Isn't this the second highly public data point (that I know of) of him slashing and burning G+ and Google and then backtracking and saying how Google is the best place to work for (the previous one: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2811818). That one, he claimed, was a misunderstanding, this one is a late night permissions error. I am sorry but for someone of his caliber these sound like made up excuses.
I think he sees the problems, goes off the deep end, then either sobers up or is muzzled by Google's PR machine. Or Google may be thinking any publicity is good publicity.
>Isn't this the second highly public data point (that I know of) of him slashing and burning G+ and Google and then backtracking and saying how Google is the best place to work for
No its not, because thats not what happened this time. He is pretty clear that he likes google and but sees some flaws. Did you even read the post? Hes not backtracking, he was just being critical about something to an audience he thought would be able to understand him. I could trash aspects of the product I work on to my coworkers too, that doesn't mean I don't think that it isn't overall good.
I read the post a second time much more carefully and it seems clear now that he did target an internal Google audience from the tone, i.e. it was a genuine mistake. So I take my previous comment back.
As for your comment about thrashing a product but loving the workspace: Yegge's criticisms run deep, they are not just about a stupid feature in a product; rather they are about the company's DNA.
I think he sees the problems, goes off the deep end, then either sobers up or is muzzled by Google's PR machine. Or Google may be thinking any publicity is good publicity.