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Jerry-NetherlandSam Biddle
11/23/15 11:57am
Tinder has to be footing the bill for Terrill - and liberally. Based on all descriptions above (and her minimal public job history), it would be highly unlikely to be “hiding out” in the Beverly Wilshire (!) unless one were being funded by very deep pockets - like Tinder’s got. She’s clear to say that she isn’t being financed by her friend Pambakian or any other person at Tinder - but doesn’t exclude being paid by the corporation itself. After all the stories of behavioral malfeasance at Tinder, why would this be any different?

Anyway, Sam, a very interesting tale - practically begging to be made into a film. I was sad to hear they’re closing out ValleyWag, because your running chronicle of this largest growing industry, all its shenanigans and growing pains was a must read. I assume you’ll be continuing to follow these stories on the main page.
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  imakeokaybeansJerry-Netherland
  11/23/15 12:24pm
  I’m a little confused by what the goal of this expose of Terrill’s would even aim to accomplish—divorced from the delusion that she’s being hunted for researching it. Wolfe was shady and selfish and used her “sexuality”, and now she wants people to believe she runs a feminist-y company? So what? Wolfe being unsavory doesn’t negate that women like the app she helped create. CEOs are often assholes and people still use their products all the time.
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  Metro-CarnieJerry-Netherland
  11/23/15 12:26pm
  More likely, the cash would come from some shell corporation or nonprofit that didn’t have to disclose its ultimate ownership or investors. She’d be cashing checks from Investigative Intelligence LLC, not Tinder, and not from any person (unless it’s a straw person who serves the same function).
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Uncle BooSam Biddle
11/23/15 11:44am
They all deserve each other.
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  98ersUncle Boo
  11/23/15 8:14pm
  They all deserve Biddle.
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TimF101Sam Biddle
11/23/15 1:22pm
The following things seem pretty reasonable.

* An asshole bro billionaire would act like an asshole to a woman who dumped him (or whatever happened to precipitate the breakup).

* In dire straits reputation-wise, said bro would buy a little positive press.

* The publicist would choose a trusted close friend journalist for the ‘story’.

* It turns out the journalist handles stress very badly. Like, Sharyl Atkisson’s stuck delete key badly.

However, I can also believe that a Russian billionaire security expert would spend a little side money to fuck with someone who is (in his opinion and perhaps actually) maliciously threatening his app investment and harming his senior partner’s peace of mind. So much of the reporter’s story sounds like a late stage breakdown, but some people only need a gentle nudge.

Wolfe, though, at least gives a pretty credible impression of just wanting to get on with her life.
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  imakeokaybeansTimF101
  11/23/15 1:40pm
  I agree with this level-headed assessment, and it addresses what the original goal of “THE STORY” might have been. That was obfuscated by Sam’s gleeful breakdown of Terrill’s delusions.
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Ginga NinjaSam Biddle
11/23/15 12:08pm
There is not a single likeable character in this entire story.
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  walterCOCKrightGinga Ninja
  11/23/15 12:45pm
  True.. though some look completely fuckable.
  
  X-
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  FazeRacerGinga Ninja
  11/23/15 2:27pm
  Yup, which is why it’s so good.
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MarksMakerSam Biddle
11/23/15 11:51am
How shocking, that the co-founders of what amounts to a dollar store in terms of human interaction are treating each other so cheaply...
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Don't drone me broSam Biddle
11/23/15 12:05pm
Whew- Scientology levels of paranoia, Paul Haggis should direct the movie version.
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Itto OgamiSam Biddle
11/23/15 3:08pm
Then again, everyone else denies virtually everything else, too. Reached by phone, Rosette Pambakian told that although she does have a personal relationship with Ashley Terrill (“She’s a friend of mine”) she was only “vaguely aware” of her investigation—but made it clear to me that she believed her friend was in actual danger. And, despite being just barely aware of Terrill’s work in progress, Pambakian told me she’d lose her job if “linked” to it, and that inside Tinder, “no one is allowed to help with the project.”

This, along with her telling a journalist “as a company, we know not to speak to journalists” earn my vote this woman needs to be fired. At best too stupid, at worst lying and in contempt of the “settlement” both parties made. Wild.
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Charlie Sam Biddle
11/23/15 11:59am
whitney wolfe kicked my friend out of a party in austin because she (my friend) asked her about Bumble and said she admired her being a woman in tech. then she backtracked and tried to get her to come back into the party, because she clearly realized she came off crazy in the encounter and was trying to save face.
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  DelMonteFashionPeasCharlie
  11/23/15 12:18pm
  Literally no one cares. Literally.
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Official Witch of Los AngelesSam Biddle
11/23/15 7:19pm
As a working journalist in Los Angeles, I can say with 100% certainty that this “story” just reeks of day old fish.

I have never heard of, nor interacted with anyone named Ashley Terrill on the press junket circuit (which I spent a good 4+ years on). Her Twitter, which most (if not all) journalists — especially noteworthy journalists or those with connection to “good” publications — use daily, is inactive and has barely any followers. That’s a telltale sign in the journalism world that “You aren’t who you say you are.” Hell, I’m not that fancy, and yet I have writers from the New Yorker, NYT, LA Times, etc following me. She has a small paper trail, mostly covering things for Elle, which makes me think she has a “connection” there, rather than a job. (No writer website, no LinkedIn, etc.)

But the worst and most incriminating thing here is her “Friendship” with the goddamn Tinder exec. Any “real” journalist would know immediately that this relationship and the supposed “article” are an extreme conflict of interest. Not to mention, what journalist is jetting off to London, other parts of Europe (see: her Instagram), NYC, etc. WITHOUT covering anything? Every trip myself or my peers take if somehow transformed into a “work trip” if we can get an editor interested in a pitch. It’s how I’ve been to Japan like 3x in the last year. We don’t make enough money to jetset without working at the same time. Someone (Tinder?) is paying for this woman’s lifestyle — but it isn’t her journalism “job.” The last thing she wrote for Elle was in early 2015! Where’s that income, honey?

I want to laugh at the envelopes, but this is so emblematic of mental illness and/or Scientology-level paranoia that I just can’t. Not afraid to say this lady is a total fraud, though. I, too, could fill an envelope filled with “observations” of “people doing weird things in cars.” This is LA. People are weird, and people tend to be weird in their cars. BREAKING NEWS worthy, I know.
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HoldenCashSam Biddle
11/23/15 1:24pm
Whitney Wolfe, a co-founder and former vice president of marketing at Tinder, sued.....former chief of marketing Justin Mateen. Wolfe alleged that after a breakup with Mateen

This is Marissa Meyer all over again....

Wolfe was dating Mateen, her boss.

I agree that everything that happened was sexist and wrong, but we have to read between the lines here.
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