4 ms·

While I disagree with the stance and tone of that repo, I appreciate that someone stops being a corporate lackey even on their personal websites; we've all beco

by sph 3y ago

While I disagree with the stance and tone of that repo, I appreciate that someone stops being a corporate lackey even on their personal websites; we've all become sterile, pleasant representations of the ideal worker just hoping for someone to have the decency to pay us for our programming ability and talent. Maybe be a little careful with the conspiracy theories, but I am quite done with the corporate-friendly personas we are pushing in our tech world. I wanted to write a couple posts about anarchism on my personal blog, nothing crazy, and kept being concerned it might drive off a potential recruiter. Who the hell cares, a company where I cannot have a touch of personality is not a place I want to work at either. Must be because I learned this job in the early 2000s, when sysadmins were wearing black shirts and listening to death metal, and the CEO stayed well away from that office, not the shirt-wearing, well-trimmed DevOps you see at conferences these days. The only potentially "controversial" idea (as in, corp might not like it but will have to deal with it) that is still accepted in tech is being trans or a furry. I have no issue with either, mind you, just pointing out that anything else is a no-no.

xena 3y ago
Do what everyone does for this: make a side blog under a pseudonym.
- sph 3y ago
  I thought about it but no. I am OK with who I am, and I don't have any hate speech to share that I need to hide my identity. I just want to show the Internet world a side of me that is not only the stereotypical software engineer, because I'm not. No one is, is the point I'm making. We all have our quirks, and we should celebrate them. I know your blog, I can't say I understand where you're coming from or that I relate very much with your persona, but I appreciate that you're able to stand out as your own, and I'm able to recognise you among the masses. But in many cases, outside the fight for gender identity freedom, this is not possible in the world of modern social media, where you're always one step from being lynched by a mob because you dared go against the grain. The Twitterverse is the reason we're all sterile clones of each other, dividing everybody into a us vs them culture battle. That's too much nonsense for me.
  - xena 3y ago
    Yes but really, having a pseudonym that is wholly unrelated to you and letting you get things out on that side blog that way can be invaluable. I have at least two such side blogs. Statistically you've probably read one of those side blog articles without knowing.
    - sph 3y ago
      Yes you might be right. Also the hacker culture has always been centered around pseudonyms and fake identities. My quest might be a bit quixotic in this day and age. Thanks for the level headed conversation
      - xena 3y ago
        Remember: wordpress.com blogs are free. I put my email address in my Hacker News bio if you want to reach out.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
maccard 3y ago
> I wanted to write a couple posts about anarchism on my personal blog, nothing crazy, and kept being concerned it might drive off a potential recruiter. Who the hell cares, a company where I cannot have a touch of personality is not a place I want to work at either. If it's important to you then you should. There are places that allow/encourage people to be individuals. >The only potentially "controversial" idea (as in, corp might not like it but will have to deal with it) that is still accepted in tech is being trans or a furry. I have no issue with either, mind you, just pointing out that anything else is a no-no. That said be careful what you write and how you phrase it because it's one thing to have an opinion, and another to make a statement like that.
- sph 3y ago
  > That said be careful what you write and how you phrase it because it's one thing to have an opinion, and another to make a statement like that. That's the bloody point. Fuck having to walk on eggshells, especially when I made it quite clear I have no issues with that. I had to be quite careful with the wording, and I know exactly this opens me to be attacked and pointed out as a bigot because I equated gender identity struggles with identity in general. How dare I. We're all walking on eggshells and get quickly silenced if we even dare question it. I do not wish the Internet to operate under mob rule.
  - Propelloni 3y ago
    No, what you are railing against is that your actions have consequences. But it is your choice wether you are willing to bear them and act or not and do not act. That's a basic anarchist tenet reaching back to the Cynics of ancient Greece. The things you say in public could be heard by someone and those someones have the gall to form an opinion of you you don't like -- some may even confront you about it. Disagreement, unemployability, hostility, these are among the prices we pay for saying things in public places such as the internet. You can decide to pay the price and maybe turn it into a fruitful discussion (granted, unlikely on the internet) or you can shut up and seethe with anger for "being silenced".
  - maccard 3y ago
raincole 3y ago
This. I got a very mixed feeling after reading his blog. On one hand it looks like he lacks self-awareness to the point that he didn't realize the blog makes him quite unemployable. On the other hand, I don't want to live in a society where a blog can make you unemployable, and I kinda admire his audacity to keep it on.
- wiseowise 3y ago
  Your blog is literally you, unless it’s some kind of made up alter ego. You don’t want to live in a world where people won’t hire you because they don’t like you? You’re in for a rough ride.
  - raincole 3y ago
    My gender and race are me too, and I don't want to live in a world where my gender and race can significantly affect the chance that I get hired. Actually my gender and race are much more "me" than my blog, cause I might change my opinions and my blog no longer reflects my internal "states".
    - wiseowise 3y ago
      That’s a different matter. What I meant is your blog is an extension of your personality. You can’t discriminate based on sex or race, you can based on personality.
      - sph 3y ago
        You're allowed to discriminate based on personality by law, but socially, if you do it with anyone you don't agree with completely: 1. You probably don't have many friends or 2. Your friends are not very diverse Outside, in the real world, I can sit and have a very pleasant conversation on TV shows or Lisp interpreters with someone with terrible ideas or belief which are inconsequential to the matter at hand and are not part of the conversation. I can sit for a beer with childhood acquaintances that I know are racist, bigots or generally idiots, because we're talking about something else than the things I know we don't see eye to eye. And that's fine. It is frightening that we're forgetting how real people outside the Internet are, behave and can get along in all their complexity.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

by sph 3y ago

xena 3y ago

Do what everyone does for this: make a side blog under a pseudonym.

