8 ms·

Wow, what a bunch of babies. I'm sorry, I just don't see how sending a "mic drop" email could ruin so many lives in just a few hours. It's not like it sent some

by obj-g 11y ago

Wow, what a bunch of babies. I'm sorry, I just don't see how sending a "mic drop" email could ruin so many lives in just a few hours. It's not like it sent some NSFW gif or random insults or something. Accidentally sent one? Just send a new email to the person with a link to an article about it and say, oops, I got pranked, sorry?

mbil 11y ago
I agree completely. The prank may not have been funny, but are we so tightly wound that this upsets us?
- vwcx 11y ago
  Is it really this hard to understand the issue here? How long have we spent collectively explaining very basic functionality of systems to the elderly, to our parents, friends, etc? Not hard to see why something like this would create unintended consequences of an important nature: https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/715752594551869440 https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/715752594551869440
- scrollaway 11y ago
  Jesus, have some empathy. This doesn't upset me. This doesn't upset you. This doesn't upset hundreds of thousands of people and as unfunny as this is, I'm sure many are laughing about it. However, it can upset some people. Some people who would mistakenly click the button because, god forbid, they forgot not to use the internet at all on April 1st, and that mistake would appear in an extremely important conversation. And that mistake would appear during career discussions. And that mistake would get someone not hired, or fired, or whatever. You guys want to complain, talk about how they should "look harder", how they should "take responsibility" and "own up to their mistakes", how they should "be happy not to work somewhere people are so uptight"? Have some fucking empathy. I'd wager the majority of HN is well off, or well off enough that they don't have to worry about the rent or their water bill. But I'd like to see some of the people here struggling to make ends meet. Maybe you won't be so sociopathic about the potential for serious harm. This thread makes me sick.
  - mbil 11y ago
    But you _are_ upset at the _idea_ of people potentially being upset by it. This thread makes you sick. Are you suggesting it's classist to observe the prank as harmless? I understand where you're coming from, and I understand how someone may have clicked it by accident. I am struggling to empathize with the recipient who would see this, and a follow-up email explaining it was a mistake, and let that affect them.
    - scrollaway 11y ago
      The prank doesn't upset me. Where did I suggest that the thread doesn't upset me? Damn right the thread upsets me. People are downvoting left and right those that dare to suggest jobs are not a commodity you can just throw away and replace a week later. Not for everyone. And no, there's no classism at play. It's purely and simply a lack of empathy. A lack of understanding of what it's like to be in a situation where losing your job may cost you your home, your children or even your life. > I am struggling to empathize with the recipient who would see this Then don't empathize with the recipient. Plenty of bosses are jerks. But empathize with the sender, who would lose a job they cared about and can't necessarily get a new one like they grow on trees.
  - js8 11y ago
    > Have some fucking empathy. Shouldn't you also ask for empathy in people who are upset by it? They seem to have the least empathy of everybody, if they are going to fire somebody over animated GIF.
    - scrollaway 11y ago
      Who says I'm not? I haven't seen any of those people here on HN. Not today, at least. So I can't actually tell them. Show me someone and I'll be glad to have a chat...
      - js8 11y ago
        I am merely pointing out that it's a little unfair, or perhaps absurd, if a person who points out a lack of empathy in other people (people who get upset at those GIFs to the point of hurting someone) gets blamed - by you - for a lack of empathy with their victims. Unfortunately, people like that probably won't come to HN and leave comment - cool, I just fired someone over it! But they absolutely should get the blame.
- imron 11y ago
  Probably if it causes you to lose your job, yes. It's like people who explain away their assholish behaviour by saying "it was just a joke, lighten up".
  - Mimu 11y ago
    There is no way anybody loses his jobs because of this. How hard is it to link one of the million articles about this to whoever you sent that email too? It's not ideal but pretending that it'll have drastic consequences is ridiculous and completely destroy whatever point these people want to make.
mattmanser 11y ago
You're not thinking internet scale. For the 10,000s people it went OK for, a few people it didn't.
- donatj 11y ago
  The few whom it didn't's lives were already on pins and needles. They'll be better off.
  - macintux 11y ago
    I don't even. You're joking about people living on the edge whose livelihood is now at risk?
    - donatj 11y ago
      I'm not joking. If you're livelihood is so at risk that you could lose it over a minion gif you have a terrible unhappy life. It was a house of cards ready to fall at any moment anyway. You'd be much better off / happier having to find a new job / wife / whatever else is causing so much pain in the long run. Speaking from experience of a job triggering a stress induced bout of trigeminal neuralgia that made me want to die. After two weeks of that I quit my job of five years and found a much lower stress one.
      - scrollaway 11y ago
        It's one thing that you don't understand what it's actually like to live on the edge. Maybe you haven't experienced it. I don't wish for you to experience it. But it's another frankly repulsive thing for you to act superior and give such awful advice to those people. Maybe you should experience what it's like. Try and give you a better idea of what it's like to be a few dollars away from being homeless. Have your children removed from your care because you cannot provide from them. Have your entire life thrown away if you lose your job. Not everyone can just "find a new job". Why don't you come here in Greece and ask the majority of the population why they can't find a job?
anexprogrammer 11y ago
As I understand it, the gag was triggering on the normal send button too, at least for some. How would you know you sent one, or got pranked, if you used the normal send button? I'd be pissed in that scenario if it was work related. Bosses famously often lack senses of humour.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
Asparagirl 11y ago
What a thoughtless, jerky attitude. Two seconds of poking around Twitter would have found you many real examples of horrified GMail users dealing with the fallout from this "prank", not just people dealing with a job search and potential employers, but people writing very emotionally charged e-mails, like condolence notices to people on the death of their child. Which now has a Minion GIF in it. It is one thing for a prank to do something to the UI of a product, like invert the colors or display Comic Sans. It is quite another when it alters the content of the very messages you are passing.
- obj-g 11y ago
  I was referring mainly to the people quoted in the article, but rest assured, if it changed your font to ComicSans or inverted the colors, countless people would still say their lives have been damaged beyond repair.
  - hyperpape 11y ago
    You're right that people will complain about trivial things, but that doesn't invalidate people complaining about significant problems.
    - obj-g 11y ago
      I never said it did.
      - hyperpape 11y ago
        Then your comment was irrelevant, but glad we've cleared up any misunderstanding.
        obj-g 11y ago
        No, we just don't agree on what 'significant problems' are.
- 11y ago

