When Nerds Collide (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#351

Post by ZeroGravitas » Thu, Mar 12, 2015, 5:19 PM UTC

hsod wrote: post #316

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoting a witty Margaret Atwood line two years after the fact is not the same as saying "my life was threatened by someone". She's clearly describing a physical reaction to anxiety, hair standing up on her neck at the thought of a confrontation, which reminded her of school. If not she could have answered the simple question "You felt fear?" with "Yes, I feared for my life".

That seems an excessively charitable interpretation.

You can read her own blog post, that she wrote immediately after the incident, but before all the media hullabaloo started up:

http://butyoureagirl.com/2013/03/18/forking-and-dongle-jokes...

Who's interpretation fits better? The "I was literally threatened with death" version or the "I was anxious because I was confronting people who were behaving boorishly"?

At best you can claim that 2 years after the fact she suddenly decided that she was threatened with death, and just happened to announce this new interpretation in an article that she is on record (in the article I previously linked to in another comment) as feeling misrepresented by the author of.

"What could be worse than someone taking what you've told them and portraying you as the aggressor? It was a sucker-punch to the gut. This is what Jon Roson's article in the NYTimes did. I simply become an agitator affecting the man's life, no more, no less."

So, no, I don't think I'm being very charitable in my interpretation.

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#352

Post by mcguire » Thu, Mar 12, 2015, 6:07 PM UTC

pseudoplatypus wrote: post #327

mcguire wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they're on the inside and you're on the outside.

Is she? Why?

An insider can make any comments they like about an outsider (up to the point where the comments themselves become problematic to other insiders), but an outsider cannot say anything negative about the group or any of its members without being perceived as attacking the group and all of its members.

Basic in-group/out-group dynamics.

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#353

Post by dang » Thu, Mar 12, 2015, 11:55 PM UTC

calibraxis wrote: post #95

hyperion2010 wrote: post #26

This article is so spot on and covers many of the things that have bothered me for years about people who try to join nerd communities and then immediately start complaining about "inappropriate behavior" (eg the dongle thing). Yes, there are cases where there is real inappropriate behavior surrounding positions of power in corporate or workplace settings, but in the community at large and in the communal and public…

I'm in "nerd culture". If it's too brittle to fit the needs of people in it, to hell with it. Change or die. I'm reminded of Grigori Perelman's critique of mathematicians: "But almost all of them are conformists." "It is not people who break ethical standards who are regarded as aliens. It is people like me who are isolated." If anyone of us is a nerd and can't improve their own culture, GTFO. And take your "dongles"…

> Dinosaur.

Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News.

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#354

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 12:02 AM UTC

LordHumungous wrote: post #269

TeMPOraL wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't such a blind spot. They may understand the "prime directive" pretty well and see how bullshit it is. It's a system of redistribution of scarce resources that most people got confused about and now play it as a game of its own. It's not the profit that should matter, but the value that is produced, the improvement of human condition.

Let's face it, 90% of companies in this industry produce nothing but meaningless bullshit. If you work at one of the few companies that is making the world a better place and not just selling ads, social media, games, or other diversions for rich people then my advice may not apply to you. I don't work for one of those companies, and I prefer to dispense with the notion that anything I'm doing is for the improvement…

[deleted]

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#355

Post by pseudoplatypus » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 1:22 AM UTC

mcguire wrote: post #352

pseudoplatypus wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is she? Why?

An insider can make any comments they like about an outsider (up to the point where the comments themselves become problematic to other insiders), but an outsider cannot say anything negative about the group or any of its members without being perceived as attacking the group and all of its members. Basic in-group/out-group dynamics.

No, that I get and understand. I meant, why is she in the out-group? Or, more precisely, how do you know she is in the out-group?

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#356

Post by flimflamzimzam » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 4:50 PM UTC

modfodder wrote: post #272

Lawtonfogle wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mind showing evidence that these numbers are highly inflated? For starters, look at recent CDC studies in the last 5 years. Pay extra attention to how most cases of a woman forcing a man to have sex are not classified as rape (which means the summaries about rape are way off). There are other resources that I don't currently have on hand about how they are over inflated, but one recent story was about how over infla…

I will look into the CDC studies and their possible shortcomings.

While you are at it, why not also treat yourself to a look into the:

- 92% of split families where the mother (not the father) receives custody

- 63% longer prison sentences that men are given for committing the same crimes as women

- 76% percent of homeless who are male

- the disparity between workplace injury/death between the genders

- the vastly less federal medical funding that goes into men's health issues vs. women's health issues

- how the gender wage gap is eliminated when factoring in personal preference and number of hours worked

- who dies during war

- the requirements for men to vote vs. women (hint: what MUST men do when they turn 18?)

Or don't look into any of this - you'll get more Patreon bux if you stick with the "Man = Oppressor : Women = Perpetual Victim" narrative!

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#357

Post by JoeAltmaier » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 4:53 PM UTC

flimflamzimzam wrote: post #356

modfodder wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will look into the CDC studies and their possible shortcomings.

While you are at it, why not also treat yourself to a look into the: - 92% of split families where the mother (not the father) receives custody - 63% longer prison sentences that men are given for committing the same crimes as women - 76% percent of homeless who are male - the disparity between workplace injury/death between the genders - the vastly less federal medical funding that goes into men's health issues vs.…

Sounds damning. But some of that is because women are not allowed in the places men are. So the cart before the horse.

Also, I understood that most medical studies are about men, not women. Not understanding that item about medical funding.

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#358

Post by flimflamzimzam » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 4:59 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #357

flimflamzimzam wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you are at it, why not also treat yourself to a look into the: - 92% of split families where the mother (not the father) receives custody - 63% longer prison sentences that men are given for committing the same crimes as women - 76% percent of homeless who are male - the disparity between workplace injury/death between the genders - the vastly less federal medical funding that goes into men's health issues vs.…

Sounds damning. But some of that is because women are not allowed in the places men are. So the cart before the horse. Also, I understood that most medical studies are about men, not women. Not understanding that item about medical funding.

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#359

Post by theorique » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 6:37 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #246

wpietri wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. And I'll add that a private conversation is one thing. A conversation had in the middle of a crowd is another. And it's another still when that crowd is at a convention with a code of conduct and the conversation violates it.

I think the article mentions how in the good old days, conventions didn't have (or need) codes of conduct and a politically correct squad on standby to escort people out of the building if they made innocuous jokes that anyone turning on the TV to watch a sitcom gets peppered with (followed by laugh tapes to make sure people understand that it was supposed to be funny). What was said code of conduct? Saying things in…

Apparently the reference to "forking" and "dongles" could be considered sexual, if you squint enough. Never mind that it was a private conversation and Richards wasn't a part of it - she needed to get her outrage quota for the day so she photographed the jokers and tweeted it to tens of thousands of people with her martyrdom narrative appended.

Re: When Nerds Collide (2014)

#360

Post by JoeAltmaier » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 9:03 PM UTC

flimflamzimzam wrote: post #358

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds damning. But some of that is because women are not allowed in the places men are. So the cart before the horse. Also, I understood that most medical studies are about men, not women. Not understanding that item about medical funding.

More on medical research disparity: http://www.martynemko.com/articles/should-we-pay-more-attent... Women are allowed everywhere men are, they have been since 1968: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Protection_Clause

Don't be silly. Laws aren't what allows or denies women to the highest boards of big companies. Principally because men prevent it.