comment he responds to. If you are a frequent redditor, I recommend installing it.
I wish Reddit implemented a more...un-arbitrary way of calculating upvotes. Gates currently has 6,211 net upvotes, with a total of 11,500 upvotes.
That's already almost half the net upvotes of what Obama got: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obam...
But Obama's IAMA got 239,221 upvotes total. Which means he got 225K downvotes...which I guess is feasible, but for all we know, that was just an arbitrary result Reddit's strange algorithm of adding downvotes to obscure the upvote count.
I guess it doesn't matter in the end, it just seems that upvotes should be a real reflection of how liked (or polarizing) a thread/discussion was.
That's already almost half the net upvotes of what Obama got: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obam...
But Obama's IAMA got 239,221 upvotes total. Which means he got 225K downvotes...which I guess is feasible, but for all we know, that was just an arbitrary result Reddit's strange algorithm of adding downvotes to obscure the upvote count.
I guess it doesn't matter in the end, it just seems that upvotes should be a real reflection of how liked (or polarizing) a thread/discussion was.
"For all we know"? They explicitly state [0] that upvotes and downvotes are fuzzed, it really isn't a matter of some weird machination.
[0] http://www.reddit.com/wiki/faq#wiki_how_is_a_submission.27s_...
[0] http://www.reddit.com/wiki/faq#wiki_how_is_a_submission.27s_...
Yes...I don't think I was clear enough about what I meant, in a statistical sense. I know that upvotes/downvotes are added artificially. I'm saying, it's hard to gauge the real ratio of upvotes to downvotes with this fuzz.
The FAQ you linked to gives this example: a submission with 5 upvotes and 3 downvotes may be tweaked to say 23 upvotes and 21 downvotes.
So the net number of upvotes remains the same. But the ratio of approval, a statistic that is prominently listed for each submission, changes:
The FAQ you linked to gives this example: a submission with 5 upvotes and 3 downvotes may be tweaked to say 23 upvotes and 21 downvotes.
So the net number of upvotes remains the same. But the ratio of approval, a statistic that is prominently listed for each submission, changes:
5 / (5+3) = 62.5%
23 / (21+23) = 52.5%
>I'm saying, it's hard to gauge the real ratio of upvotes to downvotes with this fuzz.
This is the entire point.
That said, I wish they'd just ban spammers and give everyone accurate metrics.
This is the entire point.
That said, I wish they'd just ban spammers and give everyone accurate metrics.
Are you suggesting they allow spammers? Every time I remove a spammer post I submit it to /r/ReportTheSpammers, and they get killed almost immediately. What else can they do outside of that? Not allow new users to vote and comments?
The best they can do is make spammers be unclear on if they're having any effect or not, by obscuring votes, or by secretly banning them without them realizing.
It's a tough problem to get right, especially without making the experience worse for everybody else. I think they've found a happy medium.
The best they can do is make spammers be unclear on if they're having any effect or not, by obscuring votes, or by secretly banning them without them realizing.
It's a tough problem to get right, especially without making the experience worse for everybody else. I think they've found a happy medium.
>Are you suggesting they allow spammers?
... for crying out loud.
>That said, I wish they'd just ban spammers and give everyone accurate metrics.
... for crying out loud.
>That said, I wish they'd just ban spammers and give everyone accurate metrics.
They do ban spammers. You're implying they don't.
I implied no such thing. I wish they'd use the banhammer AND not break vote counts.
As long as spammers are banned, there's no reason to screw up a site feature for everyone else.
As long as spammers are banned, there's no reason to screw up a site feature for everyone else.
That is a product of the anti-gaming filter. There are automatically generated extra upvotes and downvotes.
"Windows 7 or Windows 8? Be honest, Bill."
"Higher is better."
Probably the funniest part of this entire thread is the slew of comments now trying to establish an out of context quote in response to that:
"Higher is better." ~ Bill Gates
"Higher is better."
