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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

#131

Post by siberianbear »

reaperducer wrote: post #27
malvosenior wrote: post #10

I'm sure everyone who has to earn a living to support their family will appreciate this move. Nothing is worse than politics at work, where you may lose your paycheck if you don't align with the correct factions.

"There are three things in life I learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and The Great Pumpkin." — Linus

That's an odd thing for Linus to say. I read a lot of Peanuts comic books in my youth, and it seemed to me that Linus could never stop blabbing relentlessly about the Great Pumpkin.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#132

Post by chrisseaton »

alexanderlabrie wrote: post #95

Banning staff from talking politics at work shouldn't be allowed under the First Amendment.

That's not what the First Amendment is about - it's about preventing the government from making laws that infringe free speech. But this isn't a law, and GitLab isn't the government, so the First Amendment does not apply.

> It is a common misconception that the First Amendment prohibits anyone from limiting free speech, including private, non-governmental entities. It is applicable only to state actors. (Wikipedia)

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#133

Post by ergothus »

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.

dang has called me out for degrading a conversation in the past. dang was correct then, and the comment replied to IS degrading the conversation as described. You don't have to be wrong to be expressing it poorly or unconstructively.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#134

Post by hannasanarion »

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…

>America has sanctions. If the public wants corporations to not interact with certain countries, they can ask their legislators to fascilitate passing of sanctions (like we have today against Syria, making it illegal to provide services to them).

This is a very confusing position to me. It is a bad thing to pick and choose your customers based on moral agreement, unless that morality is defined by the government in which case it's good?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#135

Post by notadoc »

Many political issues are so heated and have become so divisive that they can create barriers to team cohesion (and societal cohesion for that matter), and occasionally turn into outright intolerance.

Unless you work directly in politics, why are you talking about it at work anyway?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#136

Post by reaperducer »

siberianbear wrote: post #131
reaperducer wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There are three things in life I learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and The Great Pumpkin." — Linus

That's an odd thing for Linus to say. I read a lot of Peanuts comic books in my youth, and it seemed to me that Linus could never stop blabbing relentlessly about the Great Pumpkin.

It was in the TV show. Probably right after Lucy called him a blockhead.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#137

Post by shadowgovt »

In practice, "don't discuss politics" policies imply "don't discuss it (below a certain pay-grade)."

Corporations are political entities (even the decision to do business with people regardless of their politics is a political position), so someone at every corporation is considering that angle. Or the corporation is adrift on seas of change without attempting to navigate them.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#138

Post by download13 »

Udik wrote: post #61
aaomidi wrote: post #44

FYI: If you say you don't care about politics and you ban political speech in your workspace - that on its own is a political statement that you're fine with the status quo.

Which status quo? Say what your interpretation of the "status quo" is, and I'll read it as a political statement. Say that you shouldn't accept it, and I'll read that as a political statement too.

I think you've almost got it...

Literally anything that can affect someone's life is political.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#139

Post by djsumdog »

dvt wrote: post #21

GitLab are being hypocritical[1][2]. Let's not pretend the "women in tech" and LGBT movements aren't political. Frankly, I think more women in tech and LGBT representation are probably good things, but GitLab is being profoundly disingenuous with their guidelines. To clarify my point: if you open the gates to the marketplace of ideas, make sure it's an actual marketplace . [1] https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2018/10/08…

It's hard to define what is and isn't political right? It can get ontological .. (i.e. if everything is political than nothing is political and if nothing is political than everything is political).

It seems like in this case Gitlab is trying to avoid some of the Google/Amazon blowback for taking questionable contracts. In those cases .. tech people are in high demand. It's not that difficult for us to find work elsewhere.

That being said .. it's almost impossible to be moral in customers. Everyone company does questionable stuff, has questionable clients, mixes normal with military contracts, etc. Should Gitlab not allow projects from churches who create tools to help minister to homosexuals (in trying to convert them away from homosexuality)? Is being intolerant of the intolerant .. tolerant?

There are really complex questions here.

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