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Comment by archagon | Hacker News Reader

Yikes. "Fuck you, Palmer." What the fuck? Folks, this is why creators on the internet have public meltdowns and abandon their communities and/or projects. (See: Phil Fish, TotalBiscuit, and many others.) Simply despicable how these so-called "fans", who have no idea how to run a multi-million-dollar business, can turn on a dime and start slinging vitriol at the person they claimed to idolize just a day earlier. How about, you know, giving the fucking guy the benefit of the doubt? You know, just for a bit, instead of tearing his fucking throat out?

The older I grow, the more I feel that people need "internet cards" that can be forcibly revoked until they at least develop a base amount of empathy.

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They never had any problem taking money from these fans, though. Now they sell out to Facebook (yes it is a sellout), and fans get angry, you want to "revoke their Internet card"?

No, they don't get empathy for getting acquired for $2Billion.

1. We don't know anything about the acquisition. We don't know why it happened. We don't know the terms. Nothing is clear yet.

2. People have a right to be angry, but what kind of hubris and egotism must a person have to tell Palmer Luckey to go fuck himself and to call him scum, right to his face? Do people really think this man went from passionate inventor to greedy businessman overnight? I think the top comment in this thread as well as Notch's response demonstrate the healthy adult way to respond to this news. Personal attacks are the lowest of the low, and yet sadly they're the norm on the internet.

1. We know enough, and we can make reasonably informed guesses. Palmer has been giving out enough information on his sub-reddit. In their own words: "nothing will change!", but we know that it's not true. Facebook is acquiring them, not entering in a Partnership with them, regardless of the PR speak.

2. Eh, while I agree that personal attacks are bad, they should have (and probably did) seen this coming. They're smart people, who got a great jumpstart because of a community. They were most certainly aware of what this community thinks of Facebook. They entered into this anyway. If anything, this was a slap in the face of all those people who have supported them from the beginning. The people who gave their money to support their vision.

> Do people really think this man went from passionate inventor to greedy businessman overnight?

Umm, yes? It's not that hard to believe, to be honest. I don't know if I would have turned down the deal with so much money on the table either.

Hmmm until you're presented with multiple $billions (BILLIONS!) of dollars, probably money many of us will never see, and you have to make a choice between your product or probably an early retirement, it's impossible for us to judge a person and call him a "greedy businessman." I might have made the same choice.

"who have no idea how to run a multi-million-dollar business, can turn on a dime and start slinging vitriol at the person they claimed to idolize just a day earlier."

As someone who does run a multi million dollar business and that supported the Oculus Rift buying ten of those in a kickstarter I would tell you something:

Nobody idolized Mr Palmer, they loved the vision, not the man. The vision is way more important than the person.

Specially when they asked for your support, and you support them, and then they change their vision, you have the right to complain, like I do.

May I ask, what happened with TotalBiscuit?

In his own words: http://www.reddit.com/r/Cynicalbrit/comments/1xrx27/in_light...

boogie2988's response is worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSXgBmu2Pc

Nerd³ weighs in with his own experiences: http://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/1xs45h/realtotalbisc...

Wow. I wish I could give you ten upvotes for raising awareness about this. This is probably worth submitting to HN directly (go for it) because it's both newsworthy in gamedev circles and will help people in a similar situation come up with ideas to cope with the stress. Thank you!

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/making_things

It's because they are children. Even if they are 35, they have the maturity level of children. It's why most discourse on the internet is so bad.

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