I don't really get what all the fuzz is about. I think this guy is losing the point or trying to excuse himself for what he thinks. You wrote your thoughts about scala, the email accidentally (or whatever) leaked and somebody referenced your thoughts. The point is not that you wrote those thoughts in private or whatever the point is that you wrote that java suits you better than scala. And that's got referenced. Nobody said Yammer publicly announces that scala doesn't suit them. Whether your thoughts were intended for the public or for just one person is irrelevant. What a politician says when his mic is on while he is thinking is off the air, and everyone accidentally hears it, is still true. The fact that it was not intended for everyone to hear doesn't automatically make it false.