Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work • Hacker News Board

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#361

Post by midnighttoker » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:39 PM UTC

cabaalis wrote: post #301

jedberg wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a wealthy white male, I couldn't agree more. For people like me, politics is a choice. But as my female friends of color often remind me, politics is not a choice for them.

Since you have the benefit of discussing this matter often, can you explain their reasoning? What portions of the law/politics do they want to favor race/gender?

> What portions of the law/politics do they want to favor race/gender?

That was never stated. Don't stick words in people's mouths.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#362

Post by buboard » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:39 PM UTC

kemenaran wrote: post #99

Technical professions are generally held responsible for what they enable. Biology: researchers can't do anything they want on plants, animals or humans. Medicine: doctors are expected to follow strict guidelines with their patients. Even engineering: implementing a cheating system for diesel tests will (rightfully) get engineers into trouble. But software engineering seem to have a pass on how the things we build is…

> hold responsible for what they enable.

That's irrelevant. The rules are for conducting responsible research, not for pondering the potential misuse or evil use of whatever technology. Physics and bio have a far greater record of evil uses, and it was never questionable. It was accepted that scientists do science, and ask questions later. The before-the-fact crusades are a very recent (like, 10 years) phenomenon limited to the west coast of the US

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#363

Post by detaro » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:39 PM UTC

microcolonel wrote: post #214

detaro wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gitlab has offices?

The point stands, I'm aware that they're relatively decentralized, but I struggle to find that many ways to say "in the course of conducting their business" that are succinct while not inviting nitpicks like this. Also, yes, GitLab has offices, to some minimal extent.

Was actually a legit question (since "we don't have offices" has been big in their marketing), but I should have made that clearer.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#364

Post by calf » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:39 PM UTC

Silence is politics.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#365

Post by deburo » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:39 PM UTC

g_sch wrote: post #127

baalimago wrote: post #13

Reminds me of Peter Handke's recent Nobel prize in literature, where the committee were/are heavily criticized for judging only by literature, and not by Handke's political viewpoints. Maybe politics doesn't need to be involved in every single part of society, only the political aspects of it.

I tend to think of everything in life as political in some way. After all, politics is the fundamental question of how power is distributed in the world. However, even if you don't subscribe to this view, I would argue that work and the workplace are one of the more political spaces. I agree that it isn't easy to be political in the workplace, and it is often better to keep your head down. But think about all the pos…

Politics is very important to many people, and conflicts may arise because, when confronted on something that they value, people tend to get emotional.

These conflicts are rarely pretty, and I'd like my workplace to avoid them as much as possible.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#366

Post by dang » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:40 PM UTC

cabaalis wrote: post #301

jedberg wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a wealthy white male, I couldn't agree more. For people like me, politics is a choice. But as my female friends of color often remind me, politics is not a choice for them.

Since you have the benefit of discussing this matter often, can you explain their reasoning? What portions of the law/politics do they want to favor race/gender?

Please do not take HN threads further into ideological flamewar. We've had to ask you this before.

Also, please note this guideline: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#367

Post by boomlinde » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:40 PM UTC

I worked at a company where they tried to apply a "no political discussion" policy in response to (justified) moral uneasiness with the direction of the company. Because work that has any social bearing has a political element by definition, it seems extremely counter productive.

Of course, by saying this they didn't mean that there shouldn't be political discussion. They were just using vague and overgeneralized language to say that there shouldn't be political discussion that they didn't like.

That said, I think it's a good move from Gitlab to say that they'll sell to anyone they legally can sell to. We shouldn't rely on corporations to make moral choices, because between that and making more money, they most likely won't. We should instead have airtight regulation and unions that make sure that morally reprehensible choices lead to less money.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#368

Post by buboard » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:41 PM UTC

darawk wrote: post #121

kemenaran wrote: post #99

Technical professions are generally held responsible for what they enable. Biology: researchers can't do anything they want on plants, animals or humans. Medicine: doctors are expected to follow strict guidelines with their patients. Even engineering: implementing a cheating system for diesel tests will (rightfully) get engineers into trouble. But software engineering seem to have a pass on how the things we build is…

> Technical professions are generally hold responsible for what they enable. Biology: researchers can't do anything they want on plants, animals or humans. Medicine: doctors are expected to follow strict guidelines with their patients. Even engineering: implementing a cheating system for diesel tests will (rightfully) get engineers into trouble. Biology researchers are held responsible for what they do . Not usually…

They should have never discovered DNA. Look at this mess, now the police have files on all of us and our cousins

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#369

Post by BlueTemplar » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:41 PM UTC

pnw_hazor wrote: post #314

anm89 wrote: post #129

I personally think this is awesome. I don't wan't some git hosting startup to be the arbiter of morality for society. The engineers, designers, and PMs shouldn't have an outsized voice in society because they have a specialized useful skillset and ended up on a successful product. If these users are breaking laws, then put them out of business via the courts and sieze the assets (the repos in this case) via legal mea…

Yes. I agree that companies shouldn't become adhoc moral arbiters. beholden to social media campaigns, or the like. However, the bigger problem is that companies with international presence are going to have an increasingly difficult time navigating legal sanctions or directives from the various countries they may sell to or operate in. The challenge comes when a company is faced with being closed out of a large mark…

That's what Google did with China.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#370

Post by galaxyLogic » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 9:41 PM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #221

ProfessorLayton wrote: post #168

Without trying to be inflammatory in any manner, I will say that it takes a certain level of privilege to say one shouldn’t discuss politics at work. If you disagree I’m happy to discuss this viewpoint rather than being downvoted to oblivion. Lots of issues are deemed “political”, but imagine you fall into one of the marginalized groups: — lgbt: Don’t discuss the possibility about being fired for your sexuality becau…

Absolutely right. Saying “don’t talk politics at work” seems to assume that politics is something that goes on on the outside. A stream of news on divisive topics. In reality, politics happens everywhere and you can’t really avoid talking about it. “Don’t talk about politics not relevant for the workplace” could be reasonable (most poltics is after all not related).

To me this (news not your comment) sounds like a very slippery slope. What happened to freedom of speech? And who is to decide what is "political" what is not?

As long as speech is not offensive, I think it should be protected.