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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

#241

Post by BrandonM »

schoen wrote: post #94
unsavory wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be an interesting case if someone tried this with the venerable TV industry: rent/borrow/buy our special HDMI cable/tuner, let us replace your ads, and we'll pay half your cable bill if you let us put our ads up instead. Methinks the broadcasters would pounce down like a ton of bricks and their lawyers would use every loose corner of the law to bury you perpetually `a la Aereo.`

I have this vague recollection that friends whose families subscribed to HBO in the 1980s said they didn't show ads at all, because subscribers were directly paying for the programming through their subscriptions (whereas free-to-air stations felt they had to run ads because viewer weren't paying directly). Was this actually true? Does anyone else have a similar recollection? I'm just wondering if there was a particu…

AFAIK this is still true of HBO.

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

#242

Post by [deleted] »

notacoward wrote: post #154
soheil wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You lost your appetite because you thought someone was a spammer? There are a lot of companies that perform much worse ethical behavior that spamming (e.g. LinkedIn's existence is thanks to unwanted invite request sent to all your contacts, SocialCam abused Facebook OpenGraph so heavily they had to shut it down.) Just because they get away with it in secrecy doesn't mean it's not happening. So you can pretend you liv…

Did you miss the part where I mentioned malware authors and identity thieves? They're far worse even than LinkedIn or SocialCam, but hierarchies of evil aren't the point. It doesn't matter whether spamming or spying or stealing is worse. I don't want to spend time with any of them, but the point is that they're not easily recognizable. I was refuting the "how could you not know" assumption that bad actors look or sme…

[deleted]

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

#243

Post by puranjay »

TheRealDunkirk wrote: post #20

> “Like, man, this is a really nice office,” he recalls thinking. “Open floor plan...” So "Tyler" wasn't a programmer, then. Got it.

Any kind of task that requires long periods of concentration is unfit for an open floor plan.

I'm a writer and man, I hate writing with people around me

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

#245

Post by nommm-nommm »

hkmurakami wrote: post #115
seibelj wrote: post #46

Interviewed at a company called Rakuten Loyalty in Boston a few years ago. At that time it was the exact same thing, a malware / adware browser toolbar company, and they also sold white label toolbars. Took me the entire interview to figure out what they actually did. Their website [0] now has very little information about what they actually do, with a generic contact form. But an archive.org [1] of their old website…

I guess I'm not entirely shocked since Rakuten the parent company and Japanese ecommerce site has very questionable tactics like emails you can't opt out of and forcing new employees to sign up a large number of friends/relatives to the Rakuten credit card.

Huh? How exactly did the "force" you to get others to sign up for a CC? I also have no problem opting out of Rakuten emails.

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

#246

Post by nommm-nommm »

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.

Years ago I worked at a place where I didn't know what the company did. I knew they made physical products (had a factory in the building) that had some sort of industrial use. However I didn't have the very specific domain knowledge to understand what those products did and my job didn't depend on it. My team was the only software team not writing firmware - we worked on the intranet. It didn't help that all conversations were filled with jargon.

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

#247

Post by neumann »

kbenson wrote: post #196
TeMPOraL wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the GP's points in the comment you replied to are basically: - advertising in general is a "a murky and often slimy place" - Google and Facebook are two behemots, who live in and out of that "murky place" - given their side, influence over public life (as evidenced by lobbying efforts, besides the usual things), and "past propensity for bad behavior" (as the GP tried to evidence with some examples), they're m…

Sure, and that's the general idea I got too. My response was really meant to outline that there wasn't much concrete to discuss there, but I think there could be. For example, are we using bad as synonymous for illegal, or are we extending it to include non-illegal but generally frowned upon (at least the those that frequent here) behavior, such as issues to do with privacy or strong-arm tactics? Additionally, to cut…

Then make an argument for it.

If you want to do your best, then don't try to lure the discussion in a different direction with semantics, random questions and flashcards, just state a clear point of view and it will become the starting point of the debate if others agree or disagree.

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

#248

Post by drumdance »

kbenson wrote: post #175
drumdance wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people bring up "fiduciary duty" in either a taxes or outsourcing context (i.e. it's Apple's fiduciary duty to build its products in China), I always ask for a pointer to a successful lawsuit in which this particular fiduciary duty was enforced. Yes, in theory it's their fiduciary duty to minimize taxes, but I've never heard of a board being sued because they didn't squeeze every last dollar out of their tax bil…

First link in the quick Google search I did, which starts with a story where Henry Ford wanted to stop paying special dividends to partial owners. "At trial, Ford testified to his belief that the company made too much money and had an obligation to benefit the public and the firm’s workers and customers." The judge did no agree. I haven't read the whole article yet, but it seems definitely to apply (and also notes th…

The dispute was about dividends. No mention of taxes or outsourcing.

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

#249

Post by drumdance »

ryanlol wrote: post #223
rhizome wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say a 100 year old case speaks to a lack of enforcement of fiduciary duty in the courts.

http://www.delawarelitigation.com/uploads/file/int51%281%29....

That's just an example of fiduciary duty, not one relevant to taxes or outsourcing, which I mentioned in my original comment.

Again, has anyone every sued a company to demand that they try harder to lower their tax bill or move operations overseas?

Some companies even brag about NOT outsourcing. Socially conscious marketing.

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

#250

Post by dbdr »

tropo wrote: post #235
mcguire wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's perfectly fine (though if you don't mind, I'll ask you to stay away from my pets). Why would you think it would be?

Why what? Are you asking why I'd see it that way? I think it has to do with making a sharp distinction between human and non-human. I feel that there is a strange commonality between animal rights activists and the people who enjoy torturing animals, with both sides seeing the animals as being relatively human, to love or to torture. The animals are being personified, then treated to good or evil. We don't have to pe…

Vegetables do not suffer. Animals suffer.
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