Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

I think this is actually the problem, the programming culture is too open and permissive, all you need is a laptop and an internet connection to make your mark on the world. But people don't want that, what they want is a certificate and status. That's why you see so many women doctors and lawyers, they would rather go through a system which whisk them from one point to another and protect them with certificates than doing something themselves.

Almost everyone on SO uses a variation of their real name. I suspect you are a smart enough person to know that that is far more than enough to engage in racial and sexual discrimination.

> Too many people experience Stack Overflow¹ as a hostile or elitist place, especially newer coders, women, people of color, and others in marginalized groups.

Maybe that's a problem. I don't know.

I'd rather see them address the problem of rampant question closures for dubious reasons and people who like to treat questions like a damn medium post.

edit:

Okay so reading further that is what it's about.

What the hell does it have to do with minorities and women?

oh they told them they feel less welcome. Did they say why, cause I don't see it here.

This just feels like dressing up a very real, very broad problem as an issue for women and people of color so they can get extra bonus points by focusing on it.

It's not just the appearance of the people who bullies you. Bullying forces you to become more closed, and changes you fundamentally while you learn to resist it. Unfortunately, resisting bullying needs one to unlearn "inherent (baseline) trust" when meeting with new people, and unlearn "implicit trust" which is reinforced with the duration of civilized communication and relationships, because bullying can come from the least expected person at most unsuspected time.

Also, continuous bullying warps one's perception about discussion. Any sign of escalation causes any bullying victim to just change the subject and feel bad about itself, because bullying starts with (generally intentional) disagreement, then this disagreement is used for a basis for physical or psychological bullying. Bullied people may not hate from themselves, but they cannot be content with themselves either. They always think that something is wrong with them, and feel powerless to correct it, because continued bullying is only possible when the victim is bullied regardless of his/her character, intention, behavior or capacity.

Prolonged bullying really leaves deep wounds like trust issues, complete lack of self confidence, fear of communication and feelings of inferiority. These wounds are very hard to heal, because as time passes and one grows up, society thinks that these issues are over and doesn't care. Also, people don't seek help since these features are considered part of the character and deemed fixed after a certain age, but they are not.

Good friends, and a really caring person can change everything if the person wants to heal. It's hard, but not impossible.

How do I know this? Because I'm bullied for 10 years straight.

Edit: Clarify sentences.

When you tell someone they're sick, or unwelcome, or subject to bias, and especially if you're a neutral source, they're liable to believe you. The mind is incredibly suggestible.

So how much of these feelings are because we keep telling people that racism and other issues are a problem? I understand the impulse to not dismiss the problem, but it seems like feeling like you're surrounded by racists has to be almost as bad as the real thing.