

Ask HN:Did github deal with homakov appropriately - boskonovitch

Is github justified in suspending homakov or is it just a case of killing the whistleblower.
======
tedivm
homokov could have handled this much better than he did, and I don't think
anyone is arguing against that. He did break the terms of the service, and he
did it by committing to an active project rather than just creating a dummy
account for a proof of concept. That proof of concept would have made the
front page of this site in no time, so it's not a matter of exposure. Github
is completely "in the right" for their decision, yet it was still a bad one.

The simple fact that this discussion is occurring shows that they didn't deal
with it "appropriately". They are completely in the moral right- he violated
terms, and even if he didn't it's still their website. However, they
completely failed from a business and public relations perspective- if your
actions result in a bunch of people being pissed off at you (particularly when
those people are your active and vocal users) then you messed up. They had a
huge opportunity here educate people about how to report these things, and lay
the ground work to suspend people in the future, but they chose to lash out
instead.

------
tzaman
AFAIK he did warn them about it, and they did nothing. His actions are a bit
childish but he did no harm. Plus he brought shitload of attention to them
which isn't a bad thing. It's totally understandable they suspended his
account but if they want their reputation restored, they better contact him
and sort this out together.

------
lbcadden3
He violated the TOS, if they didn't suspend him I would question hosting
anything with them.

~~~
marshray
If they suspended everyone who could be suspended under the TOS no one could
host anything with them.

------
mr_eel
Yep, justified. He could have simply told them about it. In my experience,
Github is proactive about security and general usability of the service. There
is no reason to think they would have dismissed him out of hand. The right
thing to do was to give them a chance to fix it.

He acted like a bit of a dick, so they gave him the flick. Bad luck.

