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SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

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Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#281

Post by moogleii »

ericabiz wrote: post #217
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…

> "Most [all, actually] of the women I've talked to about this are furious with her over how badly this portrays women." Okay, time to speak up! Hi, I'm a woman in tech. And this upset me, but not for the reasons you think. I agree that Adria went too far in publicly Tweeting and "name and shaming" these guys. But the vitriol and hate that has spewed forth online to her is what takes my breath away. Comments calling…

I sympathize, but your story seems a bit of a stretch. I thought somehow you were going to lead to how he implied you weren't smart enough to be an entrepreneur or something absurd like that.

The last time I innocently chatted up a "taken" woman next to her boyfriend, I was later told by a number of individuals that it seemed like I was hitting on her and it was inappropriate. The allegations totally blew me away because that couldn't have been further from the truth. I was not flirting, I was not touching, I simply asked a lot about her work. I guess old school "bro code" says you shouldn't be too friendly with taken women. Personally, I think it's dumb. Maybe your "perp" thought likewise. And I too would be a little curious why a front-end non-entrepreneur would be at an entrepreneur's conference. Maybe he has some hot new app idea, maybe not.

As for your other examples, though, sorry to hear you had to go through that. With the big-wig, personally, it would come down to how witty of a retort I could come up with, because really, f him. Otherwise, I'd just hold my tongue, which is the safest route, sexist or non-sexist insult alike.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#282

Post by tomp »

nettdata wrote: post #265
blindhippo wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it sure as hell was not a "good business decision". They got attacked by errant children expressing sad rage at something that while bad, was not deserving of retaliation against the company. So the result: the company ditches one of their employees for very dubious reasons. Basically they caved to internet bullying and validated every sexist moron on the internet. Well done Sendgrid. Well done.

No. She made a big stink about what she overheard in a private conversation between two friends, and posted it on Twitter. Probably would not have been a big deal except that one of them, a father of three, was fired as a result. Not her direct doing, but seemingly a consequence of her actions. She then was found to be a bit of a hypocrite, based on her own tweets: https://twitter.com/adriarichards/status/31226509179…

> She then makes some strangely bizarre comments about racism

Actually, that was not "then", that was 4 years ago. Doesn't make it any less wrong or racist, just saying that it's not connected to this scandal.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#283

Post by mamoswined »

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.

It speaks to the corporate "Human Resources"-ificaiton homogeization currently engulfing the hacker space. Should anyone be surprised that a culture that fires an employee for fairly innocuous jokes is also one that fires an employee for speaking up? I'm going to bet HR departments were behind both firings. They can't "risk" having employees that aren't zombie drones.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#284

Post by redthrowaway »

sirrocco wrote: post #47
fatjokes wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Right now it looks like SendGrid fired her because of the DDoS they suffered a few hours ago. Do you have evidence for this? If it were me, I'd fire her because she caused a huge wave of negativity toward the company. I don't know what an "evangelist" does, but I'm pretty sure this is the opposite of it.

I don't have evidence but the timing speaks for itself - in the middle of a DDoS because of recent events they fire her. I'm not saying they weren't right in doing so, but it looks like they cave to blackmail.

The timing is, "the story isn't going anywhere, people are still pissed off, and she continues to make an ass of herself on twitter while all eyes are on her".

I'd have fired her, too.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#285

Post by SODaniel »

I just hope this 'story' ends here. Both parties having learned a lesson and walking away a little bit humbler and thoughtful.

I would absolutely HATE to see this become a drawn out legal battle comedy. And I would hate it even more to see Adria end up playing the victim and become some sort of 'women's advocate' showing up in some morning show couch crying and blaming 'the male tech industry'.

Then again, no high hopes on it being over.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#286

Post by dfxm12 »

gregd wrote: post #267
ericabiz wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Most [all, actually] of the women I've talked to about this are furious with her over how badly this portrays women." Okay, time to speak up! Hi, I'm a woman in tech. And this upset me, but not for the reasons you think. I agree that Adria went too far in publicly Tweeting and "name and shaming" these guys. But the vitriol and hate that has spewed forth online to her is what takes my breath away. Comments calling…

Please do not mistake the social ineptitude of others in the tech industry, as applying equally to the rest of us.

Likewise, no one should think all women behave like Richards.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#287

Post by mwetzler »

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…

> the women I've talked to about this are furious with her

This doesn't represent the views of all women in tech. What happened to Adria could happen to any of us outspoken women. She didn't handle the situation perfectly, but there's no way she could have known this would unfold in this way. She said she didn't want the guy to get fired and apologized to him. I'm horrified by what happened to her and now afraid the same could happen to me.

None of us should have to be afraid that a tweet like that could get someone fired, provoke threats, or warrant attacks on our companies.

The nature of the attacks against Adria are EXTREMELY misogynistic (rape threats, death threats, people calling her a c_nt, b_tch, wh_re, etc) and many people have taken up a "burn her at the stake" mentality. They've also pulled into question her professional credibility and called her an affirmative action hire. They are saying this kind of behavior should be expected from someone with the domain "butyouragirl".

There is a simply an undue level of hatred for Adria which is correlated to her gender, I think in large part because she is an outspoken feminist.

I'm trying to be more outspoken about gender bias I encounter in the workplace, but incidents like this are a terrifying reminder of why that can be dangerous.

I'm not mad at Adria. The larger and more striking problem is how much hatred for women exists in this community and how threatening that feels.

If anything good came of this, it's that these biases are now coming to a head, right out in the open for all to see.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#288

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #258
raganwald wrote: post #219

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? People say the same things all the time in companies where women complain about inappropriate sexuality. "What if I say something that offends her?" Most of us are good, inoffensive people. We are saddled with growing up in a world that is changing. It used to be accept…

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#289

Post by oneweekwonder »

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…

Can you tell me what they said. All I can find is something about forking and dongle? Because it just seems to me like hearsay.

Re: SendGrid Fires Company Evangelist After Twitter Fracas

#290

Post by rorrr »

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…

She deserved to get fired. She made up a bullshit story that got a developer fired.
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