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Project loon was super cool. It's a shame that Richard DeVaul got caught up in a political moment and a pearl clutching media that was eager to misrepresent bu

Project loon was super cool. It's a shame that Richard DeVaul got caught up in a political moment and a pearl clutching media that was eager to misrepresent burning man in the most salacious way possible. Richard co-founded loon and is one of the most brilliant people I've ever met. Awful what happened to him. Google's collective IQ dropped precipitously when he left.

throwawaylinux 4y ago
Even if the allegations were baseless, it would be hard to mourn someone at Google being set upon by the monster they helped to feed.
vkou 4y ago
1. The guy sexually propositioned a woman in an interview. 2. Seriously, do we need more? He's not stupid, he took the same management harassment training as everyone else in the company, he should have known better, he did know better, and he fessed up to it. When you're a director, your reporting chain is not your personal Tinder. Please inform yourself on the subject of illegal sexual harassment in the United States, you'll save yourself and your reports and HR a lot of trouble.
- claytongulick 4y ago
  Do you have evidence for this? Because I was told a very different story. There's a lot more to it than what you may have read. Perhaps you should consider reserving judgement until you have all the facts. Consider for a moment that there may be important details and nuance that's missed by newspapers that are most interested in clicks. Please inform yourself that accusations are not evidence, and maybe consider what you would feel if you were being judged by accusations alone. I'm not at liberty to discuss the details, but I highly recommend you slow your rush to judgement. There's a lot about the whole situation that you are not aware of.
- Manuel_D 4y ago
  The offending interaction occurred after the interview at burning man. He did not sexually proposition anyone in the interview. Furthermore the allegations were made two years after the supposed incidents occurred, the more distant an event is in our memory the more I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the possibility of people's accounts drifting from the truth. The issue is whether Simpson was denied before or after burning man. If it was before, which is apparently what Devaul was insisting, it really was inappropriate to take any action in my opinion. If you match on tinder with someone you once interviewed, after the hire/no hurry decision is made, then your company shouldn't be treating this relationship any different from a total stranger. Or are we supposed to keep spreadsheets of every person we ever interviewed? Because that's not in my sexual harassment training, I dunno about yours. Think about how you would defend yourself if someone accused you of making a sexual advance in an interview after you rejected them for a job? If testimony alone is enough to get you fired, then that's a significant source of pressure to give female candidates positive outcomes even if their performance isn't up to par.
  - vkou 4y ago
    Telling someone you're poly and that they should come to burning man with you during an interview is the offending interaction. It's a fucking interview, not a date. Unless you are hiring an escort, it is not the place to discuss your sex life.
    - claytongulick 4y ago
      You've been given more information multiple times on this thread. There's another side to the story that's very different than your belligerent assertions. Are you interested in learning, or just cursing and throwing unsupported accusations? And no, he didn't "fess up to it" as you've said elsewhere. He admitted to an error in judgement, without going into details. I don't know specifically what he meant by that, but it's possible that he meant his error in judgement was trying to help the wrong person, in the wrong context.
  - claytongulick 4y ago
    This aligns with how the situation was described to me, with the exception that he was actually trying to help her get a job at Google, but she was turned down by the hiring manager (not Richard) and was unhappy about it. It was terrible timing given the other stuff that was going on with Google at the time, and he sort of got swept up in all that. I do agree with Richard's statement that he had a lapse in judgement. I think it's critically important to keep personal and professional life strictly separate, especially as an executive.
- fooker 4y ago
  > 2. Seriously, do we need more? Yes! Evidence.
  - vkou 4y ago
    He fessed up to it.
KingFelix 4y ago
Richard??? Is that you??!!
- claytongulick 4y ago
  No, I've met Richard and was impressed by him. I don't know him well, and haven't talked to him in years. I did briefly discuss the whole situation with him after it happened, and came to understand that there was a lot more to the story than what was reported. I do think he made an error in judgement. I also believe he's utterly brilliant. Both of those things can be true.
  - MomoXenosaga 4y ago
    [flagged]

throwawaylinux 4y ago

Even if the allegations were baseless, it would be hard to mourn someone at Google being set upon by the monster they helped to feed.

vkou 4y ago

1. The guy sexually propositioned a woman in an interview. 2. Seriously, do we need more? He's not stupid, he took the same management harassment training as everyone else in the company, he should have known better, he did know better, and he fessed up to it. When you're a director, your reporting chain is not your personal Tinder. Please inform yourself on the subject of illegal sexual harassment in the United States, you'll save yourself and your reports and HR a lot of trouble.

claytongulick 4y ago
Do you have evidence for this? Because I was told a very different story. There's a lot more to it than what you may have read. Perhaps you should consider reserving judgement until you have all the facts. Consider for a moment that there may be important details and nuance that's missed by newspapers that are most interested in clicks. Please inform yourself that accusations are not evidence, and maybe consider what you would feel if you were being judged by accusations alone. I'm not at liberty to discuss the details, but I highly recommend you slow your rush to judgement. There's a lot about the whole situation that you are not aware of.
Manuel_D 4y ago
The offending interaction occurred after the interview at burning man. He did not sexually proposition anyone in the interview. Furthermore the allegations were made two years after the supposed incidents occurred, the more distant an event is in our memory the more I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to the possibility of people's accounts drifting from the truth. The issue is whether Simpson was denied before or after burning man. If it was before, which is apparently what Devaul was insisting, it really was inappropriate to take any action in my opinion. If you match on tinder with someone you once interviewed, after the hire/no hurry decision is made, then your company shouldn't be treating this relationship any different from a total stranger. Or are we supposed to keep spreadsheets of every person we ever interviewed? Because that's not in my sexual harassment training, I dunno about yours. Think about how you would defend yourself if someone accused you of making a sexual advance in an interview after you rejected them for a job? If testimony alone is enough to get you fired, then that's a significant source of pressure to give female candidates positive outcomes even if their performance isn't up to par.
- vkou 4y ago
  Telling someone you're poly and that they should come to burning man with you during an interview is the offending interaction. It's a fucking interview, not a date. Unless you are hiring an escort, it is not the place to discuss your sex life.
  - claytongulick 4y ago
    You've been given more information multiple times on this thread. There's another side to the story that's very different than your belligerent assertions. Are you interested in learning, or just cursing and throwing unsupported accusations? And no, he didn't "fess up to it" as you've said elsewhere. He admitted to an error in judgement, without going into details. I don't know specifically what he meant by that, but it's possible that he meant his error in judgement was trying to help the wrong person, in the wrong context.
- claytongulick 4y ago
  This aligns with how the situation was described to me, with the exception that he was actually trying to help her get a job at Google, but she was turned down by the hiring manager (not Richard) and was unhappy about it. It was terrible timing given the other stuff that was going on with Google at the time, and he sort of got swept up in all that. I do agree with Richard's statement that he had a lapse in judgement. I think it's critically important to keep personal and professional life strictly separate, especially as an executive.
fooker 4y ago
> 2. Seriously, do we need more? Yes! Evidence.
- vkou 4y ago
  He fessed up to it.

KingFelix 4y ago

Richard??? Is that you??!!

claytongulick 4y ago
No, I've met Richard and was impressed by him. I don't know him well, and haven't talked to him in years. I did briefly discuss the whole situation with him after it happened, and came to understand that there was a lot more to the story than what was reported. I do think he made an error in judgement. I also believe he's utterly brilliant. Both of those things can be true.
- MomoXenosaga 4y ago
  [flagged]