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Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

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Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#131

Post by tptacek »

paul wrote: post #96
shingen wrote: post #33

While it's a perfectly fine choice to ostracize Yahoo for their actions, Yammer's CEO is going to end up looking like little more than a hypocrite at the least, and maybe a dipshit, if he doesn't apply the same rules to all companies equally based on behavior. The odds the CEO will apply the same rule to all other companies acting with patent belligerence? Approximately zero. They'd need a substantial piece of tracki…

Leaving Yahoo is a lot easier than leaving the USSR.

Sure. But now what?

The problem here is that a huge number of talented people almost certainly do work for Yahoo without ever paying attention to the news cycle. Lots of talented people don't have startup ambitions; they bust their ass from 9-5 and come home to their families and their woodworking and charcuterie hobbies. Sure, they probably all have a sense that Yahoo isn't on a great trajectory, but they have no urgent need to leave. Yahoo might even be a better deal for them; pick the wrong startup and you could be hunting for a job again in 6 months.

It isn't reasonable to start penalizing people like that for the actions of Yahoo management; or, at least, if it is, it's not reasonable to do it over patent lawsuits. Patent lawsuits aren't a big enough issue to justify collective punishment.

I'm a little surprised at the tacit support I read out of this comment.

(For what it's worth: I have just as much to fear from patent suits as anyone else; my field is riddled with them).

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#132

Post by pessimizer »

harlanlewis wrote: post #84
guimarin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be done. Look at the US. Ever had to fill out, 'Not a member of the Nazi Party between 1933-1945? The US Citizenship test in no way makes the US look like a 'serious jerkwad.'

Nice, pretty solid bit of Godwin's Law trolling. I'm not interested in debating this to the level of detail that will spare me being called a nazi by someone on the internet, so suffice it to say that _any_ blacklist based on generalized attributes and affiliations will unfairly target innocents. Companies have lots of tactics to shorten applicant stacks ("wrote a personalized cover letter", "minimum 12yrs experience…

It's really really hard to avoid Godwin when discussing the responsibility of the rank and file of an organization for the actions of the whole. It's the model case.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#133

Post by jroseattle »

The lawsuit itself was a douche move. Now, this guy piles on with more douche-ness.

Incredibly classless move on this guy's part. As if anyone that he would be interested in hiring had anything to do with the lawsuit filing. And trying to apply leverage by calling them out as some sort of accomplice to the suit if they don't leave in 60 days? Talk about not being able to stand in someone else's shoes.

I can think of about a dozen different ways I could have used this as a recruiting opportunity where I didn't sound like a complete dick. This guy obviously doesn't have that capability.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#135

Post by CamperBob »

robomartin wrote: post #119

What a jerk and a hypocrite. Patents are, like it or not, one of the weapons of war, if you will, in business. Have been for a long, long time. And, while I too hate the "we invented the button and we have a patent" crowd I also recognize that they exist for a reason. Denying someone employment because the company they work for seeks to enforce their patents --legitimate or not-- is nothing less than being a dick. If…

have yet to see any of the loud-mouths spouting off about patents offer to do something like put together a fund to be used in pursuing changes to the laws. An, of course, none of them will write a check for a few million to fund it.

Jeff Bezos was talking a good game there for a while, but nothing ever came of it.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#136

Post by jebblue »

motoford wrote: post #67
brown9-2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there is a difference between punishing the company management that made the decision and employees that had nothing to do with the decision.

Some of us have walked away from good gigs -- forfeiting ownership, abandoning products that we conceived, developed and lived and breathed -- all because someone in control started doing something evil. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I have never regretted that decision.

Patents are evil? Is that what you're saying or did I misunderstand?

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#137

Post by vibrunazo »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #64
guimarin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be done. Look at the US. Ever had to fill out, 'Not a member of the Nazi Party between 1933-1945? The US Citizenship test in no way makes the US look like a 'serious jerkwad.'

Thanks for invoking the Godwin's law. I can easily ignore this comment thread.

I think you're confusing his argument with Godwin's law because of the similarity with a nazi analogy. But above all, the Godwin's law is an Ad Hominem, which is not what guimarin is doing. He's just fighting an analogy with another analogy.

I do agree that both of them have bad analogies :) But that's a different problem, it's not an Ad Hominem.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#138

Post by techwraith »

brown9-2 wrote: post #127
techwraith wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What private company discloses their revenue numbers?

But then how can you claim they have "(a lot of) real revenue" without being about to backup the assertion?

I just can't publicly back it up ;)

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#140

Post by bigbang »

neilk wrote: post #121
pbreit wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No he's not. The patent move isn't the only reason to frown on Yahoo employees. The company has been moving sideways for quite some time which is when good employees tend to leave for better opportunities.

There are a lot of good people toiling away at Yahoo for one reason or another. In particular, work visas can tie you to the company for a good portion of a decade. Just to take one example I'm familiar with, Flickr still has a lot of top-notch people.

Not to mention, I guess Yahoo! tends to pay really well (that won't be matched by Google/MS etc)
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