Comment by superkuh
8 years ago
Sounds like you've made your choice. A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics. No need for my input here. But it is your choice.
8 years ago
Sounds like you've made your choice. A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics. No need for my input here. But it is your choice.
> A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics.
Using gmail doesn't automatically make them a bad employer. That is incredibly shallow and naive.
This mentality does nothing to help "software ethics" since it forces people to make an extremely unrealistic choice. I wouldn't expect anybody to quit their job over their employer using gmail. You're just pitting more people against the idea of standing up for software ethics by making it about extremes.
It is akin to telling someone, after an oil spill, that they don't care about the planet since they didn't immediately sell their car to quit buying gas.
This is the cheapest kind of hand-wavy, recriminatory internet "discourse". It's shallow, content-free, and leaves you feeling like the good guy for talking shit about other people's choices, which you've examined on exactly one axis.
I'm glad for you that you've found such a clear moral compass, but the world is, in my experience, rather subtle and complex.
I didn't mean to come across as "talking shit". I think almost all people (myself included) would prioritize their job over software ethics if forced into that situation.
But, what do you use for personal email? To avoid these kinds of issues I've been running my own mailserver for about 5 years.
Self-hosted.
The gmail address listed on my HN profile is for listing on public profiles.