phony_identity

Yes, this may not be true. All I can report is what I've read.

There are a lot of people here defending working for porn sites. I'll play devil's advocate. (Or the opposite? Whatever.) In general, being associated with porn is a problem.

In hetero porn, tons of the models or performers or whatever are said to be involved because they were sexually abused when younger. Doing porn requires a certain numbness and if the performer doesn't have that when she starts, she will. It's just a very sad situation. A lot of people, including me, would never get involved with it, and consider money made there to be tainted.

(I know nothing about whether the same is true for gay porn.)

A hookup site isn't like that. Although there might be "numb" people participating, they aren't being exploited / selling themselves so there's just a different feel. But you never know where your life might take you. Sometimes very uptight people are gatekeepers to something you really want. You shouldn't let that possibility control your life, but on the other hand you shouldn't give up those unknown future opportunities for nothing. This job would at least have to pay more to make up for that.

That's not that much money. You should do better in hourly contract work in Silicon Valley. That can be, at worst, dull. But not soul-sucking.

But it pays cash and lots of it

How much? Can you be more, uh, quantitative here?

Yes, the new bankruptcy system tries to eliminate that option for people making more than the average. It's an extremely bad reform, as it hits higher income people trying to take risks and build businesses.

Here's what to do if you're caught in that: decide to declare bankruptcy, then figure out a way to establish a six month period with your income below your state's average. Quit your job, stop paying yourself a salary from your company, whatever. If you've got to feed a family, make a mortgage, pay for your kids college tuition and otherwise support an above state average lifestyle for people you love... I don't know. Consult a good bankruptcy lawyer, and if they don't have a solution for you, ask them directly for a recommendation of a lawyer who will help you to beat this system.

Derek, you did great work in creating that wealth and everyone here is happy to see you enjoying some of it. But please consider re-writing this to something more truthful - fewer words emphasizing your altruism and spartan lifestyle (?) and more words talking about the tax advantages and forced spending discipline that this smart plan gives you.

The title, for example, shouldn't be "Why I gave away my company to charity". You didn't do that. (Which is good! That would be crazy.) How about, "Why I willed my estate to charity."

Lie.

Poor Steve is so thin. Can't tell you how sad this makes me.

Not brownnosing. I should have realized that if I wasn't comfortable posting this under my real name I shouldn't have posted it at all.

Definitely newsworthy and interesting, however.

Joshua, I'm sorry for posting your regret of selling to Y. I hope it did not distress you too much to see it. I should not have done it.

Someone must know who this first tier VC was that hosed him. Anybody here know about this?

I'm an atheist and a confirmed sexual libertine but those ads pissed me off too. Too tacky even for the Superbowl, which is saying something.

Much worse, though, was the ad for some damn NBC crime drama which showed some pretty young girl falling into the hands of a serial killer, then showed him burying her in a shallow grave down by the river or something. Yet another show about fear, pain and misery.

Ugh.

Tip: http://thesaurus.reference.com//browse/proscribe

Ah, dammit. Goddammit all. This is bad.

You have too rosy a picture of what your high school classmates were doing. They were mostly wasting their time. What you're calling "dating girls" is better described as "chasing girls", and they were mostly unsuccessful.

You need, at most, a bit of moderation. Don't try to be normal - normal sucks.

This: http://www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php tells me I type at about 55 wpm with about one error. Apparently this sucks. Damn it.

Hmmm. I want to hear from some great programmers who are often here on HN. Do you guys type quickly? Paul Graham and Patrick Collison, are you speed typists? How about Ryan Davis and Jey Kottalam? Suggest some more great hackers, too.

Based on his golf-derived username they should get along well.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=225962

Example of the political incorrectness within:

"We are undergoing the Paris-ification of America. The snobbish French always thought Americans were nuts to let Washington, the capital of the country, and New York, the capital of the world, turn into hellholes. Why build public housing projects in the middle of your great cities for riff-raff? The French elite, no fools, kept beautiful Paris for themselves. They warehoused their African immigrants out in the bleak suburbs, where every night is Car-B-Que night."

That had the lowest meaning / words ratio of any programming blog post I've read.

"Mr. Packer said the decision was made principally because of demographic considerations.

Only a tiny fraction of the members of underrepresented minority groups who take AP exams take the tests in one of those four affected subject areas, he said.

The College Board has made it a priority to reach such students, including those who are African- American and Hispanic."

This boggled my mind. I knew there were pressure groups pushing TV people around, but I thought it was about specific political issues and sexual mores. But pushing general conformity as a virtue? I mean, what narrow interest group really wants that? Narrow interest groups are themselves non-conformers!

That's an act and I don't trust him. For the real thing, watch Steve Wozniak.

Why would that be a joke?

This is an evolved response, made for the paleolithic era. Your brain thinks your tribe was just conquered by the neighboring tribe, and that your women and livestock have been taken. Evolution thinks you're lucky to be alive, and the best way to preserve that is to lay low for a while and be submissive as possible. The mechanism by which is does this is by temporarily cutting your testoterone level. Your T is low, so you feel low and hopeless and the world seems a bit grey.

That was the smart move 50,000 years ago. Not now. You need to do things that bring the testosteroone back: hard exercise, especially weightlifting. Try to arrange for plenty of small, guaranteed wins in anything you're good at: video games, basketball, trivial pursuit, whatever. Get lots of sunlight! That's an easy one that boosts testosterone. There are probably other things that boost T. Google.

Bravo for asking this question. Great job in doing a startup in the first place. Consider this a hearty slap on the back.

Summary: "My 18 yo daughter likes FB because her friends are there. Also, I am illiterate."

Those product design quotes are fucking great. Read 'em.

OK.

No, don't sweat it. You can't do a web application of any kind without violating any number of patents.