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ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

electronconf.com

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Re: ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

#12

At face value this is poor communication. It's not clear what kind of diversity they aimed for: was it gender, racial, economic? What are they taking a stand for?

My thoughts exactly, diversity has so many dimensions it could be applied to.

Re: ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

#13

I am an Indian (मैं भारतीय हूं‌) but as long as there are people who put token diversity over true meritocracy, there will never be hope for the downtrodden. This entire thing is such a farce.

Why would the downtrodden benefit from a true meritocracy?

Re: ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

#14
I don't get it; like race/gender or code. Are they all desktop chat and Todo apps and since electron isn't "taken seriously" so they won't move forward? Or they can't fill an arbitrary human type diversity?

Like less than a paragraph, idk if this was a big conf but this is not a satisfactory explanation.

Re: ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

#16
post #4

I'm glad that they're taking it seriously and not just saying they're committed to diversity. It's postponed, not cancelled, though.

Why postpone it at all? They did a call for papers with blind review and the best papers were men. Its new tech, conferences are important promotion opportunities, especially for tech as maligned as Electron is. This seems like bad optics, and I feel bad for anyone who was accepted but gets bumped for a new presenter of the "right demographics".

Imagine if a few $MINORITY_GROUP speakers get in in the next round. Are they there because of merit, or because of optics? As a minority I would feel a bit patronized. And won't the next conference feel like a guy saying "I'm not racist, I have a black friend."?

Re: ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

#17
post #13

I am an Indian (मैं भारतीय हूं‌) but as long as there are people who put token diversity over true meritocracy, there will never be hope for the downtrodden. This entire thing is such a farce.

Why would the downtrodden benefit from a true meritocracy?

[deleted]

Re: ElectronConf postponed until a “more diverse slate of speakers” can be delivered

#19

I am an Indian (मैं भारतीय हूं‌) but as long as there are people who put token diversity over true meritocracy, there will never be hope for the downtrodden. This entire thing is such a farce.

The concept of a meritocracy on issues like this is what most people think naturally makes sense. Except that study after study, and evidence after evidence has shown that over the long run it's a flawed strategy.

That's why companies push for diversity on boards and in leadership positions because (a) it encourages people minorities/women/etc to strive for those positions and because (b) homogenous viewpoints are destructive.

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