DHH: Let It All Out

What a completely self inflicted wound.

Leaving aside the efficacy of the new policy changes, would any of us have cared if they’d just done it internally? Would we know about this list of customer names if they’d not drawn attention to themselves?

I’m honestly having a really hard time understanding why they thought that first post was a good idea, especially given the internal context. The only explanation I can come up with is that they’re just addicted to the attention of being industry “thought leaders” and thought that this would let them get public kudos for going in a brave new direction. Instead all they got was an eminently predictable PR fiasco and a glowing write up in ... Breitbart. Whoops.

Having a list of "best names ever" is always inappropriate in a professional setting. But unless it is purposely being done for, say, racist reasons this is really just people being silly. The appropriate action is to tell people to delete it and not to do that again then to move on. End of story.

It's sad and scary that we've reached a point as a society where this can even begin to become such an issue and where a company like Basecamp can be dragged into the current inquisitionist atmosphere. Best wishes to DHH and team.

"My belief is that the key to working with other people of different ideological persuasions is to find common cause in the work, in the relations with customers, in the good we can do in the industry. Not to repeatedly seek out all the hard edges where we differ."

+1

For context in chronological order:

- Basecamp's initial policy change by Jason Fried: https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f32afc5 (Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26944192)

- DHH's post on the changes: https://world.hey.com/dhh/basecamp-s-new-etiquette-regarding...

- DHH's follow up post: https://world.hey.com/dhh/mosaics-of-positions-ae6d4d9e

- Article detailing insider account of this policy change: https://www.platformer.news/p/-what-really-happened-at-basec...

And then this is DHH's response to the article.

> And investigative reporters are not only completely within their right to cultivate and use such leaks, I'd say they're obligated to do it! So it's only right and fair that when this is turned at Basecamp, at least when evaluating the reporting, we take it on the chin.

It surely takes some balls to say this.

> Hansson’s response to this employee took aback many of the workers I spoke with. He dug through old chat logs to find a time when the employee in question participated in a discussion about a customer with a funny-sounding name. Hansson posted the message — visible to the entire company — and dismissed the substance of the employee’s complaint.

This is not how any leader should behave. It's a childish passive aggressive bullying power move by the most powerful person at a company. It's disrespectful to that employee by the person at the top of the ladder. That sends waves of signals to everyone else and that alone to me would be a reason for DHH to resign because how are employees supposed to work respectfully with each other if their leader is so openly disrespecting another employee who is in a huge power imbalance to him.

That's extremely poor behaviour to say the least.