Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

mashable.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 605 posts

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#171

Post by dangrossman »

salman89 wrote: post #112
antonej wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whistleblower concerns are totally legit, but that assumes the whistleblower follows common-sense normal procedures (e.g., telling the event organizers in private, or even calling their boss). The learning point here is about the manner in which the alleged harassment was "reported" -- trumpeted to the entire world via social media with photos attached.

I completely agree, and we as a society need to learn how to live in a world where a single tweet by an semi-influential figure can cause such a shit storm. How liable are people for actions resulting from a tweet? If someone famous snaps a photo of you, calls you a pedofile, and throws it on Twitter, what are the consequences?

> If someone famous snaps a photo of you, calls you a pedofile, and throws it on Twitter, what are the consequences?

A published false statement that damages someone's reputation? That's libel. Whatever harm is done as a result of the malicious tweet would be repaid to you as damages in court.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#173

Post by seivan »

blindhippo wrote: post #154
seivan wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She had a right to complain, but not like that, not with a smug attitude, the oddity of taking a photo of two guys having a private conversation (although she heard them, does not make it a open conversation). Those two guys could easily be and my partner making silly phallus jokes because we fucking like to. You have no right to be offended. Which is why KKK and Westboro has freedom of speech. What she did was beyon…

"Those two guys could easily be and my partner making silly phallus jokes because we fucking like to. You have no right to be offended. Which is why KKK and Westboro has freedom of speech." Sure, you can make jokes about wangs as much as you want. Do so in a public setting and yes you can and will offend people. And yes, they have a RIGHT to be offended by it. It's inappropriate behavior in a public setting ESPECIALL…

Sorry I wasn't making my point across. Lets put it this way, taking a photo of two guys (probably geo-tagged) and uploading on internet because they said something you generally don't like.

_That is what happened_

How does she know those two guys aren't on protected identity, or have issues with being online on social media? I don't have Facebook because I don't want to be tagged on anything.

She had no fucking right to do so. And it's incredibly offensive. Some asshole turns around and takes a photo of you and uploads it, even though you had _NOTHING_ to do with that asshole.

There was no bi-directional communication between them. No argument. In fact, there wasn't even a path of communication between them. She heard words that triggered her and decided to act on it.

Not to mention.... it was not an insult towards her or about her. It was an immature joke. I personally _LIKE_ immature jokes, so does my partner. I don't say them about other people. I have a penis, and I reserve the right to make penis jokes.

You can move to a different chair. Or you can tell him to stop for a moment.

She fucked up, not a little, but big time. She's the fucking "villian" here.

I am OK with her getting fired, but not the other guy. He seriously did nothing wrong and got hatched for something as trivial as a fucking joke.

I can't post this enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gciegyiLYtY

You have no fucking right to upload a photo of two people that LITERALLY did nothing to you.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#174

Post by colin_jack »

Joeboy wrote: post #5

Given the way this has escalated I'm expecting it to have engulfed the entire civilized world by the end of the week. You Americans are crazy.

This has confused me. As a European the idea that making dongle jokes is specifically sexist or worse harassment seems a bit odd.

Its childish, its in bad taste, and not very funny. Its also against pycon rules so they got their wrists slapped like naughty children which is all fine.

However the idea it was anything more serious is kinda confusing to me.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#175

Post by pclark »

The internet does a lot of good but times like this it can be scary – or just plain wrong.

Once the wheels of motion are turning there is nothing anyone can do, even the way Hacker News behaved with it's mob mentality was absurd – two people got fired, SendGrid was brought offline, some poor lady received death threats, everyone was humiliated in some capacity, and by the looks of the comment thread on the SendGrid facebook page, equality in tech has been notched back a few decades.

Talk about blowing something out of proportion: some guy made a dongle joke to a friend of his at a conference. It's kind of terrifying if you think how easily you could have been one of the characters in this. You see so many times when some poor person has his personal details spread over the internet based on a rumour. What do you even do when this happens?

Mountain. Mole hill.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#176

Post by WalterSear »

niggler wrote: post #55
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…

People want Adria to apologize for actions that were outside of her control (like the guys getting fired). If anything, the overreaction by everyone involved merely proves that the issue of gender in the industry is still significant.

They want her to apologize for inappropriately publicly shaming them, and the actions that resulted from that.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#177

Post by _ak »

shardling wrote: post #156
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…

>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? Next to what? Adria didn't fire anyone...

Shamed publicly, slandered, etc.?

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#178

Post by doktrin »

shardling wrote: post #156
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…

>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? Next to what? Adria didn't fire anyone...

> Next to what? Adria didn't fire anyone...

Being slandered on Twitter is far from non-trivial. I too would walk on eggshells in the company of someone with a track record of over-reacting like this.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#179

Post by Peroni »

Joeboy wrote: post #5

Given the way this has escalated I'm expecting it to have engulfed the entire civilized world by the end of the week. You Americans are crazy.

The UK is no stranger to similar, ridiculous situations. Remember the BritRuby fiasco?

https://gist.github.com/seanhandley/4106776

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#180

Post by jrs235 »

m4re wrote: post #80
wilfra wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you notice this whole thing going on while it was happening? Did you hear the jokes? Where these guys obnoxious etc? Or was she?

I didn't hear a thing. The keynote and/or lightning talks that were happening during this were pretty loud, and I was paying attention to those (although it certainly doesn't look it from this snap, heh).

Good safe reply. ;)
Post reply on HN