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OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

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Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#211

Post by eropple »

zobzu wrote: post #48

oh look , at okcupid we just found out a way to use the current news as advertising! i think such stuff despises more than eich's support for prop 8.

You have a history of general reprehensibility on this site, so I probably shouldn't bother to give you the attention you crave. Because we all know that your beef isn't with them doing this, but with people not tolerating hatred of gays. And women, but, you know, one at a time.

That said, I want to stand up for a couple of my friends who work at OKCupid. They're excellent people and I don't believe the culture at OKC would be okay with using this as a vector for advertising. I'm confident they believe what they're saying and I wish more companies would take a stand against the bigots you like.

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#212

Post by ignostic »

adamors wrote: post #197
ignostic wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and I wish we could. But given the size of companies and products available, we obviously have to do the best we can. It makes sense to start with the company itself and its top leader.

But it's not possible. Every company is lead by scumbags, your only choice is which scumbag's product you buy. This entire situation reminds me of this scene from 30 Rock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm3TepXcD8A

> "Every company is lead by scumbags, your only choice is which scumbag's product you buy."

Again, that's a really big claim that you can't possibly back up. I don't subscribe to the cynical and defeatist attitude either. I'll do the best I can to make the world a better and more fair place.

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#213

Post by sentenza »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #171
sentenza wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. The guy is also the inventor of Javascript. Shouldn't everybody be boycotting that? I mean it has a lot more to do with him than Firefox does. After all, he's the CEO of Mozilla Corporation (not the Foundation), which is only indirectly connected to Firefox, but he _invented_ Javascript! What am I missing here?

The fact that it's realistically possible to boycott (i.e. not use) Firefox, but boycotting Javascript is - essentially - impossible. Sure, you can disable it in your browser, but that's nowhere near an outright boycott. (BTW, this is just one difference, one that I haven't seen anyone else pointing out, whilst other, just as good - if not better - differences have been identified in this very post)

Ok I see that it is quite unrealistic to go community-wide with a Javascript boycott (and I was talking about developers, not users). It's just that singling out Firefox to me seems so arbitrary.

Now the target is Firefox, the last big independent browser, even though it was _Mozilla Corporation_ (not the foundation) that made the wrong choice. Mozilla Corporation is IMO the place were pressure should be applied.

I realize now that this is probably what annoyed me most about how this affair developed. I am quite attached to Firefox and was rather surprised that it became a target in a scandal that revolves around a stupid move by Mozilla Corporation.

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#214

Post by intslack »

scarmig wrote: post #204
intslack wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely his (assumed) belief that marriage can only be between a man and a woman stems from ignorance and his religion instead of bigotry or hate. And while that doesn't negate the harm that his donation caused: please stop comparing him to racists. You don't know Brendan, I don't know Brendan, nobody in previous threads comparing him to fucking racists or the Nazis knows Brendan. It's disgusting, please stop. >S…

Opposing gay marriage [1] is a sign of bigotry and hate, by that fact alone. It's akin to excusing white supremacists in the 1950's for segregating blacks and whites and underfunding black schools because their opinions were religiously motivated (and most claimed a religion as one of the reasons--children of Ham, and all that) and because they ignorantly believed blacks were inherently intellectually inferior. Nope,…

>Opposing gay marriage is a sign of bigotry and hate, by that fact alone.

No, it is not. One can actually have empathy with gays and believe that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

I don't agree with those beliefs, but I'm speaking from experience that there are many people who believe that marriage has a very religious connotation.

Can you please cite a single interaction in which Brendan has looked down upon someone personally due to their sexual identity?

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#215

Post by agapos »

omni wrote: post #160
zobzu wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

actually stepping down might be worse than not, at this point. besides, people complaining about it are quite dumb: eich has been a major player in firefox since the birth of firefox. so basically, nothing has changed - him being ceo or not. If anything, this is triggered by people who want to hurt firefox, in any possible way. This includes but isn't limited to, competitors (Google Chrome, IE, etc.), disgruntled vol…

"besides, people complaining about it are quite dumb: eich has been a major player in firefox since the birth of firefox. so basically, nothing has changed - him being ceo or not." Except he's CEO now. The leader of the company. The public face that the company puts forward. The person that all the other employees are supposed to look up to. Other than that, nothing's changed.

