← Back to context

Comment by PKop

17 hours ago

[flagged]

Some on this forum will be working for companies with conflicts of interest on the topic, and if an employees words were construed to be the opinions of the company that could be bad for that person.

  • I was once almost fired for saying a little too much in an HN comment about pentesting. Being dragged into an office and given a dressing-down for posting was quite traumatic.

    The central issue (or so they claimed) was that people might misconstrue my comment as representing the company I was at.

    So yeah, I don’t understand why people are making fun of this. It’s serious.

    On the other hand, they were so uptight that I’m not sure “opinions are my own” would have prevented it. But it would have been at least some defense.

    • > On the other hand, they were so uptight that I’m not sure “opinions are my own” would have prevented it.

      In my experience it didn't matter at all, they considered "you work for us, its known you work for us, therefore your opinions reflect on us".

      Absolute nonsense, they don't pay me for 24 hours of the day. I told them where they can stick it (politely) and got a new job.

      3 replies →

> Who's else would they be?

Their employer? They may work at related company, and are required to say this.

At this point that phase is an attempt at status signaling.

  • it's hilarious though

    it's like people are LARPing a Fortune company CEO when they're giving their hot takes on social media

    reminds me of Trump ending his wild takes on social media with "thank you for your attention to this matter" - so out of place, it makes it really funny

    *typo

    • > it's like people are LARPing a Fortune company CEO when they're giving their hot takes on social media

      At least in large tech companies, they have mandatory social media training where they explicitly tell employees to use phrases like "my views are my own" to keep it clear whether they're speaking on behalf of their employer or not.

      12 replies →

Its to cover their ass in the event someone makes a stink and quotes them as if its a company opinion.

The tech companies train their employees to say this in their social media guidance and training.