by obj-g 11y ago

mbil 11y ago

I agree completely. The prank may not have been funny, but are we so tightly wound that this upsets us?

vwcx 11y ago
Is it really this hard to understand the issue here? How long have we spent collectively explaining very basic functionality of systems to the elderly, to our parents, friends, etc? Not hard to see why something like this would create unintended consequences of an important nature: https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/715752594551869440 https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/715752594551869440
scrollaway 11y ago
Jesus, have some empathy. This doesn't upset me. This doesn't upset you. This doesn't upset hundreds of thousands of people and as unfunny as this is, I'm sure many are laughing about it. However, it can upset some people. Some people who would mistakenly click the button because, god forbid, they forgot not to use the internet at all on April 1st, and that mistake would appear in an extremely important conversation. And that mistake would appear during career discussions. And that mistake would get someone not hired, or fired, or whatever. You guys want to complain, talk about how they should "look harder", how they should "take responsibility" and "own up to their mistakes", how they should "be happy not to work somewhere people are so uptight"? Have some fucking empathy. I'd wager the majority of HN is well off, or well off enough that they don't have to worry about the rent or their water bill. But I'd like to see some of the people here struggling to make ends meet. Maybe you won't be so sociopathic about the potential for serious harm. This thread makes me sick.
- mbil 11y ago
  But you _are_ upset at the _idea_ of people potentially being upset by it. This thread makes you sick. Are you suggesting it's classist to observe the prank as harmless? I understand where you're coming from, and I understand how someone may have clicked it by accident. I am struggling to empathize with the recipient who would see this, and a follow-up email explaining it was a mistake, and let that affect them.
  - scrollaway 11y ago
    The prank doesn't upset me. Where did I suggest that the thread doesn't upset me? Damn right the thread upsets me. People are downvoting left and right those that dare to suggest jobs are not a commodity you can just throw away and replace a week later. Not for everyone. And no, there's no classism at play. It's purely and simply a lack of empathy. A lack of understanding of what it's like to be in a situation where losing your job may cost you your home, your children or even your life. > I am struggling to empathize with the recipient who would see this Then don't empathize with the recipient. Plenty of bosses are jerks. But empathize with the sender, who would lose a job they cared about and can't necessarily get a new one like they grow on trees.
- js8 11y ago
  > Have some fucking empathy. Shouldn't you also ask for empathy in people who are upset by it? They seem to have the least empathy of everybody, if they are going to fire somebody over animated GIF.
  - scrollaway 11y ago
    Who says I'm not? I haven't seen any of those people here on HN. Not today, at least. So I can't actually tell them. Show me someone and I'll be glad to have a chat...
    - js8 11y ago
      I am merely pointing out that it's a little unfair, or perhaps absurd, if a person who points out a lack of empathy in other people (people who get upset at those GIFs to the point of hurting someone) gets blamed - by you - for a lack of empathy with their victims. Unfortunately, people like that probably won't come to HN and leave comment - cool, I just fired someone over it! But they absolutely should get the blame.
imron 11y ago
Probably if it causes you to lose your job, yes. It's like people who explain away their assholish behaviour by saying "it was just a joke, lighten up".
- Mimu 11y ago
  There is no way anybody loses his jobs because of this. How hard is it to link one of the million articles about this to whoever you sent that email too? It's not ideal but pretending that it'll have drastic consequences is ridiculous and completely destroy whatever point these people want to make.

