No. The first thing that I noticed about him was that he had bad grammar, even for Slashdot. The poster responded to a questioner and blamed it on learning disabilities.
Chances are, if this guy is unable to present himself in an articulate manner on Slashdot, he can't in front of a VC either.
Yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that can prevent success. As can dressing badly. As can being short and fat. Or ugly, if you're a woman. Fair? No. But intelligence isn't distributed fairly either.
If you want to sell yourself, then you have to fix as many of these problems as you can. There's no way around that. If you can't spell, then use Microsoft Word and its grammar checker on everything you ever write. Go on a diet. Get someone else to pick out your clothes. Etc.
That was quite judgmental. And it might not even be wrong; I am also bothered to all hell by bad grammar as well, and noticed that about his comment. But I'm not ready to presume that he will remain as uncollected and scattered when given the chance to make lengthy preparations for something slightly more important than a Slashdot post.
That you launch into a litany of other things that have nothing to do with this guy's Slashdot comment (clothing, physical fitness, etc) suggest a major chip on your shoulder. You imply that, amongst other things, shortness and physical unattractiveness are problems that need to be fixed; how exactly do you propose people fix these problems? This comment smells of either a self-validating or apologetic cheer toward people who hyper-focus on image at the expense of all other metrics. If you believe what you write here, and aren't just resigned to thinking this is how the rest of the world works, I wonder how many people you've misjudged as a result.
Do you deny that being inarticulate, unkept, short, obese, or unattractive can be barriers to success in business?
If so, elaborate on that. If not, please explain why those same things should not be considered problems that ought to be addressed. Wouldn't it be advisable to treat the issue like any other and apply the full weight of your intelligence and experience to come up with a good solution?
I was concerned I'd need to elaborate on this a bit more.
I don't deny that any of the above traits can be barriers to success. The underlying problem I see requiring attention is different, though, than the problem you and thras suggest we need to solve. When someone encounters barriers due to their appearance and/or image, the best solution I see does not always involve individual behavioral modification. I also go looking for systemic causes. In this case, I think there is a halo effect that is not being addressed and compensated for, or is being assumed as static and unmovable. It results in people being judged on things that do matter to the end product based on things that do not matter. A Porsche is not a faster car than a Honda because the engineers dressed nicer to the factory, nor the opposite; it is tangential. This halo effect is the thing we need to be addressing, rather than attempting to rely on patching ourselves due to errors in the system. I hope my point is a little clearer now.
Chances are, if this guy is unable to present himself in an articulate manner on Slashdot, he can't in front of a VC either.
Yes, this is exactly the sort of thing that can prevent success. As can dressing badly. As can being short and fat. Or ugly, if you're a woman. Fair? No. But intelligence isn't distributed fairly either.
If you want to sell yourself, then you have to fix as many of these problems as you can. There's no way around that. If you can't spell, then use Microsoft Word and its grammar checker on everything you ever write. Go on a diet. Get someone else to pick out your clothes. Etc.