Update on an Employee Matter • Hacker News Board

Re: Update on an Employee Matter

#271

Post by OJFord » Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

burnthrow wrote: post #220

togblops wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All these leaked screenshots, quotes, etc are almost certainly missing full context.

It's rather discouraging that in `date +%Y` so few are aware or care about selective cropping. It's everywhere.

Well, I assume The Verge has more journalistic integrity than that (it's not done for emphasis, it totally flips the tone of the message from 'pro' to 'anti' (as it were)!) so it's disappointing that someone at GitHub leaking the story seemingly decided to take that message out of a context they could see, knowing that anyone else seeing it would read it as pro-Nazi without it, to make the point 'how dare this person still be employed by GH'. Both leaker and author of that message would seem to be on the same side, saying something in defense of Jewish people, but leaker is all but calling for the other to be fired for it...

Maybe they just searched 'Nazi' and took screenshots without reading context.

Re: Update on an Employee Matter

#272

Post by vanusa » Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

holman wrote: post #55

jakelazaroff wrote: post #4

Context for people who don’t know what this is referring to: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-backlash-je... Kudos to them for this. Screenshots of the conversations leaked [1], and there is no ambiguity as to who was in the wrong here. Note the timestamp on the thread — the comment happened well after the terrorists had invaded the Capitol. Hopefully whoever said “nazis gave the jews free healthcare”…

fwiw, the healthcare joke was tongue-in-cheek for the discussion which, ironically enough, was also about Republicans in 2014. They were discussing how many on the right compared Obamacare to Nazism and how disgusting it was to make that comparison.

fwiw, the healthcare joke was tongue-in-cheek

It was sheer idiocy, and has no place in a sane, decent working environment.

Re: Update on an Employee Matter

#273

Post by sydd » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 12:39 AM UTC

chandra381 wrote: post #74

sydd wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know from this little context? People are so jumpy nowadays, which will lead just to misunderstandings and bad decisions/witch hunts.

I'm sorry - how does the OP know what? That there were nazis at the capitol? Because there literally were? I don't get what you're trying to prove with this comment https://www.vice.com/en/article/93wnja/neo-nazis-boast-about...

Read the comment thread please before you judge, this is the conversation:

"I am afraid to ask this but can someone explain the "nazi joke" to me?"

"It wasn’t a joke. It was quite literal. Stay safe, fellow employees, there are literal goose stepping Nazis in the streets."

And the I said: "How do you know from this little context?"

Turns out I was right, it was a joke about Obamacare, not some nazi at Github: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25813443 Also I was right about judging, 2 negative comments that assumed I'd support nazis.

Re: Update on an Employee Matter

#274

Post by sydd » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 12:39 AM UTC

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #87

sydd wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know from this little context? People are so jumpy nowadays, which will lead just to misunderstandings and bad decisions/witch hunts.

> How do you know from this little context? People are so jumpy nowadays, which will lead just to misunderstandings and bad decisions/witch hunts. If we're on the topic of 'free healthcare' then with what we know about how the Nazis treated all their prisoners, with what they documented about systemically murdering disabled people, what possible context could this ever be acceptable in? Edit: as I've said in another…

it was a joke about Obamacare: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25813443

Re: Update on an Employee Matter

#275

Post by thundergolfer » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 2:44 AM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #259

HarryHirsch wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Github sure sounds like a lovely company to work for, and tone is set at the top.

So far as I’m concerned, how people and organisations react to their mistakes when they are revealed matters a lot more than the fact that they make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, improving in response to them is what matters.

I know the bar is low for companies, but that there was exec-level consequences impresses me and make me more likely to want to work at Github.

Re: Update on an Employee Matter

#276

Post by mercer » Thu, Jan 21, 2021, 12:56 PM UTC

Griffinsauce wrote: post #149

biermic wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Independent from the events: The way Github employees communicate with each other makes me kind of uncomfortable. In the companies I've worked here in Europe, such discussions just would not happen in a cooperate chat room.

I don't think that has anything to do with being in Europe or not. The emotions and opinions exist in all workplaces. Some are just open to it and others not. The important part is being respectful and having empathy. The second employee was arguing in obvious bad faith, that apparently being accepted (to the point of the first being fired) is what should make people uncomfortable.

I do feel that in the US, the workplace has a much stronger weight, and often plays a much bigger role in the employee's life. I can see how that could lead to either very explicit work/life separation, or a blurring of the two.