Yes, PG is an investor (or, more accurately, YC is an investor), but I've seen enough of Paul to know that he's more than 'just another investor' and if it turns out I'm wrong about that I'll be most surprised, I have not seen any evidence to date that PG does wrong by anybody when he has all the facts.
And that last bit is where I think the problem lies.
Calling YC a church and HN a temple is really ridiculous.
It's okay to connect her to Paul because...
- he's smarter than a typical investor? - he's more involved than a typical investor? - he's more wise than a typical investor?
If anything, PG and YC are much less involved than a typical investor (VC) when the company is at this stage. No board seat (for starters. But also he's invested in 100+ companies over the last few years. The other VCs involved here focus all their time on the 3-5 investments they have made over this period.
So I guess I just don't see the point. As far as I can think, either you're saying he's different because he's way better, which may be true but not fair to assume all would know or agree (see the church/temple posts above), or because YC's investment model is different, which to me would be true but with the opposite implication.
Both EJ and Paul stand to gain from resolving this situation quickly and orderly.
And both could lose considerably if this is allowed to drag on much longer and/or hits the mainstream press.
This honestly sounds borderline threatening. But judging from your recent actions, I don't expect you to take care with how things are said.
So, in this situation, Paul Graham is definitely not "just another investor" - he's a mentor too.
I know we're posting on the HN temple of the YC church, so I always expect a little bit of fanboyism in attitudes towards PG, but you've really gone off the deep end if you think that in this situation Graham is anything but just another investor.