Rude != ad hominem. Different categories altogether.
Ad hominem attacks usually involve asymmetry of public identity and often place a target between two undesirable options: (a) letting the attacks stand, or (b) further exposing information that's irrelevant to the discussion and possibly compromising, especially with the persistence of the Internet.
I am fine with rudeness. In fact, in many circumstances, I encourage it.
You understand that pretty much any Googler who wishes to defend their employer's practices against you is placed in the same position? I don't like the personal attacks that are made against you either, but you have to realize that how you see your experience at Google is different from how many people who were there at the time see your experience at Google, and that every time you make some assertion about how things work that, well, isn't exactly how we would've analyzed the situation, we're forced to choose between (a) letting the attacks stand or (b) airing dirty laundry.
Maybe it isn't so clear, but I thought it's been clear that I acknowledge the wide variety of Google experiences. Some people have good ones, and that's great.
If I said, "Google is a hellhole and you'll hate your life", then I'd be a liar because some people get great managers and the best projects and Google is really awesome for them.
What I do intend to say is that Google's HR infrastructure and upper management (at least on the people-management front) are irresponsibly bad at their jobs. That usually won't affect you if you have a string of good managers. If you land in the wrong spot, though, look out because there won't be any competent to fix the problem.
Google has a lot of ways it could become a great company again (open allocation) but for now, I'm going to come out and continue to say that their upper management (again, at least on people management) is disastrously bad and they are singularly responsible for ruining what used to be and still could be a great company.
I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let these assholes destroy billions of dollars in value and get away with it.
Ad hominem attacks usually involve asymmetry of public identity and often place a target between two undesirable options: (a) letting the attacks stand, or (b) further exposing information that's irrelevant to the discussion and possibly compromising, especially with the persistence of the Internet.
I am fine with rudeness. In fact, in many circumstances, I encourage it.