There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

Monument ,

Interesting.

I signed up for GD with a semi-throwaway email account - not an actual throwaway, but it’s not tied to my real identity, not used for anything but spammy sites where I didn’t want to give them my info. Every site got a made up name.
Wonder what name they’ll slap on the account when they try to farm “my” data from a broker.

qdJzXuisAndVQb2 ,

I lie shamelessly to companies when signing up these days. They get fake DoBs, names, aliased emails, fake addresses, phones, the lot. Let them out that data on my profile without consent, hopefully they aren’t going to expend resources to penetrate that veil.

Adulated_Aspersion ,

Morgan Freeman voiceover…

They did.

Zorsith ,
@Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

They dont even have to pay to expend resources. People will buy that shit, sort through it, then sell it to turn a profit. The advertising industry is a cancer to the human race.

pirat ,

If you then keep a log of who you told what, it’ll be easier to keep track of which companies distributed “your” info.

qdJzXuisAndVQb2 ,

I use keepass, it’s worked great for years. No way I could remember passwords anyway without it.

whotookkarl , (edited )
@whotookkarl@lemmy.world avatar

Butts McGee strikes again

Killroy WasHere

Monument ,

I guess that cinches it. If I ever want to sign up for an adult site, they’re going to know me as “Seymour Butts.”

ieatpillowtags ,

It seems as though nobody in this thread actually read the article. They are not revealing user names on the site. The objection here is having the real name as part of your private profile data, in case of a future data breach. It’s a real concern, but orders of magnitude less serious than what everybody is assuming.

Shame on Ars for the misleading clickbait headline.

myliltoehurts ,

Agree that it’s misleading, but to add there is another significant concern given how glassdoor is already “pay to win” from the companies perspective: they could just offer identifying the users as a paid service.

It would be digging their own grave if that starts happening, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping many companies…

laurelraven ,

You mean digging it even deeper than they already did with this?

Kbobabob ,

This doesn’t really make it any better though, IMO

asdfasdfasdf ,

You really don’t think “we store your username and haven’t revealed it” is any better than “we store your real name and did reveal it”?

ieatpillowtags ,

I swear some people are just contrary.

the_crotch ,

No they’re not

laurelraven ,

For a supposedly anonymous site that’s going to be a target from both hackers and companies looking to reveal that data, I’d say it’s not really any better, just delayed. All it takes is someone finding a SQL injection vulnerability on the site to scrape the user database, or a court to rule that they have to turn that data over to a company looking to go after an employee, or even just someone with the right access at the company clicking the wrong link

If you want to be anonymous, the first step is to not give people your name or other PII

KingThrillgore ,
@KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml avatar

It’s not that, its the risk they could get subpoenaed and then they have to turn over the CSVs that could identify users inadvertently.

flumph ,
@flumph@programming.dev avatar

I’m more concerned that the company decided it was OK to meld the “From:” line of her email (asking for support) into her profile. If they think that’s an appropriate way to handle PII, I don’t trust them.

ieatpillowtags ,

What they’re actually doing is super shady, and reason enough to cause concern without exaggerating.

nyan ,

They are not revealing user names on the site.

You mean, “They are not currently revealing user names on the site.” This may easily be the first temperature increment in a frog-boiling process.

(Cynical? Yes, but the world keeps reinforcing that attitude.)

ieatpillowtags ,

Agreed, but the article title implies that they are in fact currently revealing names, which is just not the case.

Potatos_are_not_friends ,

Financial institutions who are currently having data breaches. This is the worst time to couple PII data So tightly.

The moment Glassdoor gets hacked, it’ll be absolute shit show for whistleblowers.

arc ,

Glassdoor is little more than a shakedown service like Yelp or Tripadvisor. It looks superficially useful but the real purpose is to suck information out of users to monetize, and extort businesses for $$$ for review “curation”.

blackfire ,

Is this a US change as im not seeing names in the UK version

Hadriscus ,

I give it a full 4 days before an opensource alternative is announced

AcesFullOfKings ,

deleted_by_author

    •
    Hadriscus ,

    Glass ceiling

    I like the idea but that’s a whole other level of potential interactivity than Glassdoor, and a big responsibility for whoever will be hosting it. Anonymity would have to be guaranteed in some way…

    Gerudo ,

    Seriously. Facebook for corporate dickholes turns to shit. Who knew

    lemon ,
    @lemon@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Wait, what happened to LinkedIn?

    Cryophilia ,

    I did a CCPA data deletion request. Fuckers.

    Burn_The_Right ,

    What is this and how is it done?

    Cryophilia ,

    California Consumer Privacy Act. It gives consumers the right to tell companies to delete all data they have about you.

    For glassdoor, that option is here, in their privacy requests page. Note the language “request” is just politeness for California residents - they must by law delete this info. While it’s only the law for California residents, it looks like Glassdoor offers this option to everyone.

    Burn_The_Right ,

    Very useful! Thank you!

    refurbishedrefurbisher ,

    This is one of the most obvious potential cases of purposeful sabatoge. They were probably bribed by other big businesses to destroy their reputation so people would stop using the site.

