[jackmott42]

I have had a few interactions with "high level" or "big shot" executives in my life and it seems like their minds operate in a totally different universe. How Licht could not have felt the same way as Oliver about the whole situation is totally alien to me. At a much smaller and more petty scale my interaction with an executive was similar, in that he wanted me to add a feature to our shopping website, where if a user clicked the back button to leave, we would interrupt that with a popup trying to get them to stay.

I said that I would not do that as it is unethical and rude. And he looked at me like I was the alien. Like why would anyone think that or care?

If anyone reading this feels like I am an alien here, keep in mind Licht just got booted. The world cares, even if your sociopath CEO self doesn't.

[netsharc]

Since we all live on a gradient, I would think that feature is rude, but not necessarily unethical. Yeah, I suppose that's me being used to obnoxious software features, like what Microsoft has been doing the last few years (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36222006 ).

Funny how many software and online services now blatantly act like abusive partners, "Oh yeah, we're cunts, but what are you going to replace us with?".

Edit: the name Adobe just popped into my head.

[EA-3167]

I'd tend to call it both unethical and rude, but even more than that, it's counterproductive. Far from encouraging people to stay, it would stick in their minds as a reason to avoid that site forever.

You can appeal to potential customers, but guilt, harassment and bullying lose you customers.