sph 3y ago
I thought about it but no. I am OK with who I am, and I don't have any hate speech to share that I need to hide my identity. I just want to show the Internet world a side of me that is not only the stereotypical software engineer, because I'm not. No one is, is the point I'm making. We all have our quirks, and we should celebrate them. I know your blog, I can't say I understand where you're coming from or that I relate very much with your persona, but I appreciate that you're able to stand out as your own, and I'm able to recognise you among the masses. But in many cases, outside the fight for gender identity freedom, this is not possible in the world of modern social media, where you're always one step from being lynched by a mob because you dared go against the grain. The Twitterverse is the reason we're all sterile clones of each other, dividing everybody into a us vs them culture battle. That's too much nonsense for me.
- xena 3y ago
  Yes but really, having a pseudonym that is wholly unrelated to you and letting you get things out on that side blog that way can be invaluable. I have at least two such side blogs. Statistically you've probably read one of those side blog articles without knowing.
  - sph 3y ago
    Yes you might be right. Also the hacker culture has always been centered around pseudonyms and fake identities. My quest might be a bit quixotic in this day and age. Thanks for the level headed conversation
    - xena 3y ago
      Remember: wordpress.com blogs are free. I put my email address in my Hacker News bio if you want to reach out.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

maccard 3y ago

> I wanted to write a couple posts about anarchism on my personal blog, nothing crazy, and kept being concerned it might drive off a potential recruiter. Who the hell cares, a company where I cannot have a touch of personality is not a place I want to work at either. If it's important to you then you should. There are places that allow/encourage people to be individuals. >The only potentially "controversial" idea (as in, corp might not like it but will have to deal with it) that is still accepted in tech is being trans or a furry. I have no issue with either, mind you, just pointing out that anything else is a no-no. That said be careful what you write and how you phrase it because it's one thing to have an opinion, and another to make a statement like that.

sph 3y ago
> That said be careful what you write and how you phrase it because it's one thing to have an opinion, and another to make a statement like that. That's the bloody point. Fuck having to walk on eggshells, especially when I made it quite clear I have no issues with that. I had to be quite careful with the wording, and I know exactly this opens me to be attacked and pointed out as a bigot because I equated gender identity struggles with identity in general. How dare I. We're all walking on eggshells and get quickly silenced if we even dare question it. I do not wish the Internet to operate under mob rule.
- Propelloni 3y ago
  No, what you are railing against is that your actions have consequences. But it is your choice wether you are willing to bear them and act or not and do not act. That's a basic anarchist tenet reaching back to the Cynics of ancient Greece. The things you say in public could be heard by someone and those someones have the gall to form an opinion of you you don't like -- some may even confront you about it. Disagreement, unemployability, hostility, these are among the prices we pay for saying things in public places such as the internet. You can decide to pay the price and maybe turn it into a fruitful discussion (granted, unlikely on the internet) or you can shut up and seethe with anger for "being silenced".
- maccard 3y ago

raincole 3y ago

This. I got a very mixed feeling after reading his blog. On one hand it looks like he lacks self-awareness to the point that he didn't realize the blog makes him quite unemployable. On the other hand, I don't want to live in a society where a blog can make you unemployable, and I kinda admire his audacity to keep it on.

wiseowise 3y ago
Your blog is literally you, unless it’s some kind of made up alter ego. You don’t want to live in a world where people won’t hire you because they don’t like you? You’re in for a rough ride.
- raincole 3y ago
  My gender and race are me too, and I don't want to live in a world where my gender and race can significantly affect the chance that I get hired. Actually my gender and race are much more "me" than my blog, cause I might change my opinions and my blog no longer reflects my internal "states".
  - wiseowise 3y ago
    That’s a different matter. What I meant is your blog is an extension of your personality. You can’t discriminate based on sex or race, you can based on personality.
    - sph 3y ago
      You're allowed to discriminate based on personality by law, but socially, if you do it with anyone you don't agree with completely: 1. You probably don't have many friends or 2. Your friends are not very diverse Outside, in the real world, I can sit and have a very pleasant conversation on TV shows or Lisp interpreters with someone with terrible ideas or belief which are inconsequential to the matter at hand and are not part of the conversation. I can sit for a beer with childhood acquaintances that I know are racist, bigots or generally idiots, because we're talking about something else than the things I know we don't see eye to eye. And that's fine. It is frightening that we're forgetting how real people outside the Internet are, behave and can get along in all their complexity.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]