Probably the funniest part of this entire thread is the slew of comments now trying to establish an out of context quote in response to that:
"Higher is better." ~ Bill Gates
That's probably why Windows ME and Vista didn't have numerical version names.
I guess Windows 2000 was the high point then...
Little too high there, buddy.
Wind it back to 98, and you've got it.
Wind it back to 98, and you've got it.
This is the 'fuck I shitted my pants' moment!
Really great to have him in public this way, I mean, most of the celebrities have help teams, that post for them, which is kinda boring, but there are always haters and weeners, that would fill up such pages with some meaningless crap, so my biggest concern is Bill Gates, getting err... unlovey to Reddit ? :( that would be sad
Really great to have him in public this way, I mean, most of the celebrities have help teams, that post for them, which is kinda boring, but there are always haters and weeners, that would fill up such pages with some meaningless crap, so my biggest concern is Bill Gates, getting err... unlovey to Reddit ? :( that would be sad
He has some pretty insightful responses in general, but I really enjoyed this gem:
Q: What's the cheapest thing that gives you most pleasure? A: kids, cheeseburgers... Q: where are you acquiring cheap kids? A: the stork
Q: What's the cheapest thing that gives you most pleasure? A: kids, cheeseburgers... Q: where are you acquiring cheap kids? A: the stork
I liked this question a lot:
> What's your favorite book?
> "My favorite [book] of the last decade in Pinker's Better Angels of our Nature."
Hadn't heard of that book before, but definitely going to read it now.
> What's your favorite book?
> "My favorite [book] of the last decade in Pinker's Better Angels of our Nature."
Hadn't heard of that book before, but definitely going to read it now.
The fact that someone bought him Reddit Gold is pretty hilarious.
every single post he replied to got Gold. I wonder if Bill Gates is purposefully buying everyone Reddit Gold?
This is cool and really nice of Bill Gates.
Would be nice to see well-formatted Q/A results after this ends.
Whoa, that surprised me!
I hope people can get interesting information, Bill Gates III is seemly a interesting character.
I hope people can get interesting information, Bill Gates III is seemly a interesting character.
'Anyone good at QBasic?
'I haven't written it in years.
ANSWER = INPUT
PRINT ANSWER
PRINT "Thank you for playing."He should do an AMA here!
..unfortunately it'd probably get flagged off the front page
Surprisingly(or perhaps unsurprisingly), this very post seems to be getting flagged a lot.
Someone ask him if it is true he thinks church is a waste of time (said this in an interview in the past I think).
Fwiw, I know religious people who think church is a waste of time. Not sure his answer to that would be particularly interesting.
Why in the name of sweet Jeebus would someone flag this post on HN?
http://i.imgur.com/ao8qgdG.png
This is ridiculous, and proves that HN is filled with closed minded fanboys and hater zealots instead of technology lovers who otherwise have good karma.
Can anyone who flagged this post tell us why they did so?
If this is not moderator abuse, I don't know what is.
Reminds me of the Germany jury system that had to be abolished: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury#Germany
>Trial by jury was introduced in most German states after the revolutionary events of 1848; however, it remained controversial and early in the 20th century there were moves to abolish it.[34] The Emminger Reform of January 4, 1924, during an Article 48 state of emergency, abolished the jury system and replaced it with a mixed system including bench trials and lay judges. In 1925 the Social Democrats called for the reinstitution of the jury, and a special meeting of the German Bar demanded revocation of the decrees, but "on the whole the abolition of the jury caused little commotion".[35] Their verdicts were widely perceived as unjust and inconsistent.
http://i.imgur.com/ao8qgdG.png
This is ridiculous, and proves that HN is filled with closed minded fanboys and hater zealots instead of technology lovers who otherwise have good karma.
Can anyone who flagged this post tell us why they did so?
If this is not moderator abuse, I don't know what is.
