8 ms·

I believe she basically sent an email to fellow employees basically telling them to stop working. That alone is a firable. That is completely nuts and unaccepta

I believe she basically sent an email to fellow employees basically telling them to stop working. That alone is a firable. That is completely nuts and unacceptable work place behaviour. The fact Google didn't fire her for that should speak volumes. This is little more than gossip unless you can point to something specific that people can judge for themselves. Saying “she basically did X” is a clever way to influence how people feel about her. I’ll admit, I had negative thoughts till this thread. Now I’m not so sure. She’s definitely passionate, and one might say aggressive, but more and more people are saying that it’s extremely unusual for Google to demand a rejection for academic reasons rather than business concerns. Whether she was a good employee is kind of beside the point now.

that_guy_iain 6y ago
> This is little more than gossip unless you can point to something specific that people can judge for themselves. Saying “she basically did X” is a clever way to influence how people feel about her. It's gossip as in I haven't seen anyone confirm the validtiy of https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-an-ethical https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-a... but I've also not seen anyone deny it. In fact, it seems everyone is confirming it unoffically. From the blog post: > "What I want to say is stop writing your documents because it doesn’t make a difference." Is telling your fellow employees to stop working, if their job is writing those documents which I highly suspect it will be. > Whether she was a good employee is kind of beside the point now. I think it goes to show the good faith Google tried to have with someone who in my opinion was creating a hostile work envoirment.
- sillysaurusx 6y ago
  That is totally not the same thing as telling your fellow employees to stop working. I like to think I’m a pretty reasonable fellow, but it’s hard to see that point of view. I felt similarly to you yesterday. Now I’m not so sure. It sounds like she was criticizing company process and was frustrated not being able to have any impact on what she perceived were real problems to the integrity of the process. I can empathize with that feeling, and I’ve done some embarrassing or unprofessional things when I was younger and slightly less wiser in similar situations. I dunno mate, people here are suddenly trying awfully hard to repeat their points about her personal behavior / paint her as an unprofessional loon. And that’s a pretty convenient distraction if her criticisms were true, wouldn’t you say?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - dmix 6y ago
    Even Jeff Dean had to include: > I also feel badly that hundreds of you received an email just this week from Timnit telling you to stop work on critical DEI programs. Please don’t.
    - KittenInABox 6y ago
      Honestly, if a black woman was saying that DEI isn't working at a company, I believe her more than I believe management. Even with a reputation for blowing up at people.
      - that_guy_iain 6y ago
        I don't think that this the narriative here. The narriative is a black woman told people to stop working on DEI. The company begged people to carry on. She says it's not working so they should stop trying.
        KittenInABox 6y ago
        I think that's a fair concern. If Women and POC are being encouraged by a company to use their time at work on something that doesn't work, they're asking women and POC to sabotage their own careers by diverting their effort from accomplishments the company will actually reward them for, and only asking women and POC to do so.
  - ALittleLight 6y ago
    How is saying "stop writing your documents because it doesn’t make a difference" "totally not the same thing as telling your fellow employees to stop working"? Assuming your fellow employees are writing those documents for their job, isn't telling them to stop doing that exactly the same thing?
    - 6y ago

that_guy_iain 6y ago

> This is little more than gossip unless you can point to something specific that people can judge for themselves. Saying “she basically did X” is a clever way to influence how people feel about her. It's gossip as in I haven't seen anyone confirm the validtiy of https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-an-ethical https://www.platformer.news/p/the-withering-email-that-got-a... but I've also not seen anyone deny it. In fact, it seems everyone is confirming it unoffically. From the blog post: > "What I want to say is stop writing your documents because it doesn’t make a difference." Is telling your fellow employees to stop working, if their job is writing those documents which I highly suspect it will be. > Whether she was a good employee is kind of beside the point now. I think it goes to show the good faith Google tried to have with someone who in my opinion was creating a hostile work envoirment.

sillysaurusx 6y ago
That is totally not the same thing as telling your fellow employees to stop working. I like to think I’m a pretty reasonable fellow, but it’s hard to see that point of view. I felt similarly to you yesterday. Now I’m not so sure. It sounds like she was criticizing company process and was frustrated not being able to have any impact on what she perceived were real problems to the integrity of the process. I can empathize with that feeling, and I’ve done some embarrassing or unprofessional things when I was younger and slightly less wiser in similar situations. I dunno mate, people here are suddenly trying awfully hard to repeat their points about her personal behavior / paint her as an unprofessional loon. And that’s a pretty convenient distraction if her criticisms were true, wouldn’t you say?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- dmix 6y ago
  Even Jeff Dean had to include: > I also feel badly that hundreds of you received an email just this week from Timnit telling you to stop work on critical DEI programs. Please don’t.
  - KittenInABox 6y ago
    Honestly, if a black woman was saying that DEI isn't working at a company, I believe her more than I believe management. Even with a reputation for blowing up at people.
    - that_guy_iain 6y ago
      I don't think that this the narriative here. The narriative is a black woman told people to stop working on DEI. The company begged people to carry on. She says it's not working so they should stop trying.
      - KittenInABox 6y ago
        I think that's a fair concern. If Women and POC are being encouraged by a company to use their time at work on something that doesn't work, they're asking women and POC to sabotage their own careers by diverting their effort from accomplishments the company will actually reward them for, and only asking women and POC to do so.
- ALittleLight 6y ago
  How is saying "stop writing your documents because it doesn’t make a difference" "totally not the same thing as telling your fellow employees to stop working"? Assuming your fellow employees are writing those documents for their job, isn't telling them to stop doing that exactly the same thing?
  - 6y ago