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It sounds like you're mad at explicit decisions made by product owners, like the content on the frontpage or dark patterns that push mobile app usage. I guaran
by qbasic_forever 5y ago
It sounds like you're mad at explicit decisions made by product owners, like the content on the frontpage or dark patterns that push mobile app usage. I guarantee none of the rank and file engineers are responsible for those decisions, and they almost certainly detest them just as much as you. The problem is if they don't implement them then they don't get a paycheck and can't put food on the table. It's silly to paint them with blame.
- teaearlgraycold 5y agoThey’re all Bay Area engineers. So switching jobs is an inconvenience with a raise on the other side. The changes aren’t their ideas but it’s not like they can’t refuse. They can just work anywhere else. They probably don’t care.
- bogota 5y agoI mean… browse through HN for the day. According to its users you shouldn’t work at any company that pays well because they are all evil. At a certain point you just don’t care what people are writing on forums.
- phist_mcgee 5y agoIf HN had its way, we'd all program our servers using common lisp using emacs, serving pages with zero CSS or javascript.
- iaml 5y agoThere's a bunch of them that don't seem too bad: netflix, spotify, discord. Maybe even apple, depending on your definition of evil.
- sideshowb 5y agoSpotify? Really?
- Oddskar 5y agoYes its truly awful for you to be held accountable for your place of work and its impact on the world. Completely unacceptable.
- bogota 5y agoI hate making a ton of money and giving everyone in my family a better life. Really sucks. The things you are holding people accountable for are very questionable in almost all cases. In most cases it just comes off as jealousy that someone is doing better than you. I’m all for being held accountable. But i put very little weight in public opinion being something that we should even think about at this point.
- Oddskar 5y ago> In most cases it just comes off as jealousy that someone is doing better than you. That is certainly a very convenient way of dismissing something you find uncomfortable.
- hetspookjee 5y agoYour last argument can be applied to about anything regarding performing unethical tasks to stay afloat. I don’t find it convincing for engineers that work for Reddit. They can start work at any other tech company, too, so by absolving all the blame is a bit much, in the end they choose to implement it right?
- danjac 5y agoWell, at least they're not working for Palantir or Meta, so give them some credit.
- nl 5y agoWork at any high profile internet company and people on the internet will complain about something you’ve worked on. There doesn’t seem to be anything particularly unethical about any work Reddit engineers have done.
- bawolff 5y agoI mean, sounds like you have a problem with the product managers not the engineers.