SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

Post by nospice » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 11:38 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #333

827a wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it means anything, the first thought I had reading this post was "I wonder how SparkFun is exaggerating or misrepresenting this situation, because I can't believe Adafruit of all organizations is in the wrong here."

> because I can't believe Adafruit of all organizations is in the wrong here. I've been hearing about this drama through a group chat for a long time. To be honest, neither side looks good in this one. Both companies have behaved disappointingly at different times for different reasons. I'm not doing this is an arbitrary "both sides" dismissal. There have been actions from both companies that would have been unaccept…

Post by throwaway81523 » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 11:40 PM UTC

quesera wrote: post #368

georgemcbay wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it goes back a lot further than Twitter. As someone who hung out on IRC way back in the 1990s (and internet-knew Limor from Adafruit back before her handle was Ladyada) I associate this writing style with the culture of a lot of the hacker-related IRC channels I used to hang out in back then. Some of the same people from that era did in fact turn out to be tech founders and maybe that's how it got carried ove…

Corroborating. It goes way back to the early 90s IRC and MUD cultures, from which many of us sprung. Limor came to the scene a bit later, but the culture was well-established. Most of us would code shift when writing in other milieux, some weaned ourselves off the habit when our work started interfacing with nonreceptive readers, and a few retained the affectation to make a statement (or an anti-statement!). It's amu…

Post by doubleunplussed » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 11:41 PM UTC

allreduce wrote: post #60

swed420 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't be the first time CoC was used as a lame attempt to harm open source. Thanks for speaking up.

I find it weird to jump to this from the scarce information we have. "Someone did a CoC violation" is just a way for an org to say "someone was an asshole to such an extent it was driving other people away or getting us into legal trouble", with the manner of assholery defined in the CoC. 9/10 times it is nothing sinister. Of course right now we just don't know what happened.

Post by refulgentis » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 11:55 PM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #374

ptorrone wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

after a decade of dealing with the founder's bullying, i had enough, looking back almost every year there was something. we did handle things privately until it was clear nothing was going to change, the only real change is we cannot buy teensy, a closed source board sparkfun exclusively makes now, maybe they (sparkfun) will stop paying the payments on something that had to agreed to, and have, we'll see.

I understand you're pretty upset with the situation, and I can't blame you. But I never should be reading about any of this on public forums. It doesn't reflect well on you or Adafruit. Now an outcome has been chosen for you, without your input. The situation is probably irreconcilable. That's not the position you ever want to be in. Obviously. If the situation was untenable, after your reasonable and private attempt…

Post by refulgentis » Thu, Jan 15, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC

thunderfork wrote: post #388

doctorpangloss wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely disagree. Be yourself. And broadly, if you aspire to be in charge, as opposed to a forever IC, be yourself even more! Adafruit makes an aesthetic experience that appeals to a niche audience. It is not an hockey stick growth company. And even those that are: Everybody makes aesthetic experiences. Nobody needs hobbyist microcontrollers. Part of the product is being on the “right side” of Internet dramas.

If part of the product is "being on the right side of Internet drama", that kinda makes me trust them even less. A perverse incentive to get involved in stupid slapfights, escalate, and lie about it...