The Ask • Hacker News Board

Re: The Ask

#91

Post by SoftTalker » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

dasil003 wrote: post #90

SoftTalker wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can only be as ethical as your board allows Personal integrity is something you control for yourself. Nobody "allows" you to have it. If we still taught this and more people lived by it, we'd have a lot fewer problems.

You're misunderstanding the point, a CEO's control of the company is contingent on the boards approval. Yes, of course you can hold the standard for yourself, but you serve at the pleasure of the board and investors. The system selects for amorality because the incentive is profit. I agree with your statement in general, but even if 95% of people live by that rule, there still is systematic pressure to select CEOs ou…

We should expect personal integrity from board members and investors as well. This is a social problem, and a very old one. The solutions that worked best (religion/morality codes or laws) are not popular today.

Re: The Ask

#92

Post by cindyllm » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

throwway120385 wrote: post #70

redelbee wrote: post #51

I understand the following isn’t the point of this piece and yet I still can’t help wondering: How much better off we would all be if “senior management” stopped playing these games to get things done and instead spent most of that time really considering the things getting done and whether they are ultimately good for individuals and society at large. We don’t need another product from the “fruit company” and we cer…

We flipped from an Epicurean mindset to a Stoic or Nihilistic mindset. IOW, we stopped talking about helping people lead good lives and started talking about how we can all weather stress and work hard and deprive ourselves of good things to build something. Or we're talking about how nothing matters so why bother?

[dead]

Re: The Ask

#93

Post by everdrive » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

There was already a word for an "ask" -- it was called a request. "Ask" is a useless neologism.

Re: The Ask

#94

Post by buildsjets » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC

drcongo wrote: post #74

singingtoday wrote: post #29

Something about this writing feels off, but for the life of me I can't say exactly what.

It's that opening paragraph. > Coffee in hand, I sit down in the Cave. Any Tuesday during the work week, a sip, and I parse the calendar. How many Tuesdays are there in his work week?

My work week consists of five Tuesdays. It's the seventh best day of the week.

Re: The Ask

#95

Post by HotGarbage » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:53 PM UTC

Never forget Rands was in Jerkcity (now Bonequest) and had them retroactively replace his character with atandt:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170918052437/http://www.jerkci... https://bonequest.com/715

https://web.archive.org/web/20170918052444/http://www.jerkci... https://bonequest.com/712

Re: The Ask

#96

Post by SAI_Peregrinus » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:54 PM UTC

drcongo wrote: post #74

singingtoday wrote: post #29

Something about this writing feels off, but for the life of me I can't say exactly what.

It's that opening paragraph. > Coffee in hand, I sit down in the Cave. Any Tuesday during the work week, a sip, and I parse the calendar. How many Tuesdays are there in his work week?

3-5, usually. Tuesday is used as a placeholder for "generic day like any other". Monday & Friday might be special, or they might not. But Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are generic & interchangeable: you're not catching up after a weekend, and there's a work day the next day so there will be time to catch issues. They're Tuesdays in spirit, if not in fact.

Re: The Ask

#97

Post by quite-sfwd » Thu, May 28, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #93

There was already a word for an "ask" -- it was called a request. "Ask" is a useless neologism.

The use is to signal you are part of the club that is understands that all meetings have a request. And they're not always explicit.

Re: The Ask

#98

Post by electrondood » Thu, May 28, 2026, 6:02 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #93

There was already a word for an "ask" -- it was called a request. "Ask" is a useless neologism.

[dead]

Re: The Ask

#99

Post by electrondood » Thu, May 28, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

jeremyjh wrote: post #84

gjvc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that does not in any way make it correct

That is absolutely the only requirement for it to be correct. Words are defined by the way people use them, and that can change over time. A dictionary is a record, not a rulebook.

It's only a certain subset of the population that speaks like this. It's pompous and ridiculous. Are the two syllables in the word "request" one too many for people working in Product?

Re: The Ask

#100

Post by ElevenLathe » Thu, May 28, 2026, 6:12 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #91

dasil003 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're misunderstanding the point, a CEO's control of the company is contingent on the boards approval. Yes, of course you can hold the standard for yourself, but you serve at the pleasure of the board and investors. The system selects for amorality because the incentive is profit. I agree with your statement in general, but even if 95% of people live by that rule, there still is systematic pressure to select CEOs ou…

We should expect personal integrity from board members and investors as well. This is a social problem, and a very old one. The solutions that worked best (religion/morality codes or laws) are not popular today.

When have religion and "morality codes" meaningfully constrained elites? I can't think of an elite caste anywhere in history that is really even close to what a rational observer would call "moral". Yes, certain things are verboten in a given moral code (usury, for example), but elites either outsource it (e.g. to a "court Jew") or just do other evil stuff that isn't addressed in the code (and won't be, since they are the elites and therefore control things like that).