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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

#31

Post by dang »

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…

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.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#32

Post by eric_b »

I personally have no problem with them making this decision. I wish more companies would take stands like this. At least it's honest. Unlike the NBA and every other company with value statements they honor only when convenient or advantageous.

Look, if you morally object to this, then don't use GitLab. If you think businesses should be held to a higher ethical standard than they are currently, get active with local or even national politics. Start a letter writing campaign to your elected officials. Do something productive.

You know what isn't productive? Getting outraged on Twitter or Hacker News, making emotional outbursts of regurgitated sound bites and platitudes.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#33

Post by legostormtroopr »

sokoloff wrote: post #15
jswizzy wrote: post #3

When was it ever okay to discuss politics at work?

Whenever you have reasonable adults working together? I think I’ve, on appropriate occasion, discussed politics with friends and colleagues at every workplace I’ve ever been at. [Edit: some senior leadership] openly supports the DNC and has commented to that effect at town halls. To pretend that people are apolitical or to ban all political discussions because some people can’t seem to handle disagreements in a profe…

Someone in tech who openly supports a left leaning party? How truly unique and brave of him.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#35

Post by archi42 »

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.

There is a middle-ground between "talking about politics" is "encouraged" and "forbidden".

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#36

Post by president »

It's companies like GitLab that are propping up Saudi and Chinese empires. Hope one day they get their Scrooge moment. Anyhow, most companies probably do this by default and quietly but what is interesting about Gitlab is they felt like they needed to announce publicly that they'll support all customers regardless of their morality.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#37

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

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 McDonald's sold a Big Mac to , no one would bat an eye. However, if a chef went to work for there would be questions.

In the same way, if you are making a mass-market, generally useful tool, nobody should be excluded from using your tool. However, if you are doing custom, hi-touch development, then it might be more justified to screen your clients more.

I think Gitlab falls more into the mass-market, generally useful tool.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#38

Post by secretdark »

What I find most amazing is less the politics aspect and more the moral/ethical issue. For a company to have an explicit stated policy of _actively_ never taking into account the moral/ethical impact of their work is just... astounding.

It is difficult to imagine a more inhuman and bloodless statement.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#40

Post by cbhl »

falcolas wrote: post #4
dang wrote: post #2

This is a divisive topic, but the story seems to pass the interesting-new-phenomenon test ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ). If you comment, note this guideline: " Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. " We've changed the title in accordance with https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html , but if anyone can suggest a better (i.e. more a…

I don't normally agree with such editorial changes, but this one is really bad. Thanks.

Just to confirm, "this one" in your comment refers to the original article's title being "really bad"? (As opposed to the editorialized title.)
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