[ciarannolan]

I don't think the question is really about how the internal politics of Facebook work. The question is whether you should devote years of your limited working time and your talent to make the world a worse place to live in (which I think FB almost certainly does).

[baby]

And I’ll say that you’re entitled to your opinion. If you do think that, then indeed I would not recommend to join. If you are on the verge, like I was, then my advice is to join because you will be surprised to see that it’s not what you thought it was.

[ciarannolan]

It may not be what you think it was internally, but it's negative externalities are there for the world to see.

[baby]

What about the upsides?

[ciarannolan]

Also there for the world to see. I just think on balance Facebook is a force for social destruction and individual harm on a scale never even imagined.

I looked at your blog; you seem like a talented, driven person. Why not apply those gifts to something meaningful? Why spend your limited working years building tools for this horrible company?

[baby]

Well from my comments it should be obvious that we don’t agree :)

[kelnos]

The problem is that we can't take your agreement or disagreement at face value. The OP that prompted this entire thread admitted, front and center, that their $400k total comp number was very seductive. People do and believe all sorts of things when their fat salary incentivizes them to do so, even if they don't consciously realize it.

What's that Upton Sinclair quote? Ah, yes: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

I recognize that it might not seem fair to take this position, but understand that it's an easy one to take when I look at FB's negative effects not just on the world, but on the lives of actual people I know. It seems unlikely to me that a disinterested party could truly weigh FB's positives and negatives and think the balance is positive. But you are far from unbiased, and I hope you can at least realize that.

[cheeze]

Heavily outwieghed by the downsides.

Facebook has done a lot of good, but IMO there is no question that it's done more harm.

And Zuckerberg is a crazy person. There are a lot of people I wouldn't want to ultimately report to, but Zuck is right next to Larry at this point.

[baby]

> there is no question that it's done more harm

Not a great way to argument against someone who disagrees with that point