IMO that online persona is perfect for a technology evangelist. Make noise, rake muck, profit.

x% of others would agree. (100-x)% would probably be put off. Solve for x.

There's no way to solve for x with the information given!

Instead, take the ratio of your comment's parent divided by the (grandparent + parent), and you get x. I think.

The Marmite equation.

The Marmite equation?

When considering the Marmite yeast extract product, in the UK x is somewhat above 50. In the US, x is well below 50. Similar values of x probably apply to Vegemite between Australia and the US.

I still didn't get it, until I read this: This distinctive taste is reflected in the British company's marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it." (from Marmite wikipedia page)

Maybe someone with enough karma to produce a poll on HN can submit a "Would you hire Zed Shaw?" poll.

Sounds a lot like the founder of a startup to me. IMO there's room in a company for one person of this description.

One, not two.

from what I've read of him I would employ Zed. I dont think he is quite the same in RL (but brings some of the good qualities).

He strikes me as a "get things done" sort of person.

Long, long before he put up his infamous Rails rant, I spoke with him several times about Mongrel implementation, build issues and getting stuff running on different linux systems.

He seems to me to be a nice guy, a clean coder and yes, a guy who gets things done. Very much in contrast with the generally abrasive character he's built on his website.

Anyway, for what it's worth, I'd have no trouble hiring him.