[wright]

It's not about copying the idea.

It's about making yourself look like a total asshat by copying someone else's writing verbatim and passing it off as your own.

> which I'm sure they'd rectify if asked,

"If you have to ask..."

> then they'll, like most ventures, find ways to differentiate themselves and do their thing or die.

There's a YC copycat in India that differentiates itself by posting armed guards to keep you in your office until midnight. And not let you sleep. Seriously.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=158049

[wheels]

> It's about making yourself look like a total asshat by copying someone else's writing verbatim and passing it off as your own.

There's a famous line by Igor Stravinsky. "Good composers borrow. Great composers steal."

If you're working on something, and you see someone else that's got part of it righ, by all means copy them!

I don't mean plagiarize them, but emulate what they're doing and figure out the parts that you're good at. If you read through what this co-op is about there's some interesting stuff there. They're trying to get people in Seattle for a year, are offering more funding and trying to build integration between the companies they're investing in. This is a good thing. Ask them to reword their questions if you must, but cheer these people on! Comparing this the Indian proposal from a little while back is just silly.

[mwerty]

>"Good composers borrow. Great composers steal."

Interestingly, he probably stole that quote from T.S Eliot: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal"

[wright]

It was Picasso and artists.

[wright]

> I don't mean plagiarize them, but emulate what they're doing and figure out the parts that you're good at.

They DID plagiarize. Nobody's objecting to other seed investors, just the plagiarizing.

What they SHOULD have done is asked YC for permission to use their application, then said "we are using YC's application with their agreement in order to make things easier for applicants".

[allenbrunson]

the site has since been amended to indicate that it was a joke.

  http://www.ciieindia.org/?page_id=93

"We don't want you to go to your accommodation before 12 midnight - so we provide you mattresses near your workspace for resting. There's anyways a security guard outside your work-area - so you don't get to leave the office before 12 midnight and you don't get to sleep in the office. Attendance happens at 9:30 am every morning. Sundays are off if you have met your weekly goals!

"(The team has tried to be funny with having framed the above rules - obviously none of these rules are for real. It was a failed attempt to be humorous, which unfortunately not a lot of people understood :(. However, guys/gals with less than average IQ and humor - who fail to understand the humor in the above para may not kindly apply. Being fun-loving and sharp are pre-requisites!!)"

[wright]

> who fail to understand the humor in the above para may not kindly apply.

I don't know why writing about establishing some kind of sweatshop in a poverty-stricken country would be seen as funny. There are a lot of places that have conditions like that, no joke.