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Comment by SpicyLemonZest | Hacker News Reader

I... do not see why we would presume that.

The guy wrote a literal NYT/WSJ bestseller, a justifiably noteworthy book about the tech industry. It was covered in the tech and mainstream press extensively. He's a well known public figure, not an anonymous engineer.

I don't see any reason to doubt that plenty of people at Apple had heard of him and read the book, other than a self-regarding faith that people you disagree with can't possibly know something you don't.

It was covered in the tech and mainstream press, yes. Did any of that coverage indicate that it was so shockingly offensive nobody should ever hire him, as these employees claim to find obvious?

No, admittedly Apple needed to a little more background research to know in advance that if he joined them then they would be successfully sued by the first female report he had a problem with.

Examples of the background research they could have done:

1. talk to any of the employees who organized the petition

2. read his book! It's widely available! This is a guy whose hiring was literally a positive news story yesterday https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-hires-chaos-monkeys-au.... When you hire people who are going to be news you do a little background. It's a short book! Apple screwed up!

Or just Google him and read the first few sentences and top comments from years ago on his Reddit AMA…

The petition just implied someone should have read the book before Apple offered him a job.[1]

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/12/22432909/apple-petition-h...

He’s an author with a published book and a Wikipedia article. I’ve known about him for like five years. This isn’t some no name person.

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