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Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

venturebeat.com

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Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#21

Post by aliston »

KVFinn wrote: post #2

>Look, whatever “side” of this you’re one, here’s what happened: >Some guys made some guy jokes about guy stuff >A woman got offended and did something that was probably an over-reaction >Some conference organizers over-reacted >A company (PlayHaven) over-reacted >The internet (all of us, but especially Anonymous) over-reacted >Another company (SendGrid) over-reacted >I’ve been cursed and pilloried and told to go kil…

I don't blame Adria for going into hiding, but 2 weeks from now I doubt anyone will even remember this snafu.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#22

Post by KVFinn »

Millennium wrote: post #9
KVFinn wrote: post #2

>Look, whatever “side” of this you’re one, here’s what happened: >Some guys made some guy jokes about guy stuff >A woman got offended and did something that was probably an over-reaction >Some conference organizers over-reacted >A company (PlayHaven) over-reacted >The internet (all of us, but especially Anonymous) over-reacted >Another company (SendGrid) over-reacted >I’ve been cursed and pilloried and told to go kil…

The fact that he said anyone over-reacted is not going to help things. That's not to say I don't think there were overreactions all around: I do. But it's been my experience that people really don't like to hear that they're overreacting, especially while they're in the middle of overreacting. They dislike it so much that entire schools of thought are now dedicated quite strongly to the proposition that there is no s…

>But it's been my experience that people really don't like to hear that they're overreacting, especially while they're in the middle of overreacting. They dislike it so much that entire schools of thought are now dedicated quite strongly to the proposition that there is no such thing as overreaction.

>The author of this article may well have singlehandedly touched off another round of overreaction from all parties involved.

Interesting. I can see that. What sort of schools of thought are you thinking about here that talk about this sort of thing?

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#23

Post by theorique »

criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

They pick their language to troll their target. They pick it after picking their target -- the language isn't the reason!

Nailed it.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#24

Post by aaronbrethorst »

criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

Please explain how this situation would have worked if, instead of Adria, the original tweeter/picture-poster had been a white, heterosexual, Protestant man.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#25

Post by pyre »

jlgreco wrote: post #8
KVFinn wrote: post #2

>Look, whatever “side” of this you’re one, here’s what happened: >Some guys made some guy jokes about guy stuff >A woman got offended and did something that was probably an over-reaction >Some conference organizers over-reacted >A company (PlayHaven) over-reacted >The internet (all of us, but especially Anonymous) over-reacted >Another company (SendGrid) over-reacted >I’ve been cursed and pilloried and told to go kil…

Does anyone have clarification on how people think that the conference people overreacted? All that I have heard seems fairly reasonable.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one too. It seems that the conference organizers did an excellent job of not over-reacting. They followed their procedures, defused the initial incident discreetly (as much as they could since it was already public knowledge), and updated their Code of Conduct to include a clause to explicitly say not to "name and shame" people.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#26

Post by sp332 »

misnome wrote: post #20
sp332 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't about anonymity. The people involved (Adria, Hank, the companies that fired them) talked to each other face-to-face.

Yes, but the rest of the internet is in anonymity. Which reaction has been blown all out of proportion.

There is a lot of vitriol on pages with identities both pseudonymous, e.g. disqus, and real... did you see the conversation on Facebook? People use their real names and identities to be "dickwads".

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#27

Post by phildini »

maudineormsby wrote: post #12

Sorry, but I don't think the conference organizers overreacted. They did exactly what they were supposed to do under the CoC - they received a complaint, and addressed it discreetly. If they hadn't taken it seriously, and just said 'cool it', then they'd be guilty of not taking their own CoC seriously. And they didn't kick the guy out, or anything like that - it was basically a verbal warning, but done formally so th…

Thank you! Everyone is getting down on the PyCon folks, when all they did was follow their own rules. No one was kicked out, there was no over-reaction.

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#28

Post by MartinCron »

Millennium wrote: post #9
KVFinn wrote: post #2

>Look, whatever “side” of this you’re one, here’s what happened: >Some guys made some guy jokes about guy stuff >A woman got offended and did something that was probably an over-reaction >Some conference organizers over-reacted >A company (PlayHaven) over-reacted >The internet (all of us, but especially Anonymous) over-reacted >Another company (SendGrid) over-reacted >I’ve been cursed and pilloried and told to go kil…

The fact that he said anyone over-reacted is not going to help things. That's not to say I don't think there were overreactions all around: I do. But it's been my experience that people really don't like to hear that they're overreacting, especially while they're in the middle of overreacting. They dislike it so much that entire schools of thought are now dedicated quite strongly to the proposition that there is no s…

That's an interesting conundrum that I've grappled with myself. Telling myself counter-productive things like "outrage is a perfectly normal reaction to an outrageous situation".

How should you tell someone that they're overreacting?

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#29

Post by nbouscal »

alexobenauer wrote: post #7

I apologize in advance for nitpicking, but from the article: "It’s been horrible for the PlayHaven developer who lost his job. [...] Who now has to find a new job in tech to support his kids. What’s worse, is that he’s not in Silicon Valley..." Software engineering exists beyond silicon valley. It's true.

It exists, but if you read past where you clipped the quote, you notice that all he's saying is that in the valley demand is extremely high. Demand in other places is significantly lower. (Speaking partly from personal experience, as I do not live in Silicon Valley.)

Re: Adria Richards: ‘I’m staying safe’

#30

Post by pekk »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #24
criley wrote: post #18

I hate the idea that she's getting death threats and insults because of her gender. That's wrong. It's not because of her gender. It's because she's a notable figure on the internet. I challenge the reader to find any notable figure online who has held a controversial position and not been the target of death threats. That is an Internet anonymity problem, not a gender problem! Women are not the only targets of anony…

Please explain how this situation would have worked if, instead of Adria, the original tweeter/picture-poster had been a white, heterosexual, Protestant man.

white men are never sent death threats, are you sure?
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