Not exactly. The newsletter is a paid, niche newsletter, and the author stated that you could apply to the job by directly emailing John Collison. It was somehow implied that applying that way was a more direct track than a cold email.
It's also stupid to pay for an ad in a "special" newsletter, mention how candidates can reach out to you, and:
1) Ignore the extra work done by someone to show high interest in the job
2) not even respond at all.
You might see things differently, of course. This is how I see it, and I think that Stripe didn't behave nicely in this particular stance. As stated at the beginning of my comment, this is not comparable to the OP story which, assuming it's completely true and unbiased, is certainly worse than mine.
Thanks for the extra context. Still, I would imagine that an employer would feel free to ghost any email or application from an unknown person unless it came with a specific recommendation from someone they know.
It's also stupid to pay for an ad in a "special" newsletter, mention how candidates can reach out to you, and:
1) Ignore the extra work done by someone to show high interest in the job
2) not even respond at all.
You might see things differently, of course. This is how I see it, and I think that Stripe didn't behave nicely in this particular stance. As stated at the beginning of my comment, this is not comparable to the OP story which, assuming it's completely true and unbiased, is certainly worse than mine.