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Sun Guidelines on Public Discourse

Many of us at Sun are doing work that could change the world. Contributing to online communities by blogging, wiki posting, participating in forums, etc., is a good way to do this. You are encouraged to tell the world about your work, without asking permission first, but we expect you to read and follow the advice in this note.

Advice
By speaking directly to the world, without prior management approval, we are accepting higher risks in the interest of higher rewards. We don't want to micro-manage, but here is some advice that we expect you to follow to help you manage that risk.

It's a Two-Way Street
The goal isn't to get everyone at Sun contributing online, it's to become part of the industry conversation. So, if you are going to write, look around and do some reading first, so you learn where the conversation is and what people are saying. Remember the Web is all about links; when you see something interesting and relevant, link to it; you'll be doing your readers a service, and you'll also generate links back to you; a win-win.

Don't Tell Secrets
Anything you post is accessible to anyone with a browser. Some sites have a restricted content feature, but keep in mind that external content is NOT as secure as content that resides on a protected inTRAnet — you are responsible for the content you post and the restricted spaces you manage. Common sense at work here; it's perfectly OK to talk about your work and have a dialog with the community, but it's not OK to publish the recipe for one of our secret sauces. Content requiring a non-disclosure agreement or considered Sun Proprietary should NOT be published on Sun's community sites — even in spaces set up to restrict access to Sun employees only. If the judgment call is tough, on secrets or other issues discussed here, it's never a bad idea to get management or Sun legal help before you publish.

No Comment
Do not comment on work-related legal matters unless you are Sun's official spokesperson for the matter, and have Sun legal and management approval to do so.

Policies Apply
Sun's Standards of Business Conduct and other Sun Policies (including export compliance, trademark guidelines, privacy requirements, proprietary and confidential information protection, and anti-discrimination) continue to apply.

Be Respectful
Whether in the actual or a virtual world, your interactions and discourse should be respectful. For example, when you are in a virtual world as a Sun representative, your avatar should dress and speak professionally. We all appreciate actual respect.

Be Interesting, but Be Honest
Writing is hard work. There's no point doing it if people don't read it. Fortunately, if you're writing about a product that a lot of people are using, or are waiting for, and you know what you're talking about, you're probably going to be interesting. And because of the magic of linking and the Web, if you're interesting, you're going to be popular, at least among the people who understand your specialty. Another way to be interesting is to expose your personality; almost all of the successful online voices write about themselves, about families or movies or books or games; or they post pictures. People like to know what kind of a person is writing what they're reading. Once again, balance is called for; a community site is a public place and you should avoid embarrassing the company and community members. One of Sun's core values is integrity, so review and follow Sun's Standards of Business Conduct in your online community contributions.

Write What You Know
The best way to be interesting, stay out of trouble, and have fun is to write about what you know. If you have a deep understanding of some chunk of Solaris or a hot JSR, it's hard to be boring or get into too much trouble writing about that. On the other hand, a Solaris architect who publishes rants on marketing strategy or tax policy has a good chance of being embarrassed by a real expert, or of being boring.

Don't Write Anonymously
If you comment publicly about any issue in which you are engaged in your capacity as a Sun employee, even loosely, you must make your status as a Sun employee clear. You should also be clear about whether, in such commentary, you are speaking for yourself (presumably the normal case) or for Sun.

Business Outlook Rules
There are all sorts of laws about what we can and can't say business-wise. Talking about revenue, future product ship dates, pricing decisions, roadmaps, unannounced financial results, our share price or similar matters is apt to get you, the company, or both, into serious legal trouble. Stay away from financial topics and predictions of future performance.

Quality Matters
Use a spell-checker. If you're not design-oriented, ask

For six months I have been myself. Sleeping in, walking the dogs. Breaking things with Morgann. Chatting online in Gmail with my best friend, Melissa. I had a brief stint as a temp before the holidays, where I begrudgingly wore my professional attire, and was on my best behavior, as it was a very, very professional atmosphere.
Aside from that very odd assignment, wherein I reverse engineered a UFO with Bob Lazar (not really, but it was that weird), I have been unemployed. Then almost two months ago the incomparable Ara got me an interview where she works downtown. It wasn't glamorous, it didn't pay well, but something is better than nothing, so I took the job. And I have been loving it. Low stress. I can wear whatever I want. My tattoos? I'm clean cut as far as my coworkers go. Pigtails? Who cares? We listen to the radio at top volume. We cut obscene photos from the ad section of The Mercury and tack them up next to the Sexual Harassment poster in the break room. (They are always taken down eventually, but it's quite a riot at lunch time to see something new on the board.) This is the most low-key, easy, fun job I've ever had in my adult life. It makes running the photo lab seem difficult and stressful by comparison. Sure, I'm a photocopier jockey, sure I have to get up at 5 am, but it's been fun. (As an aside, Ara works in a totally different department and is far too clean cut and professional to work in the pit with the rest of us! I say that in a very complimentary way, might I point out.)
So here I am, committed to this mindless fun job as I finish my degree.
And last week the phone rings. The non-profit where I worked before, in suits and dress shoes, offered me a full time job. They had an opening, posted a job listing on craigslist, in one afternoon received over 200 resumes, none of them qualified or worthwhile. Someone said, "God, I wish we had Jenna!" so the HR manager called me, on the off chance I could come back.
I didn't want to, but had a number in mind, an hourly wage, and if they met or exceeded that number, I would realistically have to take the job despite having fun being grungy and relaxed at my current job. They exceeded the number...and I had to take the job.
The non-profit has a religious connection so in my mind I have sold my soul to the Catholic church because they were the highest bidder. God will now be buying my beer and birth control pills. : )
But I have to put away my tee shirts, my jeans, my personality. I was even told I am "vivacious" and have to "reel in" my personality. I was told on no uncertain terms that a "camisole goes a long way in extending a professional wardrobe". I could wear a habit, and this chest would still be obvious. But money talks. So next week is my last week of comfort, before I go work in a professional environment again, drag out my nice work clothes, put away the sneakers, tone down the pink eye shadow, and behave like a house plant so I don't get reprimanded.
Kiss off, indeed.
On the bright side, I can finally afford to replace my tripod and buy some more 120 Velvia for the tulip festival.
So if you notice I'm more outrageous in person moving forward than you're used to? It's because I have to bottle it up for 40 hours a week.
You have been warned.