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There are lots of problems here and it seems to me that Tesla is being a bully. Cristina Balan has a fundraiser page, at https://www.gofundme.com/f/a86fmm-figh

by clort 6y ago

There are lots of problems here and it seems to me that Tesla is being a bully. Cristina Balan has a fundraiser page, at https://www.gofundme.com/f/a86fmm-fighting-tesla-for-defaming-me-after-speaking-up https://www.gofundme.com/f/a86fmm-fighting-tesla-for-defamin... and there is some text there from her, setting out some facts as she has seen them.

Threeve303 6y ago
Thanks for sharing that. It provides much more insight and context on the situation. For me, the whole thing comes back to the news article. It is absolutely bonkers no matter the circumstance. Huffington Post should not have published anything without verifying that she was actually a criminal. Clearly Tesla thought they screwed up as well or they wouldn't have fired the guy responsible for it two days later. I completely understand wanting to have her removed from the company and the way it was done. It's just that you cannot go around labelling someone a criminal for life if all they have done is make a few middle managers angry by going over their heads. If she truly is a "criminal" for secret recordings then it's on Tesla to take that to the proper authorities. Once the proper authorities (i.e. the justice system, jury of your peers, not power tripping middle managers) determines that you are a criminal, then feel free to share that for reference checks and write as many news articles as you want broadcasting it. But not until then, and if that kind of rule is broken, the penalty for those that do should be very severe.
- mgh2 6y ago
  Well this has to be examined further: she could only be the most prominent case among others. What about the "1000 lawsuits" the article mentions? Unless it was done by collusion (ex: a union). In terms of averages and probability, Balan's case does stand a point as a whistleblower, hinting a covert truth behind the company.
ketamine__ 6y ago
Why is it written so poorly?
- dundarious 6y ago
  As mentioned in the article, she is from Romania and representing herself, so there is no legal team assisting her. I think non-idiomatic English does not make it "written so poorly" if that's what you are referring to.
  - ketamine__ 6y ago
    Sure, that doesn't make it written poorly. But it is written poorly.
Traster 6y ago
Bullying is when I push you over and take your milk. Tesla isn't a bully, Tesla has been part of the corporate capture of the American legal system, the CEO can literally call you a pedofile and be found not guilty of libel. If you're not powerful enough you can't even get a lawyer to represent you.
- pb7 6y ago
  Perhaps our legal system found that there is no evidence of libel and you are picking and choosing which legal decisions you agree with despite all being as part of the same system.
  - root_axis 6y ago
    I'm no lawyer, but the fact that Elon got off on that just seems wrong. Elon's claims were completely made up and also specifically crafted to harm the victim's reputation with respect to the particular context of the accusation - baselessly labeling a man who risked his life to save children as a person that sexually abuses children. What a disgusting act. Elon is extremely famous, if that doesn't count as libel what does?
    - gamblor956 6y ago
      Elon's lawyers argued that it was clearly satire because it was so over the top he couldn't possible mean it, the same as when he made deliberate misrepresentations about selling the company in a naked attempt to manipulate stock prices. Elon has very good lawyers.
  - gamblor956 6y ago
    Edit: nevermind. They withdrew the UK case and the one that went to court was in the US.
    - pb7 6y ago
      I'm not sure which case you're talking about. Trial was held in Los Angeles. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50695593 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50695593
omarforgotpwd 6y ago
Cristina and Russ Mitchell and are both part of the TSLAQ short selling / anti-Tesla hate group. They've bullied and victimized dozens of Tesla customers in their quest to smear Tesla and Musk. Just my perspective on what I've seen following these people for a few years. They also failed to mention that Cristina already lost the lawsuit once. Now she is appealing, which she has the right to do. I wish her the best of luck in resolving this in a way that allows her to move on from what happened.
- mgh2 6y ago
  "More than 1,000 lawsuits have been filed against Tesla and Musk, a number of them alleging defamation" It will be nice if the article provided a reference to other specific employee defamation cases, by not lumping them altogether. Ex: https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/11/news/companies/tesla-elon-musk-lawsuit/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/11/news/companies/tesla-elon-m... https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/19/21446587/judge-dismiss-defamation-employee-tesla-leak-elon-musk-model-3 https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/19/21446587/judge-dismiss-de... But who knows, in the US lawsuits are easy to make up, just expensive (lawyers getting the last laugh). Short sellers might just be doing that...The article could as well be fraud...or bad journalism (not checking sources), which sadly, happens more often than not. Who is telling the truth? The short sellers and whistleblowers or Tesla and their fans/stockholders? PS: this piece was initially flagged by HN users and since (thankfully) unflagged by moderator.
m463 6y ago
Also they didn't solve the floormat issue. The floormats are stupid. Each floormat has 4 round smooth patches about 3" in diameter underneath near each corner. Then 4 adhesive velcro patches 3" in diameter are stuck to them. Then, there are 4 velcro hockey-puck things with screw threads that are screwed into the base carpet in the passenger footwell. You put the removable carpet in place and the hockey puck velcro sticks to the under carpet velcro and it stays in place. Except in a hot car the velcro to carpet adhesive gets soft and the carpet comes loose.
mgh2 6y ago
Balan's podcast interview, mentioned on fundraiser page: https://podtail.com/en/podcast/tslaq-podcast/episode-41-interview-with-christina-balan/ https://podtail.com/en/podcast/tslaq-podcast/episode-41-inte...
ActorNightly 6y ago
I am of the opposite opinion. From seeing how the internet evolved from dial up days to what it is now, my initial reaction to any article written in a story-esque manner where the author tries to paint a certain bias with words like "unlighted, windowless room, draped in plastic, smelling of paint" is that its mostly just a very one sided account of things. Its very popular to hate on rich moguls and big companies these days with the rise of online leftism rhetoric, and considering that most non subscription online media publication literally live or die by clicks, you should be suspect of them as much as you are of Tesla. Real factual stories with links are often very milquetoast and boring to read. Id imagine in this case it be something along the lines of "Tesla said this, Employee said this, we don't have proof of any of this stuff other than statements, so we don't know what really happened and likely never will" For reference linked article here: http://deleter.net/index.php/news/5541/Business/September-11-2017/Reporter-Writes-Glowing-Article-About-Elon-Musk-But-Leaves-Out-Key-Details http://deleter.net/index.php/news/5541/Business/September-11... paints a different picture of how the said employee acted. It generally seems that the truth is most likely somewhere in between two extremes. Tesla is of course going to be corporate minded and not particularly care too much about employees, and its likely that the client in question is not fully guilt free either.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

