There is a thread on KiA where references to the original materials (transcripts of Randi's dispute with the freebsd developer) are available. The raw materials paint a rather less flattering portrait of who was attacking / harassing / abusing whom. This may be one of those cases where discretion (withholding names / evidence) does a disservice to the truth.
The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
171–180 of 232 posts
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Her blocking tool is idiotic. It blocks people whose only offense it to follow more than one account on Twitter from a small list of accounts that she considers to be GG leaders. It ends up blocking many anti-GG people who are following those accounts because they want to know what their opponents are up to.
Her blocking tool is more than just idiotic, it was a toxic, polarising firebomb tossed into an already vicious war, one that forced everyone involved to pick a side and stop even listening to what the other side was actually saying and doing by blocking them from seeing one side unless they did. It forced everyone to base their views of the other side on the most vitrolic descriptions their own site could come up wi…
Yes, I really don't understand the simplistic view of "she wrote a tool to protect herself from harassment". What she created goes far beyond that. It does not seem to be congruent with inclusiveness and reasoned conversation.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not entirely sure that it's to the advantage of an operating system development project to have free speech as an ideal. At the very least, there's the empirical argument that the major operating systems are overwhelmingly developed by private corporations, and you can be sure that if a developer said "hey, this new hire is getting his white supremacist followers on Twitter to attack me," the new hire wouldn't be…
What this has to do with software development? A COC has nothing to do with software development it's not enforcing anything related to actually committing code and collaborating. A COC forces you to be compliant to it every where on social media, on regular media, in person, on private forums... everywhere - this is thought police. A COC forces you to "hide" your personal beliefs, ideas, who you vote for who you don…
This thread is the most depressing thing I've read on Hacker News in months. I completely agree with you, dogma1138. You and I appear to be only ones who don't view the world through justice-colored glasses and who understand that attempting to enforce strict ideological conformity is self-defeating.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please trust me when I say safe spaces are crucial, especially to trans survival. I wish you knew how... devastatingly lonely it can be as an outcast in society. How everyone treats you. Solidarity is really important. Can you also imagine who you are constantly being criticized? Your problems constantly being made out to be false? That you have the burden of proof with everyone because nobody knows your struggle? I…
This may be unpopular opinion, but the fact is that there is just a perspective that you cannot understand through anecdotes or research. The experience of being trans, queer, female, etc., today is not summed up by text. It is the adrenaline and vomit from death threats, it's falling behind at work because of harassment, I could go on and on. Safe places are a way to ensure that everyone at least can truly empathize…
I don't know how to put this, but as leftist I've followed the discussion about safe spaces, GamerGate, "SJWs", minorities in tech, etc. with utter bewilderment. There is so much toxic language on both sides that I'm really at a loss here.
Most of the 'Anti-SJW' crowd seem to believe that a conservative, propagandist mouth-piece like Breitbart is a shining example of unbiased journalism. Ayn Rand seems to their demi-god and fat-shaming and victim blaming seems to be the norm. But this is not what really bothers me, because frankly, it's just the same-old stuff in new packaging. I expect nothing less from that crowd.
What bothers me is that the same techniques are being used on the side I identify myself with.
