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

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#41

Post by mosselman » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:16 PM UTC

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…

What do you mean? I am honestly asking, not flaming or anything. What is the point you are making?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#42

Post by golemiprague » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:17 PM UTC

jswizzy wrote: post #3

When was it ever okay to discuss politics at work?

Many things were ok to do at work not too long ago and are still ok in most work places around the world. That includes forming romantic relationships, talking about politics and all the other adult human interactions people do also outside work.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#43

Post by tathougies » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:17 PM UTC

Rebelgecko wrote: post #5

jswizzy wrote: post #3

When was it ever okay to discuss politics at work?

Maybe it's a SV thing? I saw some of the documents from a recent lawsuit against Google and was pretty astounded by the sorts of things that people were willing to not only say but actually put into writing where anyone on their intranet could see (things along the lines of "I won't let anyone on my team if they have political belief X or voted for Y")

It's not just an SV thing. Working in tech in Portland, it's also pretty much expected.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#44

Post by aaomidi » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:17 PM UTC

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.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#45

Post by Hamuko » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:18 PM UTC

secretdark wrote: post #38

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.

Didn't Cloudflare take that stance prior as well?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#46

Post by traderjane » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:19 PM UTC

jswizzy wrote: post #3

When was it ever okay to discuss politics at work?

If I talk about whether it's legal to fire people for being gay, is that bringing politics to work? How can I be focused on work if I keep hearing about gay people? Also, isn't it obvious that homosexuality is seen as a severe spiritual evil to a large (if not majority) segment of the population?

What is the professional intuition on productivity when a large segment of the population considers homosexuality to be spiritually depraved?

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#47

Post by dang » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:19 PM UTC

legostormtroopr wrote: post #19

Good to see that the very non-controversial opinion of “be neutral at work and treat customers equally” is being used to compare GitHub to IBM during Nazi Germany. Why can’t GitHub just provide code version control systems without concerning itself with who is writing code? Given the recent implosion of StackOverflow, less politics in tech is probably a good thing.

The Register has a special mix of technology reporting and satire. As with the title, that bit is obviously there to maximize provocation. Yet the article itself has some diligent research behind it, poking through commit logs and internal threads that few other journalists would. As a result it appears to be a scoop. Googling doesn't reveal any other media piece on this. I bet there will be others after this thread, though.

Basically, it's their job to provoke and our job as a community not to take the bait.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#48

Post by fortran77 » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:19 PM UTC

jswizzy wrote: post #3

When was it ever okay to discuss politics at work?

It's astounding that people do! We talk about work at work.

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#49

Post by eindiran » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:20 PM UTC

cbhl wrote: post #40

falcolas wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

I think "this one" refers to the original article's title being really bad: "Blood money is fine with us, says GitLab: Vetting non-evil customers is 'time consuming, potentially distracting'"

Re: Gitlab: don't discuss politics at work

#50

Post by JDiculous » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 8:20 PM UTC

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.

The problem isn't the discussion of politics, it's the fact that that would even matter or influence your job in any negative way.