Comment by matthewdgreen

Comment by matthewdgreen 21 hours ago

19 replies

I’m only part of the way through the book, so have nothing to spoil here. But it’s entertaining. And shocking. The author will relate a scene that’s so absurd that you think “ah, this can’t be true, this is made up for dramatic effect, nobody would act like that” and then you Google it and you realize the absurd thing is totally true and was fully documented at the time. All the author is adding is a perspective from the inside.

I understand why Facebook people might have wanted the book to go away. That their attempt to do so comically backfired and resulted in entirely the opposite effect, well, that’s also pretty much what you’d expect from this crew after reading the book.

binaryturtle 21 hours ago

It's called the Streisand Effect. :)

  • rsynnott 19 hours ago

    It's kind of amazing that people still hit this, really. Like, if you're Facebook's lawyers, how are you not telling them "don't talk about this; anything you say or do will only promote it further"? The lawyers must _know_.

    • John23832 15 hours ago

      Competing incentives.

      Lawyers get paid to “do something”. To wealthy people, a lawyer saying “let’s actually not do anything” seems like a “what am I paying you for then” moment.

    • lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 18 hours ago

      After reading the article, it seems plausible that they were advised against this and, well... didn’t care.

      (Perhaps it’s more accurate to say they did not think it would manifest but that’s not a fun play on words.)

    • remus 18 hours ago

      From the lawyer's point of view I guess you're making a risk judgement, presumably they thought the chance of getting a successful court order outweighed the potential increase in press of they happened to fail.

      • rsynnott 17 hours ago

        Even if they got a court order (they did get partial bars on publicity AIUI) it would _still make the problem for Facebook worse_, tho.

armandososa 9 hours ago

Did you find the author/narrator very unlikable?

[mild spoilers ahead]

I was tempted to stop reading after the shark attack story when she wakes up in the hospital and declares "I saved myself". Ugh. But I think it makes narrative sense: why would a good person stay at the company after all she has witnessed? It also makes the company leaders seem so much worse in comparison.

One more thing: Is it credible that she had such a high profile job for so long and still be worried about money?

  • bombcar 7 hours ago

    > One more thing: Is it credible that she had such a high profile job for so long and still be worried about money?

    Read threads at bogleheads for a month or so. The eighth post that is a variation on "we have fifteen million dollars in cash, and more in stock, can we afford to buy a used 2008 Accord" and you'll go insane.

  • erikpukinskis 4 hours ago

    > why would a good person stay at the company after all she has witnessed?

    Wait, is the angle of the book that she’s a good person? That can’t possibly be right… it’s a book about all the horrible things she tried to help Facebook do.

    The title of the book doesn’t suggest she was disappointed in their morals. It suggests she was disappointed in their ability to do their jobs.

HexPhantom 18 hours ago

For a company that supposedly runs on data and strategy, they're shockingly bad at anticipating how people will react when they try to bury criticism

bondarchuk 21 hours ago

What is the thing? (you can rot13 it for spoilers)

  • kreddor 18 hours ago

    It's hardly just one single thing. The book is full of absurd scenes all the way through.

notesinthefield 21 hours ago

Please tell me exactly when it gets interesting, Im listening to it and completely uninterested in the author’s “job pitch”

  • kashunstva 19 hours ago

    > completely uninterested in the author’s “job pitch”

    It's central to the arc of the narrative though. She begins with the idealistic possibilities for Facebook; and now, in a real-life epilogue, is concluding by pulling back the curtain on how horrible these people are. And by extension this company.

    • alain94040 15 hours ago

      The book has great stories. You could skip the job pitch part and jump straight to once she joins Facebook, that's fine too.