News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Facebook Q3 2016 Results by the_watcher on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @06:03PM (#12859802)
I'm curious - are you comparing Facebook, the company with nearly 5 years of success as a public company based on strategic decisions, to someone who wins a random chance lottery?
Re:Facebook Q3 2016 Results by toennisforst on Wednesday November 02, 2016 @11:23PM (#12861385)
Because just like with lotteries, there are a lot of blanks, few small wins and a tiny amount of never-work-again wins: Many startups don't net the investor much, some make quite a bit after being acquired, and very few - such as facebook - turn out to be really successfull.

Your phrasing suggests that you compare Facebook (now) with lottery as a system. You should rather see Facebook as a lottery ticket that turned out to be the jackpot.

Re:Facebook Q3 2016 Results by the_watcher on Thursday November 03, 2016 @03:54PM (#12867375)
Every lottery ticket has the same odds of winning, no matter the "strategy" employed in picking numbers, location of buying the ticket, etc. Facebook is not in any way a analogue, unless you are arguing that its success was entirely random, and would have stood an equal chance of happening if I had started it at a community college, then put the headquarters in Alaska, which is false.