Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

An apology...

furbo.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 194 posts

Re: An apology...

#111

Post by confuzatron »

reitzensteinm wrote: post #72
Confusion wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This no doubt casts a shadow on his career and life. I think you're overestimating the impact this has. People generally don't remember a name in an article they read at some website some time ago. Secondly, the number of people actually reading this is quite small. For instance, suppose someone lost a Nokia prototype in the same way and the engineer later applied to Apple. How large is the chance that the responsibl…

Sorry, but you're completely wrong about this. Anyone searching his name for the next 50 years will find this amongst the top 10 unless he ends up with the web presence of someone like Leo Laporte or Joel Spolsky (or someone with the same name does). The question is not whether hiring managers will find out about this - they will - it's whether they'll care.

All the chap did was accidentally leave his phone in a bar. Presumably he had it out for dog-fooding style testing. Gray Whoever (I've forgotten already) is hardly a name that will live in infamy.

Unless the next time we see him is in a grainy beheading video featuring Steve Jobs wielding a large machete.

All this 'OMG STOLEN' drama is totally over the top - I think some people are just looking for an angle at which to get outraged at a newsworthy product leak.

Re: An apology...

#112

Post by smutticus »

I'm surprised about some of the comments here. There is no reason they needed to post this guy's name. It simply isn't relevant to the story at all.

It's like they thought it was a good idea to kick someone when they were already down. It's just petty.

Re: An apology...

#113

Post by wisty »

qeorge wrote: post #33

The engineer in question is a good friend of several of us here at HN. We sincerely appreciate the support he's being shown here and elsewhere around the internet. So there is no doubt: Gray is one of the smartest engineers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I'm sure he feels terrible about this. Although I'm sure this is going to be one of the worst weeks of his life, he will land on his feet, wherever that…

There is a slight upside - Apple might not let him go because they don't want to wear any flack from the media.

Still, that would put him in a pretty difficult position. Having the perception that you were kept on just to avoid PR problems isn't an ideal situation. I'd rather be sacked quietly and look for a job elsewhere, or be quietly kept on; whatever the boss though best.

I'm sure that the reporters justify it to themselves on that basis. But they haven't looked ahead.

Re: An apology...

#114

Post by deno »

papachito wrote: post #96

You must be new to the internet, the phone leaked, the story of how it happened leaked, it was only a matter of time before the name of the guy leaked, gizmodo or not, it's obvious that many people knew who it was.

No, it's not obvious. Who knew? Do you know the guy that sold them the phone for $10K? It's Gizmodo that we hate — they are suppose to be journalists of some sorts, not bunch of kids on 4chan to which the poor standards you described indeed apply.

Re: An apology...

#115

Post by petercooper »

Did they change their article? I only saw it a couple of hours ago and it seemed pretty soft towards him.. going as far as to say it wasn't really an onerous fault and that he shouldn't be fired for making a simple mistake. It certainly didn't seem negative enough to create the shitstorm currently going on here and on Twitter..

Re: An apology...

#116

Post by esjr »

I bet that the guy that lost the wallet, the stranger that found it and the guy that put the picture of said girlfriend up on the interwebs, are now having beers in that very same bar payed for by the girlfriend.

Re: An apology...

#117

Post by jacquesm »

wisty wrote: post #113
qeorge wrote: post #33

The engineer in question is a good friend of several of us here at HN. We sincerely appreciate the support he's being shown here and elsewhere around the internet. So there is no doubt: Gray is one of the smartest engineers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I'm sure he feels terrible about this. Although I'm sure this is going to be one of the worst weeks of his life, he will land on his feet, wherever that…

There is a slight upside - Apple might not let him go because they don't want to wear any flack from the media. Still, that would put him in a pretty difficult position. Having the perception that you were kept on just to avoid PR problems isn't an ideal situation. I'd rather be sacked quietly and look for a job elsewhere, or be quietly kept on; whatever the boss though best. I'm sure that the reporters justify it to…

If Apple lets their prototypes out of the house in conditions that are 'real life' then they have to live with the fact that in 'real life' phones get lost and get stolen.

What bugs me is that I can't imagine that every phone that is lost or stolen makes it's way to gizmodo, so how on earth did they find out that that phone was a prototype? Or did they really have a bunch of 'misses' before this 'hit'.

Apple should do exactly nothing about this, unless the prototype iphone was taken off their facility without their permission. If it was then the risk is theirs. Every day there must be thousands of phones that are lost, and it's not like it's a big deal anyway. Just another incremental upgrade to a consumer device, who cares.

Re: An apology...

#119

Post by brown9-2 »

What I find even more amazing than Gizmodo publishing the guy's name is Gizmodo feeling free to post pictures they found on his phone. What's privacy?

Re: An apology...

#120

Post by gigantosaurus »

wisty wrote: post #113
qeorge wrote: post #33

The engineer in question is a good friend of several of us here at HN. We sincerely appreciate the support he's being shown here and elsewhere around the internet. So there is no doubt: Gray is one of the smartest engineers I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I'm sure he feels terrible about this. Although I'm sure this is going to be one of the worst weeks of his life, he will land on his feet, wherever that…

There is a slight upside - Apple might not let him go because they don't want to wear any flack from the media. Still, that would put him in a pretty difficult position. Having the perception that you were kept on just to avoid PR problems isn't an ideal situation. I'd rather be sacked quietly and look for a job elsewhere, or be quietly kept on; whatever the boss though best. I'm sure that the reporters justify it to…

Is the "slight upside" good enough? Apple might be less likely to let him go because of media coverage. Or maybe more likely to let him go because of media coverage.

In either case, this article is going to be the #1 Google hit for his name for years or decades. A smart manager would realise that this was a honest mistake, and he admitted to it and got Apple to remotely wipe the phone the next day, but I would not hope that most HR employees are as understanding.

Post reply on HN