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Comment by pbhjpbhj | Hacker News Reader

Just to play devil's advocate: how hard is it to spoof whatsapp/slack messages if one wanted to get someone fired?

If he denies that he sent the messages, or says he sent messages but the content has been altered where could the employer go then? "She's trying to get me sacked because ...". Where could you go from there to prove he committed an offense against propriety/policy?

Also, a perhaps more realistic issue is the move to WhatsApp could be seen as a move to personal interaction away from business interaction - if the employee alleged to have committed sexual harassment called her a milf once in a private conversation that was not a work context do they deserve to be fired?

Did he stop when asked, doesn't that mean it's not harassment? Still could be inappropriate and ultimate lead to firing but to me harassment is an ongoing series of incidents.

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He called her a milf to her face. That's completely unacceptable.

She was clear when she said "as friends at work". It wouldn't have been harassment if he hadn't been so crude and suggestive. if he'd just said "hey, want to have dinner some time?" Then it would have been a little forward, but not harassment. He didn't. He said "You're a mom I'd like to fuck".

It doesn't have to be ongoing to be harassment. Once you've declared "I'm the kind of guy that'll call you a milf to your face after only knowing you a short time"... all bets are off. Any time you're alone with him, you're going to feel uncomfortable. And I guarantee you, that kind of guy is not going to be a perfect angel the rest of the time. He clearly has messed up ideas of what is appropriate to say to women.

That is her side of the story, which does not have be necessarily true.

milfseriously stated that he saw the conversation/evidence

Sorry, that statement is too little to justify the tarring and feathering mentality prevailing in this thread.

If there was a seriously inappropriate conduct then that should be certainly dealt with (harassing colleagues is not acceptable - whether they are male or female), but so far only the "MILF" statement leaves a bad taste.

Also, all digital evidence can be more or less easily faked. I am not saying that this DID happen in this case, I am saying it could have.

The downvoting and lynch mob attitude people exhibit here in this thread is rather worrying.

> Just to play devil's advocate: how hard is it to spoof whatsapp/slack messages if one wanted to get someone fired?

Easy. Same with telegram. And with HushSMS you can change the text of already sent SMS messages. And lets not get into the real devious stuff. Especially if your company sysadmin is accomplice.

On the other hand - the story rings true. They guy made advance, was rejected, she informed the boss - it sounded to me like she wanted to avoid a potential "two weeks on a business trip" scenario with the guy in the future and not to cause company drama.

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