TicketStumbler.com Founder Puts Foot in Mouth

Written on 21st November 2008                                                                                                              5 COMMENTS
Zee, Editor in Chief at The Next Web, Principal at WeDoCreative.

After the awful news of the suicide live on streaming site Justin.tv yesterday, there has obviously been much discussion across the web. Tom Davis, Founder of YCombinator startup TicketStumbler, took it upon himself to post what can only be called a highly inappropriate joke on YCombinator’s Hacker News site.

It started with this message (I have intentionally not re-posted here) which immediately caused large scale condemnation from other members of the site. For those of you who aren’t regular visitors to Hacker News, comments work similarly to how Digg’s do – other members can vote comments or up or down. One member commented that they would not be using TicketStumbler.com in the future and as you can see below, a number of other members agreed.

Approximately 7 hours later Davis makes a public apology, which can be read below:

I would like to take a moment to publicly apologize for what I said in the Justin.tv thread. If you’ve decided to hate me forever, haven’t read it, or simply aren’t of the opinion that it’s a big deal you may stop reading now.

Upon returning home, I read a message from Dan (my co-founder) stating that, in hindsight, he felt it was a bad thing to say and, quote, “I feel sick to my stomach.” I knew then that no matter how serious I felt the infraction was, I had try my damnedest to clear it up. (more…)

apology, justin.tv, live, streaming, suicide, ticketstumbler, Video Interview

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