Never understood this "face of company" stuff Americans are so obsessed with... if he wouldn't have took that job, but kept working on a similarly influential position as he did up till date, no one would be making these "boycott Mozilla" self-advertisements, just as they didn't do anything alike before, right? Does all this mean that people care more about someone's three titular letters instead of his behaviour and actions in his position?

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#216

Post by Aldo_MX »

agildehaus wrote: post #183
sentenza wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait. The guy is also the inventor of Javascript. Shouldn't everybody be boycotting that? I mean it has a lot more to do with him than Firefox does. After all, he's the CEO of Mozilla Corporation (not the Foundation), which is only indirectly connected to Firefox, but he _invented_ Javascript! What am I missing here?

Hey, I would totally be in for a boycott of Javascript. Let's do this.

Pick a Time Machine, and go back to 1995, I wish you the best of luck.

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#217

Post by jmduke »

daeken wrote: post #190
intslack wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely his (assumed) belief that marriage can only be between a man and a woman stems from ignorance and his religion instead of bigotry or hate. And while that doesn't negate the harm that his donation caused: please stop comparing him to racists. You don't know Brendan, I don't know Brendan, nobody in previous threads comparing him to fucking racists or the Nazis knows Brendan. It's disgusting, please stop. >S…

> You don't know Brendan, I don't know Brendan, nobody in previous threads comparing him to fucking racists or the Nazis knows Brendan. I know Brendan. I met him on a number of occasions while working at Mozilla and interacted with him on many more. I think the comparison to racism is completely valid. I don't think he's a bad guy (he was always quite cordial with me) but his actions caused harm to a large number of…

What actions did he take besides donating $1,000 to Prop 8?

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#218

Post by Justsignedup »

Isn't the whole point of america that PEOPLE DISAGREE? If you have an opinion, you are entitled to it. Your personal feelings on gay marriage should not mean that you are to be barred from getting a job where gay people also work. If, however, you go on record as the CEO of a company saying the company does not support gay marriage, then this is a different discussion.

So basically he is being ostracized all over for having an opinion. This is mob rule. I like it not.

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#219

Post by dang »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #170
dang wrote: post #60

We don't need more than one story about this on the front page, so I'm killing the others. Commenters: To state the obvious, this is an inflammatory topic. If you post a comment, make sure that it is a thoughtful one. Readers: If you see a comment that is not thoughtful, please downvote it. Most comments in this thread so far have not been, so you have your work cut out for you. In extreme cases, flag the comment. To…

"unthoughtful"? "toxic"? Those are what wikipedia would call "weasel words". If you have some rational criticism, spill it out and we'll deal with it like adults. Hiding your censorship under "obvious" labels is bad.

This isn't Wikipedia. We're happy to learn, but we're not going to import.

I notice that this is the second time you've challenged me with personally charged language. If you have more to say, email would be better.

Edited for clarity.

Re: OkCupid urges users to abandon Firefox

#220

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

hkphooey wrote: post #145
MatthiasP wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This political-correctness frenzy is beyond ridiculous. A browser company should not have to give statements about political issues that have absolutely nothing to do with their business. What's next, regular declerations concerning basic income, marijuana legalization and the Crimea?

Well said. This is mostly faux outrage. Brendan is one man, an easy target to scream and shout at. Notice how nobody is protesting outside mosques and embassies where under Islam, the penalty for simply being gay, let alone getting married, is DEATH.

That's a ridiculous generalisation; the status of homosexuality and Islamic law is far more nuanced than that. Not only is there not a single death penalty for being gay across the entire Muslim world, the legal status of homosexuality differs greatly. Of course, that is not to say that many of those countries don't exhibit abhorrent views, but the same goes for many Christian communities too.

I would warrant that a larger proportion of HN's audience feels some kind of connection with the technology world than they do with that of Islam, and it feels more reasonable to clear your own back yard out first before complaining about the state of your neighbour's.

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