The last few times he came up on HN I'm sure there were several accounts of him being accomplished but not a particularly nice person. I have no idea. Can that be balanced out?
In the scene ~10 years ago a lot of people talked about crunch being a creepy old guy who hung out at raves hitting on young guys who were high. He would offer backrubs, massages and 'energy transfers'.
I only ever saw him at a single conference, but the general word was that he was a very creepy guy.
john draper excelled in an area which doesn't make much money. bill gates, larry ellison, etc might not be too nice people, but they don't need your help financially.
i've had a couple of interactions with him and he was nice to me. he's a little odd but i think it comes with the territory.
One friend of mine (very reliable source) told me that he met Crunch once and he was an annoying d-bag. Apparently what happened was my friend, who is a smoker, stepped out discreetly for a cig far away outdoors but Draper saw him anyway and raised a whiny fuss, so much so that my friend wanted to slap him into next month despite the respect he had for his past exploits.
excuse me! I'm highly allergic to that of smoke. It is a medical condition I have no control over. When people smoke near me, I get extreme nausea, headaches, and I find it very annoying and repulsive, not to mention it being a very filthy habit. I have every right to complain just like anybody else. You're all entitled to your own opinions about me, that's fine, just don't lie about it.
I only ever saw him at a single conference, but the general word was that he was a very creepy guy.