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Comment by M_Grey | Hacker News Reader

I would consider whether or not my record and life could stand up to the kind of public scrutiny that might bring, and be very very honest about it. If I had any skeletons, or even just a bone or two in my closet? I'd chalk it up to rough experience.

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Why, it's not like you will be on trial, the company is the one engaging in misbehavior here.

What skeletons or bones could there be?

In a perfect world only the person on trial is subject to that kind of scrutiny, but in reality that's often not how it works. If you can crush someone in the public sphere, that's what happens. I.E. The "Cosby" defense.

Give us a break. There's a world of difference between Cosby (rape accusations) and a tech worker who was fired at 51 weeks (1 week ahead of a vesting date), which almost everybody can read between the lines on (was likely a marginal fit and the company dropped the ball/took a long time deciding whether to keep them or not). The company might respond with ''they sucked, and deserved to be fired'' but that's hardly being ''crushed'' in the public sphere.

The company might respond a little more aggressively, and again, it would all depend on whether or not someone has anything to hide. Accusing an accuser is an old and sadly, proven technique. That said, I'm tired of getting downvotes from people who can't imagine bad behavior of this type, so...

I took the "Cosby defense" to refer to Cosby countersuing his accusers ( http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0TX2AG20151214 ). I haven't paid much attention to that trial, so it wouldn't surprise me if he or his legal team had also insulted the accusers.

Exactly... attacking people in public has an effect, even when it probably shouldn't. I thought the Cosby situation was a good, extreme example of that. I'm glad that someone got what I was trying to say, however ineptly I've been saying it.

Issues where HR departments are actively non-accommodating to reported mental health issues, for one. You're practically screaming into a megaphone, "I'm not crazy!". It's social and career suicide.

Anything the company would want to share in retaliation—true or not. Look at the shit storm that came out of Julie Horvath’s treatment at Github. Or heck, why not extrapolate this and consider the situations of those such as Snowden or Manning? In a perfect world, of course those wronged would have the full backing of the community and the employer in question would own up to their wrongdoings. But the world isn’t perfect and sadly, in reality, whistleblowers often “get to” ride-a-long in the muck as well…

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