Usually I come here for the intellectual discourse on a variety of technology and business topics. All that went through my head, line after line, was "oh no he di-ent!"

I commented on yesterdays piece and my thoughts can be seen there.

But....

It did feel like an orchestrated dialog from supporters of Mass. I wasn't surprised to hear they were asking for votes via Twitter. The comments were largely from people involved and they seemed rather defensive.

Creepy is one word - I would call it tacky.

I think John was definitely in the wrong for attacking YC like that, especially on HN. I agree that definitely wasn't the way to promote MassChallenge.

I just recently applied to YC and it wasn't an easy decision. In fact I almost didn't apply for various reasons. Ultimately it was what the YC alumni have said about YC that made me decide to push forward. Getting $50k in cash is great, who wouldn't want that? But ultimately the odds of succeeding are dependent on so much more than whether you have enough cash to survive 3 to 6 months. Free doesn't make it better, it just makes it free.

its $150K my friend ;)

The FAQ on MassChallenge's website said $50-100k and that there's a $199 entry fee. I don't know if I'm mistaking programs but YC didn't charge me to apply.

http://www.masschallenge.org/faq#q1

I think Smirnoff was saying the YC gets you $150k cash, because of Yuri Milner + SV Angel's blanket convertible note to all YC companies.

Sorry about that. I was originally referring to MassChallenge's program in my comment and trying to point out that $50k free and clear doesn't make it better (as in better than YC taking an equity position).

Is this a story on Hacker News about a comment thread on another story on Hacker News?

Yeah, it's very meta, so quite appropriate... ;)

I plus 1'd this just for the Whale Wars reference