I would be surprised if many people here really just assumed that a pseudonymous user chatting with us in the HN comments was speaking on behalf of the company in an official capacity. I mean, obviously there are legal niceties to be observed and he should have appended the usual disclaimers, blah blah blah, but we do have common sense here right?
No, people don't have common sense. People should not post publicly on behalf of their employer without running it by a manager. This is lesson one at every major corporate introduction and I now understand why, because people don't have common sense.
I didn't say anything about whether he should or should not have spoken out about the deal. And I specifically said that common sense doesn't cut the mustard legally. But I am asserting that the damage from people supposedly assuming that he was speaking officially is speculative and likely zero.