mattmanser 11y ago

You're not thinking internet scale. For the 10,000s people it went OK for, a few people it didn't.

donatj 11y ago
The few whom it didn't's lives were already on pins and needles. They'll be better off.
- macintux 11y ago
  I don't even. You're joking about people living on the edge whose livelihood is now at risk?
  - donatj 11y ago
    I'm not joking. If you're livelihood is so at risk that you could lose it over a minion gif you have a terrible unhappy life. It was a house of cards ready to fall at any moment anyway. You'd be much better off / happier having to find a new job / wife / whatever else is causing so much pain in the long run. Speaking from experience of a job triggering a stress induced bout of trigeminal neuralgia that made me want to die. After two weeks of that I quit my job of five years and found a much lower stress one.
    - scrollaway 11y ago
      It's one thing that you don't understand what it's actually like to live on the edge. Maybe you haven't experienced it. I don't wish for you to experience it. But it's another frankly repulsive thing for you to act superior and give such awful advice to those people. Maybe you should experience what it's like. Try and give you a better idea of what it's like to be a few dollars away from being homeless. Have your children removed from your care because you cannot provide from them. Have your entire life thrown away if you lose your job. Not everyone can just "find a new job". Why don't you come here in Greece and ask the majority of the population why they can't find a job?

anexprogrammer 11y ago

As I understand it, the gag was triggering on the normal send button too, at least for some. How would you know you sent one, or got pranked, if you used the normal send button? I'd be pissed in that scenario if it was work related. Bosses famously often lack senses of humour.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

Asparagirl 11y ago

What a thoughtless, jerky attitude. Two seconds of poking around Twitter would have found you many real examples of horrified GMail users dealing with the fallout from this "prank", not just people dealing with a job search and potential employers, but people writing very emotionally charged e-mails, like condolence notices to people on the death of their child. Which now has a Minion GIF in it. It is one thing for a prank to do something to the UI of a product, like invert the colors or display Comic Sans. It is quite another when it alters the content of the very messages you are passing.

obj-g 11y ago
I was referring mainly to the people quoted in the article, but rest assured, if it changed your font to ComicSans or inverted the colors, countless people would still say their lives have been damaged beyond repair.
- hyperpape 11y ago
  You're right that people will complain about trivial things, but that doesn't invalidate people complaining about significant problems.
  - obj-g 11y ago
    I never said it did.
    - hyperpape 11y ago
      Then your comment was irrelevant, but glad we've cleared up any misunderstanding.
      - obj-g 11y ago
        No, we just don't agree on what 'significant problems' are.
11y ago