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Comment by thorax | Hacker News Reader

Any response from AA.com may be his point and would serve well in drawing more attention to his rant/redesign.

I agree that I'd like to see less rudeness overall, but I suspect that's the marketing gimmick here to gain attention.

I am frequently in the market for web design services, but I would never hire an opinionated snot regardless of his talent. Be professional and save rants for beers with friends.

Nonsense. Since when is being opinionated something to be avoided? A rant like this just shows you have passion, and maybe you're still young enough that you haven't learned to keep your head down and pretend otherwise.

When it gets in the way of effective collaboration. The way Dustin wrote his letter, he portrays himself as someone who isn't interested in his client's input. AA might have valid reasons for designing its site that way, based on years of being in the airline business. Even if he's written off AA as a potential client, he shouldn't alienate all potential clients by appearing so opinionated. What if he had picked one of my websites to bash, without asking me why I'd made certain decisions, proposing his own reasons for those decisions, or at least reaching out and being civil? I wouldn't be too happy at all. I'd have to waste time formulating a public response and managing my image in the face of an unprovoked attack.

That's a very good point, I'm probably in the same boat.

Yet on the other hand, if I thought his redesign was amazing, then I'd probably put up with an opinionated snot as a short-term contractor if it got our site something our customers loved.

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