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SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

mashable.com

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Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#121

Post by militiaman21 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #56
danso wrote: post #33

This post contains no more information than did the other deleted threads. The past threads were deleted because HN mods think that the announcement is fake. This Mashable story adds no new reporting.

Yeah, a verbal confirmation seems justified under the circumstances.

From SendGrid's Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SendGrid/posts/10151502570463967

Effective immediately, SendGrid has terminated the employment of Adria Richards. While we generally are sensitive and confidential with respect to employee matters, the situation has taken on a public nature. We have taken action that we believe is in the overall best interests of SendGrid, its employees, and our customers. As we continue to process the vast amount of information, we will post something more comprehensive.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#122

Post by Zikes »

danilocampos wrote: post #46
blhack wrote: post #20

I really wish that this whole thing could have ended amicably (perhaps with Adria apologizing to the devs [by the way, the guy who was fired has already publicly apologized]). It's too bad that sendgrid had to fire her, I would never wish that somebody had their livlihood taken from them like that, but her job was to be a developer evangelist, which is a job she isn't realistically capable of performing anymore. I wo…

> (perhaps with Adria apologizing to the devs). What, exactly, has she to apologize for? The people in question were speaking like they were in a frat house in direct contravention of a code of conduct they'd agreed to. They had the right to speak. And Adria had the right to tweet. If they didn't like being publicly outed for saying this stuff, guess what? All they had to do was shut their mouths. > What if I acciden…

> speaking like they were in a frat house

> How does accidental immature behavior work?

Something like that, I suppose.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#123

Post by jakejake »

onemorepassword wrote: post #49

In events like these I'm glad I'm living under protective labor laws and not in the US. That would have forced all parties involved to talk it out like grown-ups instead of resorting to terminating those involved. Now there is no kind of resolution, but two people are unemployed and two companies are damaged. Nice going.

This is the second post I've read recently about the US having no labor laws. Is that what everybody outside the US thinks?

There's tons of laws and certain types of jobs are very difficult to fire people (unionized industries and govt. jobs). And there are laws and lawsuits for wrongful termination.

Private companies still have labor laws they have to obey. Except for certain types of issues employees can be fired. Depending in the size of the company things may be more or less formal.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#124

Post by untog »

pekk wrote: post #108
itsprofitbaron wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In response to the dev on HN 2 days ago, Adria said[1]: "I'm sorry to hear your employer deciding to not to work with you on this and I hope they reconsider, bring you back on and dealing with it constructively" [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5399047

"See you next year." Understood meaning: I am right, you are wrong, you are eating crow; after I publicly bullied you and got you fired, you are not getting away from me.

What? I'm sorry, but if you can interpret a phrase like "See you next year" in that way then it might be worth speaking to a professional.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#125

Post by niggler »

I for one am glad that everyone overreacted and the situation blew up. If this was swept under the rug or if there was an apology, this would have been a one-off event. The fact that people are overreacting, I hope, forces the community to have a larger discussion regarding gender issues.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#126

Post by knowtheory »

adamnemecek wrote: post #102
knowtheory wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, you'd rather see her name totally vilified and run out of the industry instead? Where's the understanding and tolerance for questionable conduct that was offered to the two guys making jokes now?

Did I say that I would want that? Also, there was a certain point at which, had she apologized and said something along the lines of "I'm really sorry about the fact that I escalated the whole situation more than was necessary. The thing is that the tech community as a whole still has a somewhat sexist vibe which I, as well as others, have been trying to eradicate. Unfortunately, innocent bystanders were caught in th…

Sure, i agree whole heartedly.

That's on her. What's on us is all of the comments saying things like "you'd be crazy to ever hire her." "SHE'LL never work in this industry again."

Great. Really tolerant.

(And don't get me wrong, i'm one of the folks pissed at the way she conducted herself, but i'm way more pissed off at the mob that's whipped up this incident into something it never should have been)

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#127

Post by jcc80 »

ajross wrote: post #81
danilocampos wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (perhaps with Adria apologizing to the devs). What, exactly, has she to apologize for? The people in question were speaking like they were in a frat house in direct contravention of a code of conduct they'd agreed to. They had the right to speak. And Adria had the right to tweet. If they didn't like being publicly outed for saying this stuff, guess what? All they had to do was shut their mouths. > What if I acciden…

Sigh. Can't everyone in question here be a jerk? We have two sexist/innapropriate developers; one stressed out evangelist who overreacted and innapropriately tweeted a photo; one employer who (apparently, there is STILL no evidence for this fact beyond the anonymous pastebin!) fired one of the first guys on questionable evidence; uncounted hordes of almost-exclusively-male internet users with crystal clear (yet routi…

"We have two sexist/innapropriate developers;"

Making a sexual joke is not the same thing as making a sexist joke.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#128

Post by masklinn »

danilocampos wrote: post #86
blhack wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you actually know what the guys said? They made a joke about the word "dong" sounding like the word "dongle". If this is what you think a frat house sounds like, you are very mistaken. That this is considered a faux pas is more politically correct than any office I've ever heard of.

> Do you actually know what the guys said? I can assure you I know substantially more on this than you do. People have a right to attend a conference without sexual jokes leaking into their ears while they attend a talk. It's as simple as that. Should the guy have been fired? No. Should he have been talking like that? No.

> Should he have been talking like that? No.

And he agreed and apologized when the pycon staff discussed it with him and his colleague.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#129

Post by fatjokes »

itsprofitbaron wrote: post #66
blhack wrote: post #20

I really wish that this whole thing could have ended amicably (perhaps with Adria apologizing to the devs [by the way, the guy who was fired has already publicly apologized]). It's too bad that sendgrid had to fire her, I would never wish that somebody had their livlihood taken from them like that, but her job was to be a developer evangelist, which is a job she isn't realistically capable of performing anymore. I wo…

In response to the dev on HN 2 days ago, Adria said[1]: "I'm sorry to hear your employer deciding to not to work with you on this and I hope they reconsider, bring you back on and dealing with it constructively" [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5399047

"I'm sorry to hear" is the standard non-apology apology. It's like "I'm sorry you got offended."

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#130

Post by [deleted] »

blhack wrote: post #78
salman89 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I would feel really uncomfortable if I was in the same room as this person. What if I accidentally say something that she finds offensive? Am I next?" I'm not agreeing with anything Adria did, but the issue of being labeled as the "tattletale" probably plays a big part in most women's reluctance to report real harassment.

Sure, and that is a legitimate problem that everybody has to face. "How much should I let myself be offended before I speak up about it?" But that is NOT what happened here. She even said in her blog post that she didn't find the fact that "dongle" and "dong" sound similar offensive. She decided to try and humiliate these guys over some desire to protect the possible future of some kid whose picture was being shown o…

[deleted]
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