I don’t like that this sounds like this is only (or mostly) about tone.
The core of it, for me, is that Nonlinear was in a brutally difficult position. I’ve been on the receiving end of dogpiles from my own community before, and I know what it feels like. It’s excruciating, it’s terrifying, and you all-but see your life flashing before your eyes. Crisis communication is very, very, very difficult, particularly when people are already skeptical of you. Nonlinear’s response to Ben was as he was on the verge of fundamentally changing the trajectory of their reputations and would not be swayed from his course, and their response to the community was in a similarly high-pressure frame.
The pressure and stress of a position like that makes it very hard for me to apply someone’s behavior in those circumstances to other settings. A normal person acts very differently under intense pressure than in regular situations, so when I think someone is put in an unfair situation (as I do of Nonlinear) I’m reluctant to pass too much judgment from the sidelines. We don’t know how the Nonlinear people would have reacted had those concerns been brought up in a measured, reasonable matter, because that did not happen.
In short: it’s less about tone, more about the pragmatic reality that at the bottom of a dogpile, tactical communication ability and grace under pressure matter immensely in ways that are hard to apply to regular situations.
Chloe isn’t a large outlier in any relevant way of personality, except perhaps she was significantly below average at standing up for her interests/voicing her boundaries (for which it might even be possible that it was selected for in the Nonlinear hiring process)
I think it’s likely that Chloe is not a large outlier, but the rumor mill is incredibly destructive and spending a year working alongside someone who does seem like more of an outlier to spread rumors is not a productive or healthy way to handle interpersonal work conflicts. I think it’s useful for whistleblower-type stuff to come to light, but not through whisper networks, and I think Alice and Chloe’s rumor-mill response to the situation worsened it in material ways that are important to establish.
At the same time, I feel like, as a private individual, it’s okay to come away with confident beliefs (one way or the other) from this whole thing.
I don’t disagree with this. People come to strong opinions about all sorts of things on the basis of much weaker evidence than is available about this stuff at this point. I just wanted to establish my feeling that at the community level as a whole, the errors in the way things were handled mean that a retraction and a change of process moving forward are appropriate, and people collectively reacted in mixed-to-negative ways to the two people who in my judgment were most correct about the initial situation (Spencer and Geoffrey) in ways that should inform their judgment moving forward.
I appreciate the detailed response!
The core of it, for me, is that Nonlinear was in a brutally difficult position. I’ve been on the receiving end of dogpiles from my own community before, and I know what it feels like. It’s excruciating, it’s terrifying, and you all-but see your life flashing before your eyes. Crisis communication is very, very, very difficult, particularly when people are already skeptical of you. Nonlinear’s response to Ben was as he was on the verge of fundamentally changing the trajectory of their reputations and would not be swayed from his course, and their response to the community was in a similarly high-pressure frame.
The pressure and stress of a position like that makes it very hard for me to apply someone’s behavior in those circumstances to other settings. A normal person acts very differently under intense pressure than in regular situations, so when I think someone is put in an unfair situation (as I do of Nonlinear) I’m reluctant to pass too much judgment from the sidelines. We don’t know how the Nonlinear people would have reacted had those concerns been brought up in a measured, reasonable matter, because that did not happen.
In short: it’s less about tone, more about the pragmatic reality that at the bottom of a dogpile, tactical communication ability and grace under pressure matter immensely in ways that are hard to apply to regular situations.
I think it’s likely that Chloe is not a large outlier, but the rumor mill is incredibly destructive and spending a year working alongside someone who does seem like more of an outlier to spread rumors is not a productive or healthy way to handle interpersonal work conflicts. I think it’s useful for whistleblower-type stuff to come to light, but not through whisper networks, and I think Alice and Chloe’s rumor-mill response to the situation worsened it in material ways that are important to establish.
I don’t disagree with this. People come to strong opinions about all sorts of things on the basis of much weaker evidence than is available about this stuff at this point. I just wanted to establish my feeling that at the community level as a whole, the errors in the way things were handled mean that a retraction and a change of process moving forward are appropriate, and people collectively reacted in mixed-to-negative ways to the two people who in my judgment were most correct about the initial situation (Spencer and Geoffrey) in ways that should inform their judgment moving forward.