I know many folks IRL who work at big tech who have no interest in posting here because the community comes off as very unwelcoming. That’s a shame, because they have insight that would be great to hear. Regardless of anyone’s opinion of their employer.
Apologies in advance if your intent was purely about the topic. I just thought I read something in your tone that might hinder discourse rather than encourage it. I wanted to point it out, in case it was unintentional.
On the other hand, if I'm not responding, it's not because I find HN too abrasive — it's because I am afraid of leaking non-public information. That's why whenever I talk about Google, I try to cite a Google blog post or other authoritative source, or talk about my own personal experience; hence, "I rarely search for the same query twice."
I didn't dismiss his argument; I said that he was correct right after he posted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26073488
"That's not the point" can be interpreted as respectful, but it also can be interpreted as argumentative. I chose to assume good intentions, but I offered a different phrasing that would have a higher chance of not being misinterpreted: i.e. using "yes and" instead of "no but": https://www.theheretic.org/2017/yes-and-vs-no-but/
Having said that, I do think this is clearly a sensitive issues, not a purely technical one. I can appreciate the nuance of working for Google and doing excellent work while seeing the company criticized left and right for its business model. I think given the community, while there is opposition to how Google may at certain points conduct itself as a corporation, there is no lack of respect for any individual working there. I certainly view my comment and the discussion of privacy as having 50% to do with Google’s strategy and 50% to do with the technical aspects of whether you can build a search engine that holds user privacy as a core priority rather than trying to launch an ad hominem on you or anyone. And I saw your other comment that agreed with me and the GP comment so I think my first sentence aside, we are on the same page :)