Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace • Hacker News Board

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#11

Post by ChrisNorstrom » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 8:56 PM UTC

Would you also reject Tomas Jefferson as a founding father of America because he owned slaves? Should Martin Luther King also be rejected as an icon of the civil rights movement because he plagiarized material and had extramarital affairs with women. What people do or think in their personal lives and the value they add to a company are two different things. What about Nelson Mandella? Bill Clinton? Or all the other men with weaknesses, sins, mistakes, and flaws?

Sit down with me for 5 minutes and I'll find a whole bunch of personal things about you I don't like either, but should that affect weather or not I employ you?

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#12

Post by sehr » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 8:57 PM UTC

mankyd wrote: post #2

Relevant link to Eich's suppport of California's Prop 8: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/04/business/la-fi-tn-br... This is not something that I was familiar with.

An equally relevant link to Eich's response to the backlash: https://brendaneich.com/2012/04/community-and-diversity/

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#13

Post by kawliga » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 8:58 PM UTC

Irony at its best.

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#14

Post by autarch » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 8:58 PM UTC

evertonfuller wrote: post #5

Irrelevant of any feelings towards being gay or not. Surely this is a form of oppression in itself. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, whether you approve of them or not, and so by effectively black-mailing others to conform to your perceived social 'right'. I see this as a sad attempt at press. Having never heard of this company or product before.

Calling this a "form of oppression" is a bit silly. How are Brendan Eich's rights being denied here? How is Brendan being prevented from acting on his own beliefs?

These two people decided that they don't want to associate with an organization where the CEO is, in their opinion, anti-gay. That's entirely within their rights, isn't it?

As others in the thread said, action have consequences. One consequence of being publicly perceived as anti-gay is that gay people and their supporters may not want to associate with you.

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#15

Post by FiddlerClamp » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 8:59 PM UTC

evertonfuller wrote: post #5

Irrelevant of any feelings towards being gay or not. Surely this is a form of oppression in itself. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, whether you approve of them or not, and so by effectively black-mailing others to conform to your perceived social 'right'. I see this as a sad attempt at press. Having never heard of this company or product before.

Speaking out against bigotry is not 'oppression.'

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#16

Post by chrismonsanto » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 8:59 PM UTC

evertonfuller wrote: post #5

Irrelevant of any feelings towards being gay or not. Surely this is a form of oppression in itself. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, whether you approve of them or not, and so by effectively black-mailing others to conform to your perceived social 'right'. I see this as a sad attempt at press. Having never heard of this company or product before.

I super disagree that this is a form of oppression. They're a small company who made a mobile game, and they're voicing their disapproval peacefully. Calling this 'oppression' is pretty melodramatic.

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#17

Post by jasonlotito » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 9:00 PM UTC

m0skit0 wrote: post #6

I understand your posture and I totally support gay marriage, but you're mixing politics with work, and you're taking a personal issue to a professional level. It's Brendan Eich that supported the prop 8, not Mozilla. That's a very very very VERY unprofessional stance. From now on I will be very careful in buying/getting anything from your company because of huge lack of professionalism being shown here. This said, I…

And Mozilla chose Brendan Eich to represent them as CEO. There is a distinct difference between being an employee, and being the CEO.

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#18

Post by trentmb » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 9:01 PM UTC

vsviridov wrote: post #10

"By using Arabic numerals you are helping terrorists." As long as Mozilla products do not feature a "Not to be used by gays" warning, whatever Eich does in his time is irrelevant. He's free to spend his money in any way he likes. What prevented the authors of this article to spend $1000 to counterbalance Eich's contribution if they are so concerned?

> What prevented the authors of this article to spend $1000 to counterbalance Eich's contribution if they are so concerned?

Outrage is cheaper and gets more attention. Kinda like when a toddler throws a tantrum.

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#19

Post by wudf » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 9:02 PM UTC

Gotta be extreme to get any attention. At least give Brendan a way out other than stepping down. Maybe he will apologize and try to make amends in light of his new responsibility.

Re: Goodbye, Firefox Marketplace

#20

Post by urbanautomaton » Mon, Mar 24, 2014, 9:03 PM UTC

m0skit0 wrote: post #6

I understand your posture and I totally support gay marriage, but you're mixing politics with work, and you're taking a personal issue to a professional level. It's Brendan Eich that supported the prop 8, not Mozilla. That's a very very very VERY unprofessional stance. From now on I will be very careful in buying/getting anything from your company because of huge lack of professionalism being shown here. This said, I…

> That's a very very very VERY unprofessional stance.

I do not recognise this definition of professionalism, and am happy to be called unprofessional if it is the accepted one.

Mozilla is an organisation that is dependent on community goodwill and support, and if the person they choose as a figurehead is one who has taken direct action to alienate a large segment of that community, then it seems to me entirely proper for that community to react as they see fit.