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Obviously, we can't know the exact particulars of how every argument went down at Basecamp, and we have to intuit an awful lot from fairly limited blog posts by

Obviously, we can't know the exact particulars of how every argument went down at Basecamp, and we have to intuit an awful lot from fairly limited blog posts by Jason, DHH, and tweets from (mostly ex)-employees. But it feels like there's a pretty clear pattern that this wasn't a case of a few politically motivated employees being a distraction and disrupting an otherwise harmonious environment. A third of the company joined the DEI initiative that was disbanded. On twitter, anonymous interviews, and any other source that I've seen, not one Basecamper has come out in support of Jason and David, and employees seem universally aligned against their actions. If anything, I'd say the likeliest source of "anti-fellowship" here is Jason and DHH. They are in charge, so they are able to do that, but "fellowship" isn't a good term to describe getting in line behind the bosses' decisions regardless of your personal opinion.

jacob2484 5y ago
"On twitter, anonymous interviews, and any other source that I've seen, not one Basecamper has come out in support of Jason and David, and employees seem universally aligned against their actions." Why would they in this cancel culture poison of today - so they can be vilified for not agreeing with some extreme leftist position? More than likely there's a silent majority that DOES align with their action, and that should be OK.
- ryanbrunner 5y ago
  I can't help but feel that you've already decided your stance on this, and evidence is sort of irrelevant. 19 people resigned, and 20+ people thought that this was an important issue based on their participation in the DEI committee. 2 people are advocating on the other side. Why would the default assumption be that the remaining ~35 people side with Jason and DHH on this matter?
fpig 5y ago
I mean, reading this: https://janeyang.org/2021/04/27/an-open-letter-to-jason-and-david/ https://janeyang.org/2021/04/27/an-open-letter-to-jason-and-... It does seem like it may have been a case of some politically motivated employees being disruptive. The part that is just irredeemable is: > I thought about it through COVID-19, as HEY launched in the midst of a civil rights uprising and we toiled over the customer support cases of people who could afford to pay $99/year for personal email. This sounds like the person is complaining that their supposedly privileged customers distracted her from activism. If she has a problem working for "people who could afford to pay $99/year for personal email" then she should probably find a different job where she will serve a demographic that is more palatable to her.

jacob2484 5y ago

"On twitter, anonymous interviews, and any other source that I've seen, not one Basecamper has come out in support of Jason and David, and employees seem universally aligned against their actions." Why would they in this cancel culture poison of today - so they can be vilified for not agreeing with some extreme leftist position? More than likely there's a silent majority that DOES align with their action, and that should be OK.

ryanbrunner 5y ago
I can't help but feel that you've already decided your stance on this, and evidence is sort of irrelevant. 19 people resigned, and 20+ people thought that this was an important issue based on their participation in the DEI committee. 2 people are advocating on the other side. Why would the default assumption be that the remaining ~35 people side with Jason and DHH on this matter?

fpig 5y ago

I mean, reading this: https://janeyang.org/2021/04/27/an-open-letter-to-jason-and-david/ https://janeyang.org/2021/04/27/an-open-letter-to-jason-and-... It does seem like it may have been a case of some politically motivated employees being disruptive. The part that is just irredeemable is: > I thought about it through COVID-19, as HEY launched in the midst of a civil rights uprising and we toiled over the customer support cases of people who could afford to pay $99/year for personal email. This sounds like the person is complaining that their supposedly privileged customers distracted her from activism. If she has a problem working for "people who could afford to pay $99/year for personal email" then she should probably find a different job where she will serve a demographic that is more palatable to her.