Live data from Hacker News

SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

sparkfun.com

151–160 of 591 posts

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#151

I don’t know what’s going on, but I checked what Teensy is up to these days and it seems that last March they decided to outsource manufacturing and direct sales to SparkFun: https://forum.pjrc.com/index.php?threads/sparkfun-to-manufac...

Drama aside, why would someone prefer Adafruit or Sparkfun products over much cheaper whitelabel alternatives from China? A lot of those come with very good support and communities as well.

AdaFruit and SparkFun both provide MCUs, sensors, and other peripherals that integrate well. Couple that with copious libraries and example projects and you may be up and running without having to stare at data sheets and wiring diagrams and JTAG output just to (say) get a temperature reading and display it on a tiny OLED screen.

All of that plus maintaining inventory nearer their customers, doing effective QC on units they ship, writing good docs, etc. means you’re getting something a lot more like a “big OEM” experience from the hardware vendor, even if you’re ordering a handful of parts.

The generic AliExpress vendors, in my experience, do not do most of those things. They all support Arduino and/or PlatformIO, and sometimes a “native” SDK like mbed, but you’re often on your own figuring out how to integrate that bare MCU with other devices you need for a complete solution. Docs are often incomplete or untranslated, and it can be hard to know exactly which chip (or associated components like onboard sensors and BME) is on there. It can change between board revisions, or even identically-named parts from different vendors.

There are other players like M5 and RAK who make nice modular platform as well, but their prices tend to be up there with AF and SF.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#152
post #130

I'm still trying to put all the pieces together, but https://digipres.club/@discatte/115588660312186707 sure paints Adafruit as the bad party here, though I'm open to information which shows otherwise to understand better.

Reading this, it looks like everyone needs a break.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typing in all lowercase makes you look more vulnerable, it's a pretty common rhetorical tactic in PR.

I had never noticed this before. Can you point at any examples? I have long noticed high profile people going to court with some kind of cast on, though.

I heard that altman does it. I don't care about him enough to check though. More silly gimmicks like holmes talking in a mans voice or jobs wearing the same turtle neck

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#154

The only thing this public dispute tells me is I should never do business with either organization. What is with childish adults dragging "drama" into the public spotlight? What is a "Code of Conduct". I would have privately let them know we arent going to supply them anymore and wish them the best. That's it. Public drama is DISGUSTING!

Right, then why are you publicizing / dramatizing your own disgust?

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#155

hi, phil here — post on adafruit here: https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/01/12/discontinuing-the-teens... i’ll stop back and answer anything (sparkfun will not?). sparkfun is the exclusive maker and distributor of the closed-source teensy and informed us we will not be able to purchase the teensy. this happened after i sent an email reporting the founder, nate, for multiple harassing actions directed at limor, including…

[deleted]

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#156

Gotta love corporate skub fights. Honestly neither side is coming out looking good here. If you’re not doing business with someone anymore, just drop their products. You don’t owe folks an explanation other than “unfortunately we do not carry that product anymore.”

It’s not just carrying their products. They are the exclusive producer of Teensy boards and are distributing them to many resellers but not to Adafruit.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#157

To publish such a vague statement is an obvious invitation for speculation. It seems like rather questionable behaviour itself from spatkfun. The fact that they mention a "private matter" makes me think this is some petty personal grievance that has somehow escalated to this.

While SparkFun may feel entitled to air their grievances as an "Official response", these types of public statements aren't productive for business nor useful/respectful to consumers.

Public notices for the consumer should serve the consumer. I.e. they should only relate to matters that directly concern them, such as notice of availability, warranty, support or the fulfilment of other consumers' rights. Those statements should be unambiguous and not allude to blame or personal tiffs.

While Sparkfun's statement touches on availability it merely does so as a vehicle for grandstanding and retaliation through gossip and drama. The fact that SparkFun notes it's a "private matter" yet chose to involve the public also makes SparkFun look unprofessional, even if they are 0% at fault for the circumstances.

Consumers put their trust in a company, it is disrespectful of that trust when trying to embroil them in personal affairs, they never agreed to that.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#159
post #130

I'm still trying to put all the pieces together, but https://digipres.club/@discatte/115588660312186707 sure paints Adafruit as the bad party here, though I'm open to information which shows otherwise to understand better.

This adds some more context I guess https://chaos.social/@North/115605819126197877

Honestly the whole thing seems like everyone overreacting on both sides. Accusing someone is "doxing" because they used your first name?

Post reply on HN