Actually no! In fact, responses like this make me afraid to post at all.
Because, either I make honest disclosures that I work for Google, when talking about Google software or other things, or I try to be pseudonymous and not disclose. If I do the latter, well, that could have a lot of repercussions, it would be a violation of the social media policy as well, so it's not really worth considering, plus it even just feels dishonest.
But if I do the former, I'm stuck with people reading it like I'm some corporate marketing drone, despite the fact that before I joined Google, I was already prominently on internet communities like Hacker News. I'm trying to follow both internet etiquette and company policy by disclosing that I work for Google, but invariably whenever I speak on something there's this weird conspiracy that I simply must be on the corporate payroll astroturfing; despite that I'm, practically speaking, just a rank and file software engineer.
Also, I am not trying to mislead people. Average consumers are obviously not going to use the enterprise policy features. They should, however, be available on any Chrome installation, if the article is referring to what I think it is. The article claims it is a 'paid' feature, and I don't think there is a such thing.
I don't even understand this accusation. I straight up have been personally using and recommending Firefox since Quantum came out.
As for the frequency of discussing Google stuff... I mean come on. The frontpage of Hacker News is sometimes covered in discussions about Google stuff. I can't escape it even if I want to. It is actually a big downside of working for a large employer; it becomes fairly difficult to disconnect from work when on vacation (as I currently am, actually.)
As I tried to explain upthread, posts like this are poison to HN. We need you, and everyone else, to resist taking arguments in personally accusatory directions.
No, it's not a fair question to ask if someone is dishonestly manipulating conversation because of who they work for. By doing that you turn a conversation into a cross-examination, turn feelings sour, and give the other person a reason to leave. Most people who post here don't want to deal with that kind of aggressive or passive-aggressive confrontation. It's not that they couldn't—it's that it's a gigantic bummer. In that person's position, most of us would just say "why bother" and leave. Then HN would be much poorer for the loss of a good-faith user. I'm sure your intention was to support the integrity of HN discussion by doing this, but what you're actually doing is making this place—which is always very fragile—more hostile. And not just a little more hostile; a lot more.
If you're concerned about HN being abused, you should email us at hn@ycombinator.com so we can look into it—which I promise we will.
Because, either I make honest disclosures that I work for Google, when talking about Google software or other things, or I try to be pseudonymous and not disclose. If I do the latter, well, that could have a lot of repercussions, it would be a violation of the social media policy as well, so it's not really worth considering, plus it even just feels dishonest.
But if I do the former, I'm stuck with people reading it like I'm some corporate marketing drone, despite the fact that before I joined Google, I was already prominently on internet communities like Hacker News. I'm trying to follow both internet etiquette and company policy by disclosing that I work for Google, but invariably whenever I speak on something there's this weird conspiracy that I simply must be on the corporate payroll astroturfing; despite that I'm, practically speaking, just a rank and file software engineer.
Also, I am not trying to mislead people. Average consumers are obviously not going to use the enterprise policy features. They should, however, be available on any Chrome installation, if the article is referring to what I think it is. The article claims it is a 'paid' feature, and I don't think there is a such thing.
I don't even understand this accusation. I straight up have been personally using and recommending Firefox since Quantum came out.
As for the frequency of discussing Google stuff... I mean come on. The frontpage of Hacker News is sometimes covered in discussions about Google stuff. I can't escape it even if I want to. It is actually a big downside of working for a large employer; it becomes fairly difficult to disconnect from work when on vacation (as I currently am, actually.)