    There’s nothing businesses hate more than their workers having negotiating power, and wage transparency gives them more power than they had before. There’s a reason why it’s considered “rude” in the US to discuss wages with co-workers; I always make a point to discuss my wage with all of my co-workers, since it’s illegal for businesses to prevent that discussion.

    In most other countries, it’s the norm to openly discuss your wages; unions are also more common in other countries. It’s just standard toxic workplace cultures trying to prevent people from getting paid what they’re worth, or god forbid, forming a union.

    diffusive ,

    While I see what you are seeing, I think people will just move to the next startup.

    Also by Occam’s razor, don’t explain with malice what you can explain with stupidity

    Welt ,

    Fair point, but I’m wondering which part you were applying Occam’s razor to - what Glassdoor did is clearly malicious!

    diffusive ,

    To the part that they were bribed.

    I think they are simply in the pipe dream that they will become the new LinkedIn

    prex ,

    That would be Hanlons razor. I have no idea whether it applies here.

    Stretch2m ,

    Hanlon’s razor.

    FiniteBanjo ,

    There is also the growing difficulty of disseminating real information from false information, but that should have been more the reviewed company’s problem than Glassdoor.

    hessenjunge ,

    In what countries is it custom to openly discuss salary? In Germany and most if not all countries I’ve been to professionally it is not the norm. This is of course bad for transparency/employees and good for employers.

    DrM ,

    All of scandinavia. There are public registers where you can look up the salary of everyone for norway, sweden and finland. When these registers were introduced, the salaries were normalized across the whole population

    teotwaki ,

    In Denmark, I’m part of a union which publishes salary stats for every possible job title, management responsibility, education, in a fairly convoluted matrix. Still, this allows me to easily negotiate with companies and see how well they pay. There might be something organised by the government, but I’ve never had a need for it.

    hessenjunge ,

    I like the idea of a register a lot.

    Do you also talk about it though? I was in Denmark on business for a couple of weeks and I don’t recall there being a discussion about it.

    GoodEye8 ,

    Where I live we don’t really discuss salaries and I think that mostly comes down to society being tricked into believing it’s a bad thing. However our national statistics agency has made salary statistics public, which means anyone easily check their salary range and see if they’re being underpaid. I actually prefer that to discussing with co-workers because you end up getting a much better picture of your industry.

    hessenjunge ,

    In my country I’m only aware of statistics published by a newspaper (source may be statista, some agency or a job portal). I find the values weird however as I earn way above the stated value for my general description. I’m in a bit of a niche however so that might work to my benefit. The statistics still feel like ‘expectation management’ to me though.

    teotwaki ,

    Germany has a principle of equal treatment. The only way to ensure this is respected is to discuss wages. There is a legal precedent that makes it completely unambiguous that discussing wages is protected. It may be uncomfortable, but that’s just social pressure, encouraged by companies.

    hensche.de/Rechtsanwalt_Arbeitsrecht_Urteile_AGB_…

    hessenjunge ,

    Not denying that it’s legal and beneficial to discuss that. It’s unfortunately not common (yet?).

    anguo ,

    In China, “How much do you make?” Is right up there with “What’s your name?”.

    Pretty disarming for unsuspecting foreigners.

    hessenjunge ,

    Pretty disarming for unsuspecting foreigners.

    That would indeed be a WTF moment for me.

    arc ,

    From the article that they acquired a professional social networking app so their intention is clearly to be like LinkedIn - real names, links, career history, “social”. They want to monetize that information to sell to recruiters and salesmen.

    So basically they’re nakedly greedy and they continue to suck. I thought LinkedIn was awful but Glassdoor is a whole new level of awful.

    Wooki ,

    Or

    Think about it for more than 1 second.

    They’ve been sued for liable.

    Or

    They’re being shit and creating a new revenue stream because constant growth and bonuses

    ripcord ,
    @ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

    Or

    Read the article

    ripcord ,
    @ripcord@lemmy.world avatar

    Man, people love to make up conspiracy theories.

    The article explains the motivation, which is also bad and plausible. There’s no need to pull stuff out of your ass to explain it too.

    Simulation6 ,

    Do you know when it became illegal to ban salary discussions in the US? All the companies I have worked for recently have mentioned it not being allowed at some point.

    teotwaki ,

    You cannot prevent your employees from discussing wages. It is literally illegal to do so, and you cannot reprimand people for doing so.

    Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or the Act), employees have the right to communicate with their coworkers about their wages, as well as with labor organizations, worker centers, the media, and the public. Wages are a vital term and condition of employment, and discussions of wages are often preliminary to organizing or other actions for mutual aid or protection.

    If you are an employee covered by the Act, you may discuss wages in face-to-face conversations, over the phone, and in written messages. Policies that specifically prohibit the discussion of wages are unlawful as are policies that chill employees from discussing their wages.

    You may have discussions about wages when not at work, when you are on break, and even during work if employees are permitted to have other non-work conversations. You have these rights whether or not you are represented by a union.

    www.nlrb.gov/…/your-rights-to-discuss-wages

    hamid , (edited )

    deleted_by_author

    •
    teotwaki ,

    You didn’t get laid off because you discussed your wages.

