re: #504 Gelly

Why should they worry about “appearances” in their private e-mails? It’s not like I keep all my e-mails super secret double private just in case I ever get hacked.

And besides, everyone who whines about how other workplaces are so much more professional and the e-mails there would always be polite and well-worded? That’s incorrect, and strongly so. It seems that way to lowly grunts like Joe Q. Employee, and to Joe’s boss as well, but there’ve been plenty of leaked letters and e-mails from high-level execs in both businesses and government entities that were much worse than that. Once you get past a certain level, there’s not as much need for formality and business talk and the bosses are free to BS around with each other just like anyone else. I’m sure the grad students and other errand boys are formal and polite in their e-mails to each other just like you have to be, but the scientists are at the top of the ladder and they’re going to say what they’re going to say, just like a CEO or a board of directors.

At the company I work for, we are constantly reminded that the computers and servers belong to the company, and so does everything that resides on them, including any emails we send or receive. The live on company servers, where they can be examined at will by the corporation’s representatives.

It is also made extremely clear that we are to conduct ourselves in a professional manner at all times when on company property or using corporate equipment.

People have had their email accounts audited, and some have been admonished for the content found in their correspondence. I’m not aware of any firings, but that would certainly be a possible outcome for a serious transgression.

And this is commonplace at other large corporations, too. I’d guess it’s the rule, rather than the exception.

None of theses emails are “private.” They are all directly related to the researcher’s work, and appear to have been sent and received through official servers - not through someone’s Yahoo! account.

So demanding a standard of professionalism doesn’t strike me as odd in any way. Had such a policy been in place in this case, there would be little to talk about, since it’s mostly the snark that’s catching people’s attention rather than the actual content.