Owen Thomas should have let another reporter pick this one up. His anger and bias is transparent, and raises serious red flags regarding the veracity of his article.
It reads like an angry spat and a hit piece rolled into one:
The one specific claim Musk made about my reputation ...
Musk also accused me of “collaborating” with the lawyer representing Justine Musk, his ex-wife, in their divorce case. Also false: I picked up the phone and called her lawyer, and he had the courtesy to answer my questions.
An aside to Musk: Making false statements is something the law frowns on.
If you're reporting on your own involvement in a story, you're too close. Instead of using the pages of your rag to angrily defend yourself, let another reporter present the facts, dispassionately.
That's basic journalistic ethics, and basic journalistic ethics are dying right with traditional journalism. I'll bet you the majority of the audience for this site wants the drama.
I've flagged this article -- I don't think this is the kind of stuff that belongs on HN, even on the weekend. The vast majority of it is a burned reporter doing his best to douse someone in gasoline in retaliation. Whether or not there is any truth to his claims, it's clear that this article is very far from impersonal.
One article giving Musk's version of events is plenty; let's not have every single back-and-forth get posted here.
As far as Tesla goes: some companies you invest in because you think you'll make money, and others you invest in because you think they're a good idea and you want to see them succeed. Regardless of its financial situation or management, I think Tesla is pretty clearly in the latter camp. They have managed to make electric vehicles viable as a high performance sports car, and they did it at a time when most people regarded electric vehicles as impractical.
I didn't go as far as flagging but I agree with your points. The only reason it is relevant is perhaps that it's related to a front page item from a few days ago. Apart from that its just a retaliatory rant, I agree.
If I had invested money in Tesla, I'd take it out right now and handle the loss. This company is going to fail - all the signs are there, this sounds like a repeat of those 1999-2000 companies, complete with the scandals and fights with reporters.
What has changed in the few weeks Tesla has been a public company? Doesn't seem to be any underlying change that would have shifted the company towards failure unless that was already the path.
So either the shares aren't worth what they were listed at and investors made a bad call or it could be people getting out purely because the share price is heading in the wrong direction right now.
Yikes. There are a lot of people asking a lot of questions concerning the future of Tesla. Although I love seeing the technology making an entrance into the marketplace, the direction of the company has a lot of people concerned, myself included.
It reads like an angry spat and a hit piece rolled into one:
The one specific claim Musk made about my reputation ...
Musk also accused me of “collaborating” with the lawyer representing Justine Musk, his ex-wife, in their divorce case. Also false: I picked up the phone and called her lawyer, and he had the courtesy to answer my questions.
An aside to Musk: Making false statements is something the law frowns on.
If you're reporting on your own involvement in a story, you're too close. Instead of using the pages of your rag to angrily defend yourself, let another reporter present the facts, dispassionately.