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The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

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Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#131

Post by Apocryphon »

linkregister wrote: post #121
Apocryphon wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook and Google at least have products that are mostly consumer-facing. One wonders what it would be like to work for Palantir.

It's interesting that you mention Palantir. Can you give some more detail as to what unethical business practices are conducted there, or are you simply referring to the HBGary business proposal scandal revealed in the Stratfor leaks in 2012? Disclosure: if you look through my comment history, I have a moderate pro-Palantir bias. So "shill" accusations are slightly appropriate.

It's more of a general perception of shadiness: https://www.designernews.co/comments/85691

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#132

Post by draw_down »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #54
dec0dedab0de wrote: post #8

I went to a meetup that they hosted once, and it was pretty obvious that they were up to something, but they did have a really cool office.

I visited Limewire's offices, once. Three story office in Tribeca, with giant kitchens that were bigger than my apartment, game rooms, the works. It seems to me that the more ambiguous your business strategy is, the more you have to show off to convince others that it isn't.

I think it's more like, if you have a cool office with nice kitchens you can pay your employees crap and they still think they're getting a great deal.

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#133

Post by dspillett »

randlet wrote: post #6
tonyarkles wrote: post #2

Maybe I just forget what it's like to be a beginner, but how on earth do you work on Ad Injection software and not realize that you're working on Ad Injection?!

I find it difficult to understand how you would even interview & accept a job without understanding what the company did.

I have a colleague you might like to meet. Understanding anything is not his forté. He turns up, does what he is told, goes home, and is paid at then end of the month. Except maybe the "does what he is told" part, but that is a different story!

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#134

Post by cmdrfred »

Phlarp wrote: post #112
reitanqild wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my very minimal accounting course I remember my teacher, who was serving as part of the tax appeals board at the time, telling us that we were allowed to use any opening in the law to save tax but we were not allowed to lie.

The intent of my comment was to draw attention to the other side of this coin. >You are allowed to use any opening in the law to save on taxes, but not lie. The other side of that is: If you (as a C(ETF)O of a company) do not use every opening in the law to save on taxes you may be violating a fiduciary duty to your shareholders.

Oddly enough nobody is concerned with fiduciary duty when a CEO pulls a few million dollar bonus out of a failing company.

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#135

Post by [deleted] »

Phlarp wrote: post #112
reitanqild wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my very minimal accounting course I remember my teacher, who was serving as part of the tax appeals board at the time, telling us that we were allowed to use any opening in the law to save tax but we were not allowed to lie.

The intent of my comment was to draw attention to the other side of this coin. >You are allowed to use any opening in the law to save on taxes, but not lie. The other side of that is: If you (as a C(ETF)O of a company) do not use every opening in the law to save on taxes you may be violating a fiduciary duty to your shareholders.

[deleted]

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#136

Post by kbenson »

vthallam wrote: post #119
smt88 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One major difference is that Facebook and Google also provide value to their users. They do good and bad things. The company in the article did only bad things.

Wow! So it balances out? I am not supporting 50onRed here, but the point that doing some good and some bad things is okay, is no good.

Nobody excused Google or Facebook for their problems, but this was presented as a comparison, and one between companies that have many legitimate and and non-problematic divisions and products to a company whose sole purpose is to circumvent control of the user and the authors of the content they are viewing.

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#137

Post by dspillett »

nharada wrote: post #5
tonyarkles wrote: post #2

Maybe I just forget what it's like to be a beginner, but how on earth do you work on Ad Injection software and not realize that you're working on Ad Injection?!

and how do you work fulltime for a company and not bother to figure out what they do?

I have a colleague you might like to meet. Understanding anything is not his forté. He turns up, does what he is told, goes home, and is paid at then end of the month. Except maybe the "does what he is told" part, but that is a completely different rant.

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#138

Post by aresant »

eloff wrote: post #93
aresant wrote: post #62

So what else is new. If you work at Facebook or Google you're benefiting directly from the similarly shady practices they used to grow on their way to being "pillars of tech" today. Do you remember when at LEAST 20% of Facebook's revenue came from Zynga? Like less than 5 years ago? Many speculated it was considerably higher, but Facebook never provided a full accounting (1). Or do you remember when Facebook literally…

Despite the examples you give, I don't think it's fair to lump Facebook and Google in with 50onRed. The former two are mostly above board, with some occasional exceptions, while the latter is completely, morally, underwater.

Clearly it's not an analog comparison, I never said it was.

I wrote my comment because online advertising is a murky and often slimy place.

Facebook & Google are the world's two largest online advertising companies - they sell and influence your attention for a living.

Google now spends more money lobbying the government than any other corporation (1) including GE, Exxon, etc, etc.

Depending on Apple's stock performance Google is either the #1 or #2 most valuable company in the WORLD.

Facebook is not far behind in either category.

Companies, like people, are more complex than the shiny, white-washed PR version.

The 50onRed story is about a cockroach who will live & die quickly, like a million other cockroaches.

I am less interested in the cockroach and more interested in the elephant given it's weight and past propensity for bad behavior.

(1) http://www.dailydot.com/politics/google-political-lobbying-s...

Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do

#139

Post by kbenson »

chao- wrote: post #120
fiatmoney wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every nation is built on a hill of skulls. "Has done in the past" is not the same as "is currently doing".

The logical extension of that is a justification for current, smaller players building new "hills of skulls" in their quest to build their own new nation. But hey! You know, once they're big too, they can put it all the shady dealings in the past and be one of the good guys, and it'll all be fine! It's a weak justification.

> The logical extension of that is a justification for current, smaller players building new "hills of skulls" in their quest to build their own new nation.

Maybe you can explain this logical extension, because I don't see it. At a minimum, it's not self-evident.

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