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Why does google continue to have these internal message boards about non-work topics? What I’ve heard from friends at google is that discussion is dominated by
by georgewfraser 7y ago
Why does google continue to have these internal message boards about non-work topics? What I’ve heard from friends at google is that discussion is dominated by a tiny, vocal minority with extreme views, much like a college campus. It seems like 99% of googlers and certainly the company would be better off if they just dropped the “bring your whole self to work” message and closed these forums.
- acollins1331 7y agoJust like an Twitter flame war people are too worried about ending up on the wrong side of what is considered correct in whatever social group stumbles around, so you stay silent, and then the conversation is dominated by the idiots and NBC reports on it. 2019 is great.
- julienreszka 7y agoYes let's make work even more alienating. Hurray
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoDoes closing the message boards make work more alienating? Or does their existence make work more alienating (for most of the workers)?
- julienreszka 7y agoJust look up the definition of alienation. Parent poster suggested to not bring your whole self to work.
- thedevilslawyer 7y agoThat's fine? Maybe just bring your work-self to work. And leave political self for non-work?
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y agoI don't bring my whole self to work and don't feel alienated in the slighest. I have fun, I can joke about neutral things with my colleagues, but unless I'm close friends with some of them, I don't touch sensitive subjects that might offend people in all possible ways. And doing it on a public forum seems like a recipe for disaster.
- finnthehuman 7y agoNobody gets to bring their "whole self" to work. Not unless “theirself” never steps outside social protocol for an office. It's a con. They want your mental investment, but what extra leeway do they give you to be yourself beyond what you already had? Being yourself especially doesn’t exist in tech. Everything is so non-conformist conformist. I can't even have a conversation as myself at work. My roommates work in the trades, how I talk to them at home would get me fired so fucking fast if I tried it at work.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoUpthread, georgewfraser said: > What I’ve heard from friends at google is that discussion is dominated by a tiny, vocal minority with extreme views, much like a college campus. If I'm not part of the tiny, vocal minority with extreme views, then I feel like I can't bring my whole self to work. That's alienating, even by your definition. And it's alienating to far more people than it would be to make the tiny, vocal minority find some non-work forum on which to post their stuff.
- foobarian 7y agoI am so puzzled that this kind of forum can exist at work. My current position is also at a web company but any kind of non-biz chatter like above would quickly get self-policed out of existence.