His comments get upvoted because many readers of HN are looking to hate Google for some reason, and he writes a verbose "damning" description of Google's internal politics that makes Google seem very hate-able. Good writing + what you want to hear = instant upvote.
The only way to really refute what mchurch says is to post evidence of his work from when he was at Google, but that's a massive violation of his privacy, so nobody is going to do that. The only thing to do is dismiss his argument with vague statements like, "no, that's not true", which nobody is going to believe when compared to his well-written rants.
If you want to know the full mchurch story, I suggest you get a job at Google. Then you will have enough information to decide whether or not mchurch's rants about Google make sense.
I don't think people want to hate Google; I just think they're attracted by the controversy. It's like the faster-than-light neutrinos. People weren't interested because they hate Einstein, but because it's some apparently new information that contradicts what they previously thought to be true.
I'm interested simply because Google seems highly influential in the new-school tech sector management. These collections of anecdotes feed into the folklore wisdom held by managers.
Comments
His comments get upvoted because many readers of HN are looking to hate Google for some reason, and he writes a verbose "damning" description of Google's internal politics that makes Google seem very hate-able. Good writing + what you want to hear = instant upvote.
The only way to really refute what mchurch says is to post evidence of his work from when he was at Google, but that's a massive violation of his privacy, so nobody is going to do that. The only thing to do is dismiss his argument with vague statements like, "no, that's not true", which nobody is going to believe when compared to his well-written rants.
If you want to know the full mchurch story, I suggest you get a job at Google. Then you will have enough information to decide whether or not mchurch's rants about Google make sense.
I don't think people want to hate Google; I just think they're attracted by the controversy. It's like the faster-than-light neutrinos. People weren't interested because they hate Einstein, but because it's some apparently new information that contradicts what they previously thought to be true.
I'm interested simply because Google seems highly influential in the new-school tech sector management. These collections of anecdotes feed into the folklore wisdom held by managers.
C.f. "Why are manholes round?"
Interestingly, Microsoft was actually one of the more prolific early-adopters of these techniques, back when PageRank was just a gleam in Larry's eye.
http://www.amazon.com/Would-Move-Mount-Microsofts-Puzzle/dp/...