[fragmede]

It sounds sinister when you say it like that, but I've got private group chats with my friends that are "hidden from the rest of the world" and someone shares pictures of their dog or music they liked. I think tattooing people with a company logo for an interview is fucked up, but let's not pull out the guillotines just because certain people are having secret encrypted private conversations with each other.

[EA-3167]

If you're advertising that you're going to permanently mark your almost certainly transient brand on desperate people for the promise of just an interview, I think it's fair to wonder what you'd prefer to keep hidden. In your case it's all puppies and rainbows, but presumably your public face is also quite a bit milder than, "Sure get the tattoo and maybe I'll see if you can make it to the next round of interviews, hope you're ready to work 7-day weeks if you make it!"

[thephyber]

I get the feeling you read the outrage headline and assumed the worst.

In practice, the company held a party, invited a local professional tattoo artist to give free tattoos, and the CEO said "if you get a tattoo, I think that's worth an interview". HN is blowing this up to be worst case scenario, but it was just stupid messaging and optics. The company was trying to get people to come to their party, not demand company tattoos before anyone can submit their resume for consideration.

Dude, go touch some grass.