Valleywag
One of the perils of being as highly networked, and as weird, as Peter Thiel: an association with unsavory characters. I don't mean Sean Parker, the investor's protege at the Founders Fund, who merely likes to party. Or even Auren Hoffman, the creepily assiduous networker whom Thiel retained as a social aide. One could even understand Thiel's backing for The Vanguard because the political action group, a conservative answer to Move On, is led by a former aide at Paypal. But, for even a man with such catholic taste in friends, the latest addition to his sprawling keiretsu is a bit much. The Vanguard's latest hire is the conservative attack dog, author of a hostile book on John Kerry's Swift Boat command, who demolished the Democratic candidate's Vietnam credentials in the 2004 election.
Comments
First, since apparently full disclosure is apparently paramount to you guys, I used to work for Auren. Second, what is with you repeatedly calling him creepy? I agree Auren is an assiduous networker, taking the whole thing to another level (the man sends out a lot of birthday cards); but he is definitely not creepy. He is less smarmy than your average Silicon Valley recruiter or politician.
He is actually a warm, decent, honest guy -- and this whole weird Wikipedia issue you have made is completely trumped up and unfair. I know that is the game with gossip rags, but you might want to show some decency, because creepy is a very loaded word.
META: There are other uber-networkers in the Valley -- would you call Heidi Roizen creepy? Is there a gender double-standard to networking?
Personally, I find it a little creepy when someone sends nice-to-meet-you postcards to people he meets merely in passing.
As for the Wikipedia edits, it wasn't a huge deal, except that Auren Hoffman's built a whole career on supposedly transparent reputation systems.
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