by clort 6y ago

Threeve303 6y ago

Thanks for sharing that. It provides much more insight and context on the situation. For me, the whole thing comes back to the news article. It is absolutely bonkers no matter the circumstance. Huffington Post should not have published anything without verifying that she was actually a criminal. Clearly Tesla thought they screwed up as well or they wouldn't have fired the guy responsible for it two days later. I completely understand wanting to have her removed from the company and the way it was done. It's just that you cannot go around labelling someone a criminal for life if all they have done is make a few middle managers angry by going over their heads. If she truly is a "criminal" for secret recordings then it's on Tesla to take that to the proper authorities. Once the proper authorities (i.e. the justice system, jury of your peers, not power tripping middle managers) determines that you are a criminal, then feel free to share that for reference checks and write as many news articles as you want broadcasting it. But not until then, and if that kind of rule is broken, the penalty for those that do should be very severe.

mgh2 6y ago
Well this has to be examined further: she could only be the most prominent case among others. What about the "1000 lawsuits" the article mentions? Unless it was done by collusion (ex: a union). In terms of averages and probability, Balan's case does stand a point as a whistleblower, hinting a covert truth behind the company.

ketamine__ 6y ago

Why is it written so poorly?

dundarious 6y ago
As mentioned in the article, she is from Romania and representing herself, so there is no legal team assisting her. I think non-idiomatic English does not make it "written so poorly" if that's what you are referring to.
- ketamine__ 6y ago
  Sure, that doesn't make it written poorly. But it is written poorly.

