Google sends reporter a GIF instead of a 'no comment'

[z1mm32m4n]

My favorite Google "No comment" response is still their response to Randall Munroe about his analysis of how big their data centers are:

https://youtu.be/I64CQp6z0Pk?t=2m59s

[probably_wrong]

Those that already read the "What If?" section might want to jump to 7:10, which is when he explains what happens after he publishes the article about punchcards[1]. I mean, it's a nice talk, and if you haven't read the article then totally watch it, but as I already read it...

[1] http://what-if.xkcd.com/63/

[rmc]

Gifs and memes are how we will get to "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" and "Shokath, his eyes uncovered"

[ambler0]

For anyone who, like me, was unfamiliar with this reference: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Darmok_%28episode%29

[ohitsdom]

Shaka, when the walls fell...

[autechr3]

"His arms wide.."

[72deluxe]

Excellent excellent post, that episode was brilliant

Thanks!

[downandout]

I'm sort of confused by this gif. I wouldn't look at it and say "that girl turning her head in one direction repeatedly means no comment". If it were funny, and actually had some sort of "denied" slant to it, then fine, but this particular gif makes no sense to me as a response to a request for comment. I guess when you have as much money as Google does you can be as disrespectful to reporters as you like, but at least try to be entertaining.

[Drakim]

I guess the gif could be read as "nuh uh! No telling!"

[userbinator]

It looks more like a mix of disbelief, surprise, and astonishment to me.

[halflings]

Reminds me of the GIF Detectify got from Google after getting into their production servers because of a vulnerability in the "Google Toolbar" portal [1] :

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/blog.images/google/niceme...

[1] http://blog.detectify.com/post/82370846588/how-we-got-read-a...

[downandout]

So the security team thought it was worth such a crazy amount that they made a gif to describe it...and then they sent him $10K? That isn't very much for a major bug like that.

[fcatalan]

Well, whats good for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary should be ok for Google.

http://judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/2015/3/at-the-flick-of-...

[arcatek]

How can an officiel website say "even when a president tries to unlawfully refuse to enforce our laws" ? It doesn't seem very neutral, I wouldn't except such an article to challenge the decision taken by the president of a country.

[nostrademons]

Doesn't surprise me. I released a couple easter eggs when I was at Google (notably [festivus] and [let it snow]), and the official response PR prepared for one of them was a poem. It's part of Google's quirky culture.

[cheatsheet]

This is internet and hacker culture; Google just happens to have a disproportionate amount of people who fit into those categories there.

[dingaling]

That's cute, but this instance is unlicensed commercial use of Disney's copyright material.

Where I worked nothing went to the press before legal review. It seemed burdensome but I'm sure it saved the company's hide on numerous occasions.

[jug]

Google also did this when they had the Google Toolbar remote exploit vulnerability reported and the guy asked about the reward, a good read on its own:

http://blog.detectify.com/post/82370846588/how-we-got-read-a...

[nsxwolf]

Google. Such an adorably hip, cool underdog.

[bshimmin]

Am I alone in thinking this is utterly infantile behaviour?

It makes me rather sad that the art of correspondence (the beautiful letters of bygone times) is now gradually being replaced with Facebook Messenger and animated GIFs.

[dctoedt]

This particular one is a funny-once, as Manny the narrator character said to Mike the newly-conscious computer in Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

(Manny also said something like, the second time it's half-funny, with a geometric progression downward.)

It's possible to look at the glass as half-full: People can still write nice letters, and sometimes do (often by email), but they also have other avenues of creative expression.

[realharo]

The expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" applies here. Sometimes it can more accurately express their reactions and feelings.

[vacri]

If you're demanding maturity, don't throw out petty, overblown insults. It's hypocritical.

[forgottenpass]

I wouldn't call it infantile, just playful in a way that Google no longer has the personability to pull off.

[auganov]

Infantile? Maybe.

Infantile == bad? No.

[A_COMPUTER]

I am a huge, huge fan of imageboard culture, which reaction gifs are _undeniably_ derived from, but I believe just as strongly that it's not something you should let "leak" into normal communication, especially not professional communication. So yes, I agree.

[smanuel]

If it's an exception - no. It's fun and it gives a new fresh look to big, evil corporations (but Google is not evil anyway [1]). If it were a rule - yes, definitely infantile and weird.

[1] http://www.cnbc.com/id/101923422

[billymonk]

A term like "infantile" when used in a derogatory manner is predicated on the idea that being young is something to be ashamed of. You should avoid it.

[paganel]

No, you're not. Plus I thought we left animated gifs back in 2013 where they belong (or was it 2012?).

On a more interesting note, someone should revisit Giambattista Vico's theory about language. The closest that I could find on the English internet after a 30-second search was this (http://www.philosophypathways.com/fellows/fahey.pdf - PDF link):

> Vico borrows the three ages of human history from the Egyptians. As shown above, the languages which corresponds to each are, first, the mute language of signs and physical objects; second, the language of symbols, comparisons, images and metaphors. The third is vernacular or epistolary language.

It seems like we're about to fall from the third stage ("epistolary language", which you mention) to the second stage, that of "symbols, images and metaphors". Now, what that means exactly I don't know.

[deeviant]

As somebody who has a SO who works at Google, thus giving me a bit of insight into the culture, I can factually say that gifs and lolcat-like memes have already started replacing the English language there.

[amelius]

With all those broken email readers, how can one even assume that a gif will animate when the recipient opens the email?

[pgib]

I, for one, fully support our gif-replying internet overlords.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31250/gifs/thumbs_up.gif

[grimmdude]

Didn't wired.com just overhaul their site? Very slow and clunky on my end...

[arjn]

I dont understand how that GIF represents "no comment". To me it looks more like an "I don't know" or "I've no idea" statement.

Also, I don't see why this is news. GIFs have been used like this for several years now. Reddit is replete with such usage.

[dmachop]

I usually get memes from Google official responses.

[attilak]

I think this response is connected maybe to yesterday's facebook (f8) event...