Comment by joering2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by joering2 | Hacker News Reader

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He wasn't an asshole. Mark is 27 years old. How old is the Wall Street and banking system in this country? Its older than his parents! Bankers are evil, but if you come for money you better show them respect because they rule the game and hold most of chips. I agree with author. Fun time is over! FB needs to show profits and prove to stockholders that its worth their money. Coming in hoodie helps publicity, but that's it. It tells average Facebook yuppie "oh Mark is "selling" but hey he still is himself so everything is fine". FB and internet is still too young to figure itself out. This could be bubble. FB can go down like anything that was trendy in its time. I think buying Instagram for that much money shows how desperately scared Mark is. He was incredibly lucky that Instagram owners didnt turn out to be another Mark and say "we don't sell" and keep building momentum. My sisters that are trendoholics switched from reading "boring" (according to them) Facebook updates and messages to taking snapshots and limited wording on Insta. Trend is moving beyond FB and Mark knows it! Next time when FB wants to buy something overtaking the net, they may hear "no, thank you".

1. Yes, he was an asshole. And is. 2. Who cares how old Wall Street is? Does this magically make an asshole into less of an asshole, or instantly grant him credibility? I sing classical music written by dudes who have been dead for centuries; I don't see anyone lining up to give me more respect and money than bankers. Why not? Don't I automatically deserve it? 3. No, they do not "rule the game". Zuck is the guy with something of value here. Not the bankers. Did you notice which direction the money is flowing here? That tells you who has the power in this transaction.

No it doesnt make Wall St less asshole and obviously the way they handle business is usually unethical, but still one can't deny - they run the show.

Zuck May not have much value if he doesn't raise the money. Wasn't that the major reason why most investors gave him the money at the first place (or any other company in that matter)? To IPO and XX-fold their investments.

Right, because some yuppie doesn't like his style, people aren't going to invest in Facebook.

You might want to consider that that photo of Mark made every mainstream media and consider how older people who buy stocks might think of investing in facebook if they are turned off by what, to them, will seem like immaturity. There is a reason that company management of many widely held companies appears all serious and well groomed. Have you ever seen a General Electric annual report?

Yet somehow these older people are too stupid to interpret the fact that he's built Facebook? What aspect of finance relies on the sartorial choices of a company's executives?

if you come for money you better show them respect

Okay, so he didn't. What are they going to do? Complain about it?

Anyway, ethics is about what people should do. If you switch to discussing what people can get away with because of power, you're no longer discussing ethics. If you switch back and forth, using "what X can get away with" standard for people with power and "what they should do" for everyone else, then there is something wrong with your argument.

It's astonishing to me how much the Ayn Rand quoters on Wall St get their feelings hurt. Aren't these guys supposed to be the rational titans of industry?

I would see the wall street types more fitting into the "looter" category of Rand's philosophy. They are not directly creating anything of value, but instead skimming money from the ventures of those who do.

Let's not lump everyone together. There will inevitably be some significant minority of people on Wall Street who came there for the respect, and it's little wonder that when they don't get that respect despite the large number of 0s they command they get butt-hurt all too easily.

> if you come for money you better show them respect

If you "come for money", you're doing it wrong. You should come for a mutually beneficial business transaction, and that seems to be exactly what Zuckerberg is doing.

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