Traster 6y ago

Bullying is when I push you over and take your milk. Tesla isn't a bully, Tesla has been part of the corporate capture of the American legal system, the CEO can literally call you a pedofile and be found not guilty of libel. If you're not powerful enough you can't even get a lawyer to represent you.

pb7 6y ago
Perhaps our legal system found that there is no evidence of libel and you are picking and choosing which legal decisions you agree with despite all being as part of the same system.
- root_axis 6y ago
  I'm no lawyer, but the fact that Elon got off on that just seems wrong. Elon's claims were completely made up and also specifically crafted to harm the victim's reputation with respect to the particular context of the accusation - baselessly labeling a man who risked his life to save children as a person that sexually abuses children. What a disgusting act. Elon is extremely famous, if that doesn't count as libel what does?
  - gamblor956 6y ago
    Elon's lawyers argued that it was clearly satire because it was so over the top he couldn't possible mean it, the same as when he made deliberate misrepresentations about selling the company in a naked attempt to manipulate stock prices. Elon has very good lawyers.
- gamblor956 6y ago
  Edit: nevermind. They withdrew the UK case and the one that went to court was in the US.
  - pb7 6y ago
    I'm not sure which case you're talking about. Trial was held in Los Angeles. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50695593 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50695593

omarforgotpwd 6y ago

Cristina and Russ Mitchell and are both part of the TSLAQ short selling / anti-Tesla hate group. They've bullied and victimized dozens of Tesla customers in their quest to smear Tesla and Musk. Just my perspective on what I've seen following these people for a few years. They also failed to mention that Cristina already lost the lawsuit once. Now she is appealing, which she has the right to do. I wish her the best of luck in resolving this in a way that allows her to move on from what happened.

mgh2 6y ago
"More than 1,000 lawsuits have been filed against Tesla and Musk, a number of them alleging defamation" It will be nice if the article provided a reference to other specific employee defamation cases, by not lumping them altogether. Ex: https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/11/news/companies/tesla-elon-musk-lawsuit/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/11/news/companies/tesla-elon-m... https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/19/21446587/judge-dismiss-defamation-employee-tesla-leak-elon-musk-model-3 https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/19/21446587/judge-dismiss-de... But who knows, in the US lawsuits are easy to make up, just expensive (lawyers getting the last laugh). Short sellers might just be doing that...The article could as well be fraud...or bad journalism (not checking sources), which sadly, happens more often than not. Who is telling the truth? The short sellers and whistleblowers or Tesla and their fans/stockholders? PS: this piece was initially flagged by HN users and since (thankfully) unflagged by moderator.

m463 6y ago

Also they didn't solve the floormat issue. The floormats are stupid. Each floormat has 4 round smooth patches about 3" in diameter underneath near each corner. Then 4 adhesive velcro patches 3" in diameter are stuck to them. Then, there are 4 velcro hockey-puck things with screw threads that are screwed into the base carpet in the passenger footwell. You put the removable carpet in place and the hockey puck velcro sticks to the under carpet velcro and it stays in place. Except in a hot car the velcro to carpet adhesive gets soft and the carpet comes loose.

mgh2 6y ago

Balan's podcast interview, mentioned on fundraiser page: https://podtail.com/en/podcast/tslaq-podcast/episode-41-interview-with-christina-balan/ https://podtail.com/en/podcast/tslaq-podcast/episode-41-inte...

ActorNightly 6y ago

I am of the opposite opinion. From seeing how the internet evolved from dial up days to what it is now, my initial reaction to any article written in a story-esque manner where the author tries to paint a certain bias with words like "unlighted, windowless room, draped in plastic, smelling of paint" is that its mostly just a very one sided account of things. Its very popular to hate on rich moguls and big companies these days with the rise of online leftism rhetoric, and considering that most non subscription online media publication literally live or die by clicks, you should be suspect of them as much as you are of Tesla. Real factual stories with links are often very milquetoast and boring to read. Id imagine in this case it be something along the lines of "Tesla said this, Employee said this, we don't have proof of any of this stuff other than statements, so we don't know what really happened and likely never will" For reference linked article here: http://deleter.net/index.php/news/5541/Business/September-11-2017/Reporter-Writes-Glowing-Article-About-Elon-Musk-But-Leaves-Out-Key-Details http://deleter.net/index.php/news/5541/Business/September-11... paints a different picture of how the said employee acted. It generally seems that the truth is most likely somewhere in between two extremes. Tesla is of course going to be corporate minded and not particularly care too much about employees, and its likely that the client in question is not fully guilt free either.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]