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Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

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Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#221

Post by oidmortales »

tqkxzugoaupvwqr wrote: post #70
opportune wrote: post #19

Perhaps I missed it but is it known specifically why that person was uninvited to begin with?

They were warned by others that the speaker and her boyfriend are troublemakers: > My team and I were contacted by different people to warn us that they were uncomfortable with the participation of a speaker and her boyfriend in our conference. They told the organization of the conference that this couple had caused problems to women in the community.

According to HIM, there were other ANONYMOUS people.

Also, a couple causing problems to women? That sounds extremely fishy.

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#222

Post by oidmortales »

MagicPropmaker wrote: post #46

I'm a big fan of "unbalancedparen". He's a great guy; smart and considerate. I think the Industry has invited this sort of bad behavior by rewarding Cry Bullies at conferences. People act enititled and they're not willing to put up with speakers who they may have political or philosophical problems with. Similarly, speakers are expecting privileged treatment too, like the spurned speaker in this blog posting. When th…

I know him too, and he's a psychopath idiot full of himself that nobody stands except for his poor employees.

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#223

Post by oidmortales »

revvx wrote: post #208
wolco wrote: post #124

Many thoughts. Change communication channel immediately. Don't invite someone and when they arrive tell them they are not welcome to speak. Post a list of speakers before, get your feedback and live with your decisions. This is the best thing that could happen to your event. Use this time wisely to boost your event. Is it just me or is there a group of people who seem to go to every conference?

> Don't invite someone and when they arrive tell them they are not welcome to speak. Post a list of speakers before, get your feedback and live with your decisions. The speaker was notified in April 25. The conference will happen in mid-June. She was given fair warning.

You don't invite somebody and then just uninvite her with no provocation. No without some kind of compensation.

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#224

Post by oidmortales »

revvx wrote: post #139
enriquto wrote: post #118

The reaction of the organizer is very sad. Civilization is based on the peaceful collaboration of people who may hate each other. Disallowing such collaboration is, by definition, uncivilized. Being able to deal with people that make you very uncomfortable without creating a fuss is a fundamental requirement of adulthood. Regardless of the callous reaction of the un-invited person, it was not OK to un-invite them, at…

I watched this unfold on Twitter, and you're misrepresenting the situation. The people removed from the conference have a history of disruption and harassment in the community. They were removed because of previous behavior that the organizer was not aware beforehand. He relied on the testimony of people he trust. -- > Being able to deal with people that make you very uncomfortable without creating a fuss is a fundam…

Of course it incurred in shame. How would you feel if you are denied entry to a conference because of your partner? Best of cases, angry and disappointment, worst case is a breakup. Do you think you can play with the life of people that easily?

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#225

Post by DanBC »

Mirioron wrote: post #25

I was with the author until the diversity and equity part. Why does everything have to boil down to skin color and gender? I don't see why you need to offer this for a tech conference. It should be about ability and topics. Edit: I already regret making this post.

I'm more interested in why you decided to question it, and why people like you always, without fail, feel the need to complain about this.

You're calling on the OP to ignore a thing, while you cannot ignore this other thing. It's weird.

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#226

Post by londons_explore »

headcanon wrote: post #2

Sorry to hear about the harassment, thats never fun to deal with. On the plus side, sounds like OP made the right call to disinvite the person from the conference. You can tell an awful lot about a person by how they handle rejection.

As long as that speaker was one of many, I wouldnt have uninvited them.

If the audience has an issue with one speaker out of 10, they can take a lunch break then.

If it's one out of 2, I can see why they might not want to attend.

Using inclusion or exclusion to punish someone for past actions I would try to avoid at all costs. If someone has broken the law, the legal system is there to do punishment. It isn't your role as conference organiser/colleague/etc. to punish. You are not qualified to make decisions as to the veracity of the claim.

Perhaps the furthest I'd go is saying to them "you (rightly or wrongly) have a reputation for X. Please make sure none of that happens during the conference."

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#227

Post by john_moscow »

Mirioron wrote: post #25

I was with the author until the diversity and equity part. Why does everything have to boil down to skin color and gender? I don't see why you need to offer this for a tech conference. It should be about ability and topics. Edit: I already regret making this post.

Given the current political landscape, unless you put a paragraph like this into a public statement, you will immediately get labeled as *ist. So it was probably their legal counsel who insisted on including this part.

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#228

Post by [deleted] »

oidmortales wrote: post #224
revvx wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched this unfold on Twitter, and you're misrepresenting the situation. The people removed from the conference have a history of disruption and harassment in the community. They were removed because of previous behavior that the organizer was not aware beforehand. He relied on the testimony of people he trust. -- > Being able to deal with people that make you very uncomfortable without creating a fuss is a fundam…

Of course it incurred in shame. How would you feel if you are denied entry to a conference because of your partner? Best of cases, angry and disappointment, worst case is a breakup. Do you think you can play with the life of people that easily?

[deleted]

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#229

Post by chrisseaton »

bduerst wrote: post #120
duxup wrote: post #8

>Nevertheless, we didn’t expect a threatening reaction followed by several emails, Twitter DMs, persistent phone calls and Whatsapp messages. She even texted my girlfriend, one of the organizers of the conference, whose telephone number is not public and wasn’t given to her at any moment. At the same time, she started contacting other speakers of the conference. At that point you know you made the right choice... the…

Right? If you're asked not to speak at a conference, why would you go on to consistently prove it was the right decision to remove you?

I could turn that around to you: why would you expect someone removed from a schedule for being known to be disruptive, to not be disruptive when removed?

Re: Bullshit I had to go through while organizing a software conference

#230

Post by ryandrake »

striking wrote: post #215
ryandrake wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a lot (but not all) of the grief and drama the guy encountered could have been avoided by simply staying off of Twitter. Wouldn’t have stopped the crazed texts and other messages, but at the end of the day it’s also all just “words on the Internet” and I don’t see much real world harm here. EDIT: Wow, all this for just suggesting to not worry so much about what people write on Twitter. Sorry if I offend…

> Sorry if I offended someone! It's like you didn't actually read the replies. They state counterarguments; they don't show anyone taking any offense.

I was referring to the instant -5 downvoting seconds after posting, which usually only happens if you insult someone or offend. I really worried I said something rude!
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