A lot of white men suffer. To me this is not just a question of race, color or gender, but of class and social dynamics. I find that a lot of the language used on the progressive side simply ignores this fact or even tries to deny it.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
You see behaviour you dislike and don't understand and you can say either "they are unpleasant people" or "they are unpleasant people and they have a mental illness". Probability tells us the first is more probable. This is the conjunction fallacy, and you need to address it because stigmatising people with mental illness causes those people harm, and doesn't help address the actual problem (which is that some people…
>>which is that some people are arseholes A lot of people who are assholes aren't actually assholes, but suffer from a mental disorder such as asperger's syndrome. By lumping all of them under the offensive label "asshole" I'd posit that you are the one stigmatizing them. Regardless, I think the question we need to ask ourselves is this: what is it about the gamer community, and specifically the "GamerGate" sub-commu…
Diagnosing your opponents with mental disorders is precisely what Stalin did.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
For all the hate in GG, it's a anonymous/pseudo anonymous mob on the internet. It seems hate is the default language of the louder minority. Somehow, not surprising really, the loudest people are also the worst. On the pro-GG side, look at the supposedly pro-gg websites that have sprung up that sell things or review things basically do everything that they are saying the current status quo is doing wrongly or unethic…
Well, here's the thing - while both groups are right if you take them at face value, there's no reason to take GamerGate at face value anymore. It's feminism vs. anti-feminism now. The anti-GG crowd, as a whole, complains about GG and calls them misogynists. They can be annoying. The GG crowd peppers anti-GG people with with threats, doxxes them, and sends SWAT teams to their homes and the homes of their relatives. T…
Citation needed. The behavior you describe is much more prevalent in today's left-authoritarian communities than it is among cultural libertarian ones (of which one example is GamerGate). The anti-SJW side has never gotten a CEO of a tech company fired.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
This may be unpopular opinion, but the fact is that there is just a perspective that you cannot understand through anecdotes or research. The experience of being trans, queer, female, etc., today is not summed up by text. It is the adrenaline and vomit from death threats, it's falling behind at work because of harassment, I could go on and on. Safe places are a way to ensure that everyone at least can truly empathize…
I don't know how to put this, but as leftist I've followed the discussion about safe spaces, GamerGate, "SJWs", minorities in tech, etc. with utter bewilderment. There is so much toxic language on both sides that I'm really at a loss here. Most of the 'Anti-SJW' crowd seem to believe that a conservative, propagandist mouth-piece like Breitbart is a shining example of unbiased journalism. Ayn Rand seems to their demi-…
> conservative, propagandist mouth-piece like Breitbart is a shining example of unbiased journalism
Breitbart is hardly an unbiased source, but it's not all bad --- Breitbart's coverage of SJW overreach in technology has been particularly informative --- and its pieces are generally fact-based. Breitbart is one of the only publications willing to talk about left-authoritarian overreach in technology.
It's depressing and demoralizing when major publications like The Atlantic and the New York Times act as stenographers for the grievance industry, when they publish lies like the wage gap as truth, when they unerringly support one side's claims of harassment and ignore bad behavior on the other side. The New York Times, in particular, feels like it's one step short of just running "#KILLALLMEN" as a front-page editorial.
Fortunately, these publications are increasingly out of step with public opinion, so much so that many of them are shutting down their comments sections. (No, people who disagree with you are not "trolls".)
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
He should have been expelled the second he was harshly transphobic to me, e.g., calling me a "tranny." I'm the trans woman Randi talks about in that article. There were many times he should have been kicked out, but in the end nobody cared enough about women's issues, or there was no real recourse for such. But since that didn't happen, Randi is trying to bring attention to the fact that the above isn't how things wo…
I have no feelings of transphobia whatsoever and it's only within the past year or so that I learned that "tranny" is offensive. This is not me saying that his comment wasn't transphobic (because how would I know? but you certainly would) I'm merely lamenting my past ignorance.
Congratulations! Your past views are incompatible with the present mob. You are now disqualified from running a technology company.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
This may be unpopular opinion, but the fact is that there is just a perspective that you cannot understand through anecdotes or research. The experience of being trans, queer, female, etc., today is not summed up by text. It is the adrenaline and vomit from death threats, it's falling behind at work because of harassment, I could go on and on. Safe places are a way to ensure that everyone at least can truly empathize…
Unquestionably, threats should absolutely be forbidden, and they are. Threatening another person is already a federal crime and anyone receiving threats online should report it to law enforcement so the person making those threats can be dealt with and so that person can't continue to terrorize other people online. We should feel secure for our lives. Indeed it's one of the inalienable rights defined in the Declarati…
> anyone receiving threats online should report it to law enforcement
The fact that you suggest this is proof that you've never had to do so. This is literally part of what I do for a living. I work with people going to law enforcement, sometimes as an advocate. Your local police have no idea what their laws are regarding online stalking/harassment, nor do they have interest in prosecuting it without a significant amount of external prodding, usually from reporters. You're welcome to look up anything I've written on the subject about this for reference.
Re: The Developer Formerly Known as FreeBSDGirl
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
What this has to do with software development? A COC has nothing to do with software development it's not enforcing anything related to actually committing code and collaborating. A COC forces you to be compliant to it every where on social media, on regular media, in person, on private forums... everywhere - this is thought police. A COC forces you to "hide" your personal beliefs, ideas, who you vote for who you don…
This thread is the most depressing thing I've read on Hacker News in months. I completely agree with you, dogma1138. You and I appear to be only ones who don't view the world through justice-colored glasses and who understand that attempting to enforce strict ideological conformity is self-defeating.
You should read the news more. This is not the most depressing thing to happen in months by a long stretch. Maybe you'd have an easier time getting over simple disagreements with other people if you, you know, got some perspective.