Reminds me of the Germany jury system that had to be abolished: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury#Germany
>Trial by jury was introduced in most German states after the revolutionary events of 1848; however, it remained controversial and early in the 20th century there were moves to abolish it.[34] The Emminger Reform of January 4, 1924, during an Article 48 state of emergency, abolished the jury system and replaced it with a mixed system including bench trials and lay judges. In 1925 the Social Democrats called for the reinstitution of the jury, and a special meeting of the German Bar demanded revocation of the decrees, but "on the whole the abolition of the jury caused little commotion".[35] Their verdicts were widely perceived as unjust and inconsistent.
Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but this isn't really the place to hash it out with moderators, or draw parallels with any part of Germany's less reputable history.
You should email them if you're convinced it's flagged and you have an issue with it.
You should email them if you're convinced it's flagged and you have an issue with it.
>and you have an issue with it
You don't see a problem with a section of posters with good karma flagging posts like this?
Edit: I do think a better parallel is Digg's bury brigades.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=digg+bury+b...
You don't see a problem with a section of posters with good karma flagging posts like this?
Edit: I do think a better parallel is Digg's bury brigades.
https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=digg+bury+b...
I hope this doesn't come across as pretentious, because I don't mean it that way.
But honestly, I don't take Hacker News seriously enough for it to bother me. I use it to build connections in the community, keep up to date on tech and news matters, and post things from time to time.
It's not as though I need my posts to hit the front page. I post intellectual curiosities and some of my more interesting blog posts around the internet, but I couldn't care less if a small but powerful "1%" holds voting power on Hacker News.
But honestly, I don't take Hacker News seriously enough for it to bother me. I use it to build connections in the community, keep up to date on tech and news matters, and post things from time to time.
It's not as though I need my posts to hit the front page. I post intellectual curiosities and some of my more interesting blog posts around the internet, but I couldn't care less if a small but powerful "1%" holds voting power on Hacker News.
The "moderators" here are just readers and commenters with karma more than 500(including you, I see).
How does one email them?
>draw parallels with any part of Germany less reputable history
Erm, it's about a jury system that failed, not really about German history.
How does one email them?
>draw parallels with any part of Germany less reputable history
Erm, it's about a jury system that failed, not really about German history.
I should clarify; I meant email info.ycombinator.
And I said the catch-all about German history because it's still one facet of Germany. It was just a more eloquent way of saying it.
And I said the catch-all about German history because it's still one facet of Germany. It was just a more eloquent way of saying it.
The point is that there is nothing particularly "less-reputably" about a legal procedure that was introduced in 1848 and abolished in 1924.
I have flagged articles by accident before due to vimium + my sausage fingers. The flagging might have been unintentional.
It's quite possible that there's a scaling factor (e.g. 0.3) applied to upvotes to stories submitted from reddit. Although the following linked pg comment is several years old, it does give insight into pg's goal to reduce the ease with which submissions of 'lightweight' content reach the top of the HN front page.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=294439
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=294439
It been an hour and still no response from Bill, Obama was much more prompt with the replies
I think it's smart, so the good question float top.
I didn't even think of that. Good on him.
Though it looks like he won't get to answering this popular question: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_c...
Though it looks like he won't get to answering this popular question: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_c...
The original post is from over an hour but answers should start now: "I’ll be answering your questions live, starting at 10:45 am PST"
yup he's replying now...very damn punctual... #Respect... posting an hour before replying is certainly clever...
Looking at the AMA, the "verification photo", and the posted video, I see nothing convincing me it's real. However, the responses seem non-trolly, but I'm still not convinced.
The people at Reddit are pretty careful about establishing identities. They certainly did for my two AMAs. Here's a link to my most recent AMA -- notice the bona-fides at the top:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/q9qzn/iama_former_nasa...
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/q9qzn/iama_former_nasa...
He's promoted it on his verified Twitter account and his blog as well; I'd say it's the real deal.
Even Woz had said that the film accurately portrayed all the personalities.
However, we should appreciate Bill for his honesty. He is not shown in good light in that movie.