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Comment by zwily | Hacker News Reader

You're in the minority then... My original comment has been downvoted quite a bit. It's strange to me that people think this is okay. If someone is willing to use that power for a prank, it seems to me more likely that they'll use it for... whatever.

I like a good prank. Leave your screen unlocked? You deserve the abuse you get. :) But accessing my laptop in this way is just creepy.

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I don't agree with your logic and think you need a more nuanced sense of humor. Spying on someone remotely? Fireable offense. Remotely kicking off speech utils between people on a team once? Not so much.

Disclaimer: I have managed tech teams before. It is better to forgive then have knee jerk managerial reactions.

I guess I'll take the downvotes and somewhat agree with them; probably not as far as to say a fireable matter for the first offense. Definitely a strong and unambiguous warning/disciplinary action (repeat offender, however? Fired)

Sorry, I get office pranks but there's no reason to be doing anything on an end-user's workstation without their permission or consent that isn't maintenance or security related. I guess I lack a sense of humor, but I've also seen too many instances where a prank on someone's machine resulted in severely unintended consequences and breaches of trust that rippled through the team.

Just not worth it, IMO.

Sure, getting fired for doing it the first time would definitely be a bit strong. However, an admin who was regularly using his remote management capabilities to play pranks I would hope would be let go.

We agree on this.

...and jumping on someone's unlocked computer without authorization is different but OK? right...here's your sign

Jumping on an unlocked computer is more of an "equal opportunity" thing. Only a handful of people in a company (IT) have the ability to remotely manage employees workstations. That creates an imbalance of power that needs to be respected. Using it for pranks against people who don't have that power isn't really fair.

That said, I don't really find the whole "recursihoffing unlocked laptops" thing all that funny either, but it doesn't bother me as much.

Count me on your side (former admin--windows, alas). It always seemed to me to be kind of a bullying thing to do when the mark has less privileges as you. Seems like if they can't retaliate in kind, it's just not as fun. I'm sure there are people who have widely varying views on this, though.

> former admin--windows, alas.

Honest question, why the need to apologize for being a former Windows admin?

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