5 ms·

The problem with guys like Wenig and Wymer is the classic problem with large organizations: they didn't explicitly say to do something horrible like this, so th

by mabbo 5y ago

The problem with guys like Wenig and Wymer is the classic problem with large organizations: they didn't explicitly say to do something horrible like this, so they're off the hook. All they did was hire the horrible people and setup the environment where doing horrible things would be not just an option, but the best option to succeed at the goals that they then assigned to those people. They gave these people an enormous budget, and then (apparently) never asked what they did with it. But hey, they didn't know anything unethical was going on, right?

hedora 5y ago
It sounds like he found out about the incidents shortly after each happened, and had them continue the harassment. The statement from eBay is worded strangely, and doesn’t contradict this.
bradleyjg 5y ago
The frustrating part isn’t so much that there’s no criminal liability for them, on the balance criminal law probably should remain tethered to actively malicious mens rea even if it produces some miscarriages. It’s the apparent lack of any social or career consequences. It appears to many of us that once a person hits the CEO of a major company level, a criminal conviction is the one and only thing that can, maybe, bring them down. Anything else and they are provided a soft landing.
mattgreenrocks 5y ago
> they didn't explicitly say to do something horrible like this, so they're off the hook As you said, this is what's frustrating. More power should always be tethered to more responsibility. Their tacit authorization of these tactics should have put them on trial as well. But, the more frustrating thing is how quickly these sorts of abuses are forgiven and swept under the rug. It's as if once you get high enough up then society's sunk cost aversion kicks in and everyone suddenly finds it so hard to believe that someone they implicitly gave power to could have done something wrong. My take is this presents an existential dilemma: what if the people we've given power to aren't the most worthy? It is easier to buy your way out of this by writing off an incident like this as merely a fluke. The system is broken, and the brokenness is by design.
bee_rider 5y ago
In the article they have, >“She is [a] biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN,” Wymer responded, adding, “I’ll embrace managing any bad fallout. We need to STOP her.” which seems pretty explicit to me. "I'll embrace managing any bad fallout" is pretty corporate doublespeak-y, but any reasonable person would understand this as the manager taking responsibility, right?

by mabbo 5y ago

hedora 5y ago

It sounds like he found out about the incidents shortly after each happened, and had them continue the harassment. The statement from eBay is worded strangely, and doesn’t contradict this.

bradleyjg 5y ago

The frustrating part isn’t so much that there’s no criminal liability for them, on the balance criminal law probably should remain tethered to actively malicious mens rea even if it produces some miscarriages. It’s the apparent lack of any social or career consequences. It appears to many of us that once a person hits the CEO of a major company level, a criminal conviction is the one and only thing that can, maybe, bring them down. Anything else and they are provided a soft landing.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago

> they didn't explicitly say to do something horrible like this, so they're off the hook As you said, this is what's frustrating. More power should always be tethered to more responsibility. Their tacit authorization of these tactics should have put them on trial as well. But, the more frustrating thing is how quickly these sorts of abuses are forgiven and swept under the rug. It's as if once you get high enough up then society's sunk cost aversion kicks in and everyone suddenly finds it so hard to believe that someone they implicitly gave power to could have done something wrong. My take is this presents an existential dilemma: what if the people we've given power to aren't the most worthy? It is easier to buy your way out of this by writing off an incident like this as merely a fluke. The system is broken, and the brokenness is by design.

bee_rider 5y ago

In the article they have, >“She is [a] biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN,” Wymer responded, adding, “I’ll embrace managing any bad fallout. We need to STOP her.” which seems pretty explicit to me. "I'll embrace managing any bad fallout" is pretty corporate doublespeak-y, but any reasonable person would understand this as the manager taking responsibility, right?