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It was at the very top of Google's corporate code of conduct until[1] 2018. 1. https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826

It was at the very top of Google's corporate code of conduct until[1] 2018. 1. https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826153393 https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-do...

charcircuit 4y ago
It's still in it in 2023. https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/ https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/
- culturestate 4y ago
  This is how that document used to begin: > Preface “Don’t be evil.” Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But “Don’t be evil” is much more than that. Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably, and treating co-workers with courtesy and respect. The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice. ...
  - motbus3 4y ago
    Ubiased here is a bit off isn't it? Since they put results of ads to some queries, this is a kind of a bias :thinking:
  - charcircuit 4y ago
    My point is that it is still in the code of conduct. Even if it doesn't have a whole paragraph explaining it, don't be evil is still part of the code of conduct
tptacek 4y ago
This article is apparently a clickbait urban legend. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34269029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34269029
- wcarss 4y ago
  I mean, if you read that article, it makes it pretty clear that the phrase is retained in the final sentence, but was once much more prominently placed. It doesn't claim that the phrase is completely gone -- it has the same information Wikipedia has. Are you claiming that article and Wikipedia are both just making things up here?
  - tptacek 4y ago
    The headline of this article is "Google Removes 'Don't Be Evil' Clause From Its Code of Conduct". There's really not much to argue about here. Read headline, pull up code of conduct, command-F search, done.
    - wcarss 4y ago
      Google removed the "don't be evil"-preface, which I suppose technically isn't a "clause"... So really, you're implying the article claims something more extreme than it _actually_ claims... which is a little like starting your _own_ clickbait urban legend - how meta!
      - tptacek 4y ago
        The article opens: Google’s unofficial motto has long been the simple phrase “don’t be evil.” But that’s over, according to the code of conduct that Google distributes to its employees. The phrase was removed sometime in late April or early May, archives hosted by the Wayback Machine show.
        wcarss 4y ago
        You're almost there; documents like this work on a basis of continuing to provide information as they go along, right up until the end. Unless you feel the content at the end of documents doesn't count, because no one would ever actually read it...? Bit of a trap there! That was too low hanging to leave and I know I'm being a total asshole there, which I'll try to stop -- but come on, having to read to the end isn't at all like the article is straight up lying. The status of "unofficial motto" was conferred by the preferential position the concept was given in the doc, a symbolic gesture of corporate culture, and that entire block was removed for a much lesser reference at the end. It is made motto no more, because that specific phrase which started the doc was removed, as was reported. Now, I grant you: a lot of people have the wrong impression of what precisely happened here, and I agree, the article is just here for the clicks. It could start off by clarifying that the idea isn't totally erased, and that might have served the precise truth better. But the world is complex and nuanced! The thing called Google changed into a thing called Alphabet, and at that time, Alphabet dropped the phrase completely, while Alphabet's new child company (now called Google) seriously demoted the phrase+idea. Some web journalists then editorially simplified their titles about it all to get more clicks, while providing the full facts inside. In spirit, at that time, Google kicked the ethos into a hole, and that's what people broadly understand. It's not at all like Google and its entire code of conduct are just what they ever were, and it's similarly disingenuous to claim the whole idea here is some crazy urban legend as it would be to claim that Google and friends have e.g. purged any and all references to good moral conduct from official documents -- neither is true. But in the long view, Google stopped caring about this idea, and that popular understanding is roughly correct. That's the story, and it is not an urban legend.

charcircuit 4y ago

It's still in it in 2023. https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/ https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/

culturestate 4y ago
This is how that document used to begin: > Preface “Don’t be evil.” Googlers generally apply those words to how we serve our users. But “Don’t be evil” is much more than that. Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably, and treating co-workers with courtesy and respect. The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice. ...
- motbus3 4y ago
  Ubiased here is a bit off isn't it? Since they put results of ads to some queries, this is a kind of a bias :thinking:
- charcircuit 4y ago
  My point is that it is still in the code of conduct. Even if it doesn't have a whole paragraph explaining it, don't be evil is still part of the code of conduct

tptacek 4y ago

This article is apparently a clickbait urban legend. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34269029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34269029

wcarss 4y ago
I mean, if you read that article, it makes it pretty clear that the phrase is retained in the final sentence, but was once much more prominently placed. It doesn't claim that the phrase is completely gone -- it has the same information Wikipedia has. Are you claiming that article and Wikipedia are both just making things up here?
- tptacek 4y ago
  The headline of this article is "Google Removes 'Don't Be Evil' Clause From Its Code of Conduct". There's really not much to argue about here. Read headline, pull up code of conduct, command-F search, done.
  - wcarss 4y ago
    Google removed the "don't be evil"-preface, which I suppose technically isn't a "clause"... So really, you're implying the article claims something more extreme than it _actually_ claims... which is a little like starting your _own_ clickbait urban legend - how meta!
    - tptacek 4y ago
      The article opens: Google’s unofficial motto has long been the simple phrase “don’t be evil.” But that’s over, according to the code of conduct that Google distributes to its employees. The phrase was removed sometime in late April or early May, archives hosted by the Wayback Machine show.
      - wcarss 4y ago
        You're almost there; documents like this work on a basis of continuing to provide information as they go along, right up until the end. Unless you feel the content at the end of documents doesn't count, because no one would ever actually read it...? Bit of a trap there! That was too low hanging to leave and I know I'm being a total asshole there, which I'll try to stop -- but come on, having to read to the end isn't at all like the article is straight up lying. The status of "unofficial motto" was conferred by the preferential position the concept was given in the doc, a symbolic gesture of corporate culture, and that entire block was removed for a much lesser reference at the end. It is made motto no more, because that specific phrase which started the doc was removed, as was reported. Now, I grant you: a lot of people have the wrong impression of what precisely happened here, and I agree, the article is just here for the clicks. It could start off by clarifying that the idea isn't totally erased, and that might have served the precise truth better. But the world is complex and nuanced! The thing called Google changed into a thing called Alphabet, and at that time, Alphabet dropped the phrase completely, while Alphabet's new child company (now called Google) seriously demoted the phrase+idea. Some web journalists then editorially simplified their titles about it all to get more clicks, while providing the full facts inside. In spirit, at that time, Google kicked the ethos into a hole, and that's what people broadly understand. It's not at all like Google and its entire code of conduct are just what they ever were, and it's similarly disingenuous to claim the whole idea here is some crazy urban legend as it would be to claim that Google and friends have e.g. purged any and all references to good moral conduct from official documents -- neither is true. But in the long view, Google stopped caring about this idea, and that popular understanding is roughly correct. That's the story, and it is not an urban legend.