3 ms·

Good on you (genuinely) but you do recognize that there are plenty of people who would be much more sympathetic to the complainer, right?

sokoloff 6y ago
Yes, of course. I've seen that number decrease over the decades, but it's obviously not zero (and probably never will be). It's not clear that the presence of those people on the earth requires official work channels to be a political discussion free-for-all. I spend time on a fairly small number of discussion sites. Invariably, the ones with the highest signal-to-noise ratio are the ones which ban gratuitous political discussion (including this one [Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. ]). Political discussion (like religious discussion) tends to generate more heat than light and I don't begrudge a company wanting to focus official work channels on, well, work.
- jakelazaroff 6y ago
  I agree that political discussion generates more heat than light, and I agree that the company should be able to prohibit specific topics. At the same time, Basecamp’s definition of “political” is extremely broad (“every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant”) and I don’t blame people for worrying that anodyne statements would fall under its umbrella. To take a few hot-button issues from today: what if you’re Black, and a police officer racially profiles you on your way to work? What if your trans child is taking puberty blockers, or playing sports? Forget taking specific stances — is it acceptable to even let on to your coworkers that these things are happening in your life?
  - throwawayboise 6y ago
    These are things that you might bring up in personal conversation with friends at work. Airing your personal list of daily grievances, trials and tribulations on chat channels might get you some murmers of sympathy but most people will be rolling their eyes behind your back.
  - sokoloff 6y ago
    I think they are. I also don’t think they are appropriate in #official, #work, or during the meat of a work meeting, which is what it seems like Basecamp is saying.
    - jakelazaroff 6y ago
      I think they are, too. But I also think Basecamp’s wording (especially before they changed it [1]) leaves a ton of room for interpretation. And I’m not confident that many of them people who jumped in to defend this would be on the same page as us. [1] https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/1386810666221150210?s=21 https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/1386810666221150210?s=...

sokoloff 6y ago

Yes, of course. I've seen that number decrease over the decades, but it's obviously not zero (and probably never will be). It's not clear that the presence of those people on the earth requires official work channels to be a political discussion free-for-all. I spend time on a fairly small number of discussion sites. Invariably, the ones with the highest signal-to-noise ratio are the ones which ban gratuitous political discussion (including this one [Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. ]). Political discussion (like religious discussion) tends to generate more heat than light and I don't begrudge a company wanting to focus official work channels on, well, work.

jakelazaroff 6y ago
I agree that political discussion generates more heat than light, and I agree that the company should be able to prohibit specific topics. At the same time, Basecamp’s definition of “political” is extremely broad (“every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant”) and I don’t blame people for worrying that anodyne statements would fall under its umbrella. To take a few hot-button issues from today: what if you’re Black, and a police officer racially profiles you on your way to work? What if your trans child is taking puberty blockers, or playing sports? Forget taking specific stances — is it acceptable to even let on to your coworkers that these things are happening in your life?
- throwawayboise 6y ago
  These are things that you might bring up in personal conversation with friends at work. Airing your personal list of daily grievances, trials and tribulations on chat channels might get you some murmers of sympathy but most people will be rolling their eyes behind your back.
- sokoloff 6y ago
  I think they are. I also don’t think they are appropriate in #official, #work, or during the meat of a work meeting, which is what it seems like Basecamp is saying.
  - jakelazaroff 6y ago
    I think they are, too. But I also think Basecamp’s wording (especially before they changed it [1]) leaves a ton of room for interpretation. And I’m not confident that many of them people who jumped in to defend this would be on the same page as us. [1] https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/1386810666221150210?s=21 https://twitter.com/waxpancake/status/1386810666221150210?s=...