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Re:Google's Civil War by pjc50 on Sunday May 19, 2019 @10:35AM (#19953463)
> And in an attempt to quell the increase in uncivil interactions on its internal platforms, its new “community guidelines” ban slurs and references to sex acts in any work document

Rather surprised that people were getting away with that in the first place.

Edit: just realised that, like codes of conduct, the key difference is that now the rule also applies to the people at the top.

Re:Google's Civil War by itronitron on Sunday May 19, 2019 @11:09AM (#19953659)
also, how about banning slurs and references to sex acts in any work communication?
Re:Google's Civil War by darkpuma on Sunday May 19, 2019 @12:02PM (#19953943)
If I twist my ankle and exclaim "fuck!", would that be in violation? It's not a dumb question, there are some people who are genuinely offended by that sort of language. Would the rules back them up, or me?

In theory I'm in favor of these sort of rules, but I hope they leave some wiggle room for common sense, preferably erroring on the side of tolerance.

Re:Google's Civil War by selectodude on Sunday May 19, 2019 @02:00PM (#19954526)
I think you can exclaim "fuck!", but maybe keep the "fucks" out of internal documentation and written communication.
Re:Google's Civil War by microcolonel on Sunday May 19, 2019 @12:17PM (#19954023)
> If I twist my ankle and exclaim "fuck!", would that in violation?

The answer depends, of course, on the opinion the moral busybodies have of you, whether that's based on your job performance or your immutable characteristics. I've seen some pretty arbitrary outcomes from policies like this, it generally has the effect of making the IMs and intranet forums less useful, since people can't feel at ease no matter how well-intentioned they are.

Re:Google's Civil War by new2627 on Sunday May 19, 2019 @12:03PM (#19953946)
What about sex workers though?
Re:Google's Civil War by anoncake on Sunday May 19, 2019 @04:43PM (#19955395)
I don't think Google has entered that business yet.
Re:Google's Civil War by conanbatt on Sunday May 19, 2019 @11:14AM (#19953680)
I'm surprised a rule is the solution for that.
Re:Google's Civil War by village-idiot on Sunday May 19, 2019 @11:52AM (#19953882)
If you want to change a culture, rules like that are often a start of the process. But the rule alone is certainly insufficient on its own.
Re:Google's Civil War by wswkb on Sunday May 19, 2019 @12:13PM (#19954009)
I should be able to put, say, "this method is fucking up that variable" in a code comment without a puritan telling me not to do so. Which is funny, as it shows that we're going full circle.
Re:Google's Civil War by dictum on Sunday May 19, 2019 @01:08PM (#19954270)
Personally, I'd prefer "fucking up" to go away, along with "rape" as a colorful equivalent of ruining/causing damage to someone or something.

It associates sex with violence and destruction.

A similar thing used to happen with "gay", which kids would use as an adjective for frustrating or annoying situations.

My preferences notwithstanding, it's still better to be clearer about what's happening. "Fucking up that variable" says very little about the cause of the problem, and its possible solution.

Re:Google's Civil War by A2017U1 on Sunday May 19, 2019 @04:08PM (#19955206)
Personally I'd prefer to work in a company where basic elements of the English language aren't policed with authoritarian fervor and would seek out alternatives ASAFP.
Re:Google's Civil War by skinnymuch on Monday May 20, 2019 @12:44AM (#19957587)
What does fucking up have to do with sex? I’d imagine it’s used in a sexual context in a significant minority of the time. And that’s not what it’s associated with.
Re:Google's Civil War by wswkb on Sunday May 19, 2019 @01:37PM (#19954405)
When I think of something being "fucked up", the last thing I think about is sex. Those words have grown a meaning of their own, away from the one they had.
Re:Google's Civil War by pjc50 on Sunday May 19, 2019 @12:23PM (#19954054)
Why? Are you asking to be able to swear in front of clients too? Because the code isn't guaranteed to stay in front of favourable eyes forever.
Re:Google's Civil War by skybrian on Sunday May 19, 2019 @12:56PM (#19954212)
If you think that's bad, wait until you see how nit-picky people get in code reviews. I wouldn't be surprised if there were lint rules for swear words.

If you can't deal with criticism of your code, maybe working at a big tech firm isn't for you?

Re:Google's Civil War by AndrewDucker on Sunday May 19, 2019 @01:05PM (#19954258)
If you can't criticise people's code without swearing maybe working on a professional environment isn't for you?
Re:Google's Civil War by skybrian on Sunday May 19, 2019 @01:34PM (#19954388)
You've misread my comment. I meant to say that swearing will get caught in code review like anything else.