    You were laid off because you couldn’t keep your cards close to your chest and told the company y’all had been discussing wages.

    Having the right to discuss it doesn’t mean you should do it in front of the boss.

    bigMouthCommie ,
    @bigMouthCommie@kolektiva.social avatar

    concerted organizing activity is protected under the law. talking about it with your boss yourself is not organizing activity. talking about it with a coworker in front of your boss is.

    this is what a job journal is for. it would prove what happened.

    hamid , (edited )

    redacted

    bigMouthCommie ,
    @bigMouthCommie@kolektiva.social avatar

    the law that protected concerted organizing activity is the same that took the teeth out of the unions. i want to see that law abolished, but i'm an anarchist, so i want them all gone.

    mosiacmango ,

    If you get suddenly laid off after doing a legally protected activity, you do have very direct recourse.

    Judges aren’t generally stupid, nor is the national labor board. If you do a legal thing companies hate and are suddenly fired out of the blue, it’s very obvious what happened, no matter what the comapny claims. It may take time and effort, but you very may get back paid the fof the entire time you were fired.

    hamid , (edited )

    redacted

    Potatos_are_not_friends ,

    It’s not illegal. It’s frown upon both socially and at the work culture. It makes people uncomfortable.

    Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Ripping farts is frowned upon/makes people uncomfortable too.

    narrowide96lochkreis , (edited )

    Remember when YouTube had a use full real name policy? Arguing it would improve comment quality and would stop harassment etc. Yeah, didn’t quite work out at all and thankfully they let the policy fizzle.

    cyberpunk007 ,

    Also Blizzard “real ID” lol

    wellee ,

    That’s too bad, it saved me from a few toxic work places

    BottleOfAlkahest ,

    By Lemmy standards I’m perversely unconcerned with my privacy. But I just updated all my glassdoor info to wildly incorrect stuff (name, location, industry, job title, etc) then deleted it. Even for me this is a bridge too far.

    tourist ,
    @tourist@lemmy.world avatar

    Mike Hawk, CEO of Nunya

    btaf45 ,

    Luke Skywalker, Chief Financial Officer of Initech

    btaf45 ,

    Operation Market Garden is still paying for its failure after all these years.

    FunkPhenomenon ,

    wow, glassdoor is still a thing? havent heard that name in a long, long time.

    BaroqBard ,

    Highly recommend at least trying to poison your data before deactivating/deleting; they have some legalese that gives them a workaround to keep things to an extent

    Note: When you close your account, you will no longer have full access to salaries, reviews, or interviews. Any content you have shared will be removed from the display on the site, but we reserve the right to keep any information in a closed account in our archives that we deem necessary to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. For more information, review our Privacy & Cookie Policy.

    RootBeerGuy ,
    @RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

    True, but keep in mind they likely have backups of everything. If you do this all at once it will probably be noticed and they might just roll it all back when you are gone. Case in point, reddit. If you do this slowly maybe it will stay, not sure.

    OsrsNeedsF2P ,

    Even if they know, burnt out software engineers with other priorities are probably not recovering old data

    NocturnalEngineer ,

    Unless some exec has a meltdown and demands them to revert the site

    cophater69 ,

    That’s usually a monumental undertaking for sites that are majority database-driven like Glassdoor. Think multiple regional databases.

    essteeyou ,

    I doubt they delete anything. Just add a flag to the datastore so users don’t see it, but they can still sell it or train AI on it or whatever.

    skulblaka ,
    @skulblaka@startrek.website avatar

    The data is never getting deleted in the first place, “delete” just needs to set a flag for non-visibility. The language used in their disclaimer leads me to believe exactly that is what is happening.

    TheIllustrativeMan ,

    You also need to be careful when deleting your account - when you do, they’ll send you a “there was an issue with your request” email that tries to get you to register again by prompting you to “log in” to fix it. The log in is creating a password for a new account.

    brbposting ,

    Really? Wild

    arc ,

    I’ve never seen much reason to use a real name on Glassdoor. They demand visitors sign up to see information, and every logon it demands more details. So I am glad I used a throwaway account and I expect many others did too, or filled it in with junk. I hope their database is poisoned with garbage. I’m sure they will continue to turn the screws - using a mobile device? You MUST use our app etc. I hope people realise that LinkedIn already sucks and here is something even worse moving into the same space.

    electric_nan ,

    Everyone thinking this was a business blunder… People got paid a lot of money to kill this site. It served in its own small way, to give workers a bit of power in relation to employers and that was unacceptable.

    PoliticalAgitator ,

    Yeah, this reeks of generic neoliberal sabotage to me. They do the same thing with unions and political parties. If anything is a potential threat to profits, it’s infiltrated and undermined.

    There’s simply no way that a team focused on employee rights does something like this. Everybody working there would definitely be aware that companies routinely try to identify and punish people for their posts. That alone would end any non-malicious plans for using real names.

    CriticalMiss ,

    I take it as stage 2 of enshittification?

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