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Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#101

Post by pimmen »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #37

I think this sounds very reasonable for the kind of tool that is being produced. Joel Spolsky has a great article on Big Macs vs Naked Chef https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/01/18/big-macs-vs-the-na... In there, he talks about bespoke development vs mass market products, using McDonald's Big Macs vs a chef. I think this provides a reasonable framework for approaching the present controversy. For example, if McDonal…

The analogy avoids the difference that food is a consumable that everyone, from minimum-wage workers and billionaires, uses and getting better quality food doesn’t make you orders of magnitude more powerful than everyone else. Computer technology is different, it enhances the differences between people. An artist working for a villain to make propaganda posters doesn’t raise as many protests as Facebook being open to villains because through Facebook your campaign can get orders of magnitude stronger.

If Happy Meals came with an assault riflevpeopke would probably be more angry at McDonalds for catering to bad guys.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#103

Post by pc86 »

dvt wrote: post #52
mosselman wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? I am honestly asking, not flaming or anything. What is the point you are making?

That they are being hypocritical. Frankly, I think more women in tech and LGBT representation are probably good things, but GitLab is being profoundly disingenuous.

I think there's probably some room here to differentiate between politics (in the US, Democrat and Republican for most offices) and ideology.

Ideology is the framework for politics. I don't see anything wrong with saying discussing politics (a given candidate, or a platform stance) at work is discouraged while encouraging a certain ideological stance (more people from historically marginalized communities in tech is a good thing).

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#104

Post by dang »

dvt wrote: post #52
mosselman wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? I am honestly asking, not flaming or anything. What is the point you are making?

That they are being hypocritical. Frankly, I think more women in tech and LGBT representation are probably good things, but GitLab is being profoundly disingenuous.

This is what you should have posted in the first place, along with the links. Here you make your point in a way that people can actually understand and that does not destroy the container here.

There's a common phenomenon where a user's later defense of a flamebait post is often the high-quality, substantive explanation that they should have posted in the first place. I almost want to write software to replace the one with the other.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#105

Post by marvin-83 »

dvt wrote: post #52
mosselman wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? I am honestly asking, not flaming or anything. What is the point you are making?

That they are being hypocritical. Frankly, I think more women in tech and LGBT representation are probably good things, but GitLab is being profoundly disingenuous.

Typically, "no politics" ends up being enforced as "no politics that contradict the office norm".

It is clear how this ends up happening. When people express an opinion generally supported in the office, it is unlikely someone will complain. When someone expresses a contrary opinion, they will appear to be the one "making trouble".

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#106

Post by tobr »

How does a rule like “can’t discuss politics” even work? Anything and everything is political. Not allowing political discussions is in itself political activism for the status quo. Are GitLab employees allowed to discuss the rule?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#107

Post by Nullabillity »

vowelless wrote: post #18

I am glad Dang changed the title as the original one was unnecessarily inflammatory. I don’t understand why it’s encouraged (in some companies) to discuss politics at work in a way that leads to internal issues. Purely from a commercial stance, team cohesion has a positive impact on people and product. Why do anything to disturb that? > Such a declaration could run afoul of legal boundaries in some circumstances. Whi…

> I don’t understand why it’s encouraged (in some companies) to discuss politics at work in a way that leads to internal issues. Purely from a commercial stance, team cohesion has a positive impact on people and product. Why do anything to disturb that?

The health of the democracy is far more important than your company's profit margin. And besides, enforcing silence is still a political move that strongly favours the opinions that the power structures imply with their actions.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#108

Post by pc86 »

Kenji wrote: post #74
dang wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are great questions. But please omit the flamebait. (Edit: dvt kindly took the flamebait out—see below.) If flames take over, only the people who enjoy flaming will remain in the debate. That's a strict loss for thread quality, which is one reason for the guideline I asked everyone to remember above: " Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. " https://news.y…

Oh no, someone dares to question the left-authoritarian talking points. Better shut that discussion down.

The comment is still live with positive votes, I don't think anyone is shutting anything down.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#109

Post by grumple »

If your policy is going to be, "we'll take your money in exchange for goods or services, no matter who you are", it seems that you'd be better off not making your policy public. It just draws attention to you, and it's not going to positive.

Gitlab is also a remote workplace, so it's not like there's much opportunity for water-cooler talk.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#110

Post by [deleted] »

Kenji wrote: post #74
dang wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are great questions. But please omit the flamebait. (Edit: dvt kindly took the flamebait out—see below.) If flames take over, only the people who enjoy flaming will remain in the debate. That's a strict loss for thread quality, which is one reason for the guideline I asked everyone to remember above: " Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. " https://news.y…

Oh no, someone dares to question the left-authoritarian talking points. Better shut that discussion down.

[deleted]
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