Adria Richards, PyCon, and How We All Lost

Post by konstruktor » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 10:45 PM UTC

btilly wrote: post #13

cooldeal wrote: post #2

For the life of me I cannot fathom why PlayHaven went to the extreme step of firing the dev in question. What he did was certainly wrong, but certainly not a firable offense. A stern warning from HR would've sufficed. Also, I don't understand the hate and DDoS directed towards SendGrid. I think if any, PlayHaven should've been subject of it and pressured to reinstate the dev in question. SendGrid should've been press…

For the life of me cannot fathom why PlayHaven went to the extreme step of firing the dev in question. They had 2 devs involved that incident. One they fired. One they publicly said was a valued employee. We will never know why they did what they did, why those devs were treated differently, and whether they had cause for their action. I personally find it hard to believe that this event would be enough cause by itse…

Post by redthrowaway » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 10:47 PM UTC

Torgo wrote: post #120

YooLi wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the same token, we don't really know why SendGrid fired Adria. The post mentioned that SendGrid failed by not immediately making a statement (or forcing her to publicly apologize), then over-reacting by firing her too late. But we really don't know what was going on at SendGrid behind the scenes. Maybe they were trying to work with her and she wouldn't change her position, or maybe they just didn't know what to do…

For the last three HN threads I have seen people casting aspersions on the guy who was fired, that maybe there were other factors at play. Now it comes out from someone that knows Richards that she is a bit of a difficult person herself. Maybe there were more factors at play in her firing than simply this event. Of course who knows, but it's fun and easy to cast aspersions!

Post by ramses » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 10:48 PM UTC

Post by WalterSear » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 10:53 PM UTC

michaelochurch wrote: post #103

WalterSear wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not puns - just one pun. The repo forking was, though informal, a thoroughly unpurient and non-sexual comment that she read meaning into.

Repo forking is kid stuff. Back in my day, we fscked and we meant it.

Post by incongruity » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 10:56 PM UTC

niggler wrote: post #96

samiur1204 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Even though I'm sure Adria has been putting up with tons of real sexism over the years in the tech industry, and that this may have been the figurative straw on the camel's back, this is definitely the wrong thing to focus on. Sex jokes are definitely not necessarily sexist. These guys were perhaps a little crude, and their puns maybe horrible, but they were essentially harmless and at worst, just annoying. W…

" There is horrifying sexism in the comments that have been posted over the past 24 hours, and it just brings to light the pervasive sexism in our industry." Exactly. Which is why I'm happy this is playing out now, because I haven't seen the industry introspect on gender issues in a long time.