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Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

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Re: Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

#71

Post by salomon812 »

rectang wrote: post #52
slater wrote: post #47

Anyone else think this is a bit... icky? If you have to game the "system", sorry, I mean, provide "social media guidelines" to this extent, maaaaybe your [whatever you're trying to push/advertise/spread] isn't all that worthwhile...? Especially in the "nerd" world, it seems word of mouth will get out without having to rely on such inane strategizing. I understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and other co…

It would be foolish and self-destructive not to have such guidelines. Like it or not, social media such as HN can be crucial to company success. Additionally, a lot of the rules on the page make it more likely that contributions to HN by Gitlab team members offer good community value.

Absolutely. True story: I was at a small startup and our company organically made it to Hacker New's front page. I was so excited. At that point, I was only a reader. I made an account, upvoted it, told our social media manager. Next thing I knew, it fell off the front page and we suspected I or the manager accidentally set off the fake vote detector. We had no idea such a thing even existed. The CEO was so disappointed in us. We learned the hard way.

Edit: to be clear, I wasn't trying to game the system. I was just so excited that the product I'd been working on appeared on a site I often read. Only in retrospect did it occur to me why one would have anti-vote ring detectors. Yes, I was naive.

Re: Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

#72

Post by xbar »

rattray wrote: post #62
slater wrote: post #47

Anyone else think this is a bit... icky? If you have to game the "system", sorry, I mean, provide "social media guidelines" to this extent, maaaaybe your [whatever you're trying to push/advertise/spread] isn't all that worthwhile...? Especially in the "nerd" world, it seems word of mouth will get out without having to rely on such inane strategizing. I understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and other co…

Imagine yourself as an excited, enthusiastic young engineer working at a relatively big company. A blog post relevant to the product you work on comes up - what do you do? Should you post to HN? If it comes up there, should you engage enthusiastically? What's appropriate? Having guidelines can help with this kind of thing. Of course, guidelines that advised a lot of astroturfing or disingenuous engagement would be pr…

Well said.

It is so easy for an entire company to come off as "tone deaf" in a public forum due to avoidable errors.

Smart people deserve to be allowed to speak in places like HN. GitLab has gotten it pretty darn right in creating a some guidance for such people, AND by making the guidance public.

This document looks less like guidance for gaming a system and more like instructions for being respectful to an influential community, but that's just my read.

Re: Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

#75

Post by brudgers »

Since it is a common usenet/forum/flame warrior method, I have a strong opinion about:

Address multi-faceted comments by breaking them down and using points, numbering and quoting.

Except when the facets are purely technical, this approach trends toward full defensive point by point rebuttal.

Once the points counting starts, the logic of points-counting becomes part of the public performance.

In general, people don’t like to have their comments picked apart in public because it doesn’t solve their problem. And because it is an aggressive response to what is usually just wanting to have ones say.

It is a tactic better suited to the context of private communications and with the appearance of having given the matter a few hours thoughts. Otherwise it tends to “broaden the front” when done in public performance.

It’s not likely to make HN better. YMMV

Re: Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

#76

Post by lolinder »

slater wrote: post #47

Anyone else think this is a bit... icky? If you have to game the "system", sorry, I mean, provide "social media guidelines" to this extent, maaaaybe your [whatever you're trying to push/advertise/spread] isn't all that worthwhile...? Especially in the "nerd" world, it seems word of mouth will get out without having to rely on such inane strategizing. I understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and other co…

I'd summarize most of their guidelines here as: "Don't try to game the system, it doesn't work on HN. Honest engagement and thoughtful replies win out."

Re: Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

#77

Post by [deleted] »

slater wrote: post #47

Anyone else think this is a bit... icky? If you have to game the "system", sorry, I mean, provide "social media guidelines" to this extent, maaaaybe your [whatever you're trying to push/advertise/spread] isn't all that worthwhile...? Especially in the "nerd" world, it seems word of mouth will get out without having to rely on such inane strategizing. I understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and other co…

[deleted]

Re: Gitlab Handbook's HN Page

#78

Post by drstewart »

slater wrote: post #47

Anyone else think this is a bit... icky? If you have to game the "system", sorry, I mean, provide "social media guidelines" to this extent, maaaaybe your [whatever you're trying to push/advertise/spread] isn't all that worthwhile...? Especially in the "nerd" world, it seems word of mouth will get out without having to rely on such inane strategizing. I understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and other co…

Par for the course for Gitlab, like how they claim they don't adjust compensation based on cost of living[1] before describing in detail why they adjust compensation based on cost of living[2]

[1] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation...

[2] https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation...

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