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

Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 126 posts

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#31

Post by pelagicAustral »

olalonde wrote: post #20

Faking speakers is pretty shitty but at the same time, it is disheartening to acknowledge that in 2023, there are still people who care about the gender or race of speakers.

> it is disheartening to acknowledge that in 2023, there are still people who care about [the] gender or race

In 2023 people care about gender and race EVERYWHERE. No matter where I walk in there is virtue signaling operating at the highest possible level. Live ads, TV ads, everywhere online, the bar, church, my friends house, my enemies house, microcontroller manuals, etc... I wish they tone it down, perhaps more conferences will stop faking female speakers.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#32

Post by rsynnott »

sandworm101 wrote: post #26

Few know how hard it is to organize these things. Getting speakers lined up isn't easy, especially those with any reputation. They hum an haw, provarikating until the last minute. At the same time you have to put money down on venues. It is always desperate until the last minute. So it is no surprise that, faced with pullouts, organizers did something stupid.

Per the article, they appear to have done this frequently, for years.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#33

Post by raziel2p »

uwagar wrote: post #16

so top male speakers are attracted by fake female speakers. what does that say about them top male speakers?

"Attracted by" seems disingenuous. More likely, top speakers (including male) want to know that the conference(s) they talk at put efforts into diversity. The same might also go for attendees.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#35

Post by fzeroracer »

I feel like I'm going insane with some of the takes here. The creator of the conference created catfishing accounts devoted to advertising the event, they advertised and sold their conference as being 'diverse' knowing full well that they're lying and the responses is 'oh, the poor organizer had to commit fraud to survive'? What?

If they're lying about whos going to the conference and speaking, then what else are they lying about? They've been doing this charade for years now. Regardless of your opinions on diversity I would fucking hope that people would agree committing fraud is bad.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#36

Post by jwestbury »

sandworm101 wrote: post #26

Few know how hard it is to organize these things. Getting speakers lined up isn't easy, especially those with any reputation. They hum an haw, provarikating until the last minute. At the same time you have to put money down on venues. It is always desperate until the last minute. So it is no surprise that, faced with pullouts, organizers did something stupid.

If you read the rest of the article, it seems fairly clear that one of the fake women advertised as speaking at the conference is a fictional persona created by the conference's organiser, and has been run as a social media presence for several years. It's hard to see this as an innocent mistake, in context.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#37

Post by soco »

pelagicAustral wrote: post #14
woodruffw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having trouble parsing this comment. Who got what they wanted?

[flagged]

So we are all missing the point that the organizer LIED around and he's being rightfully punished for that?

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#38

Post by footy »

uwagar wrote: post #16

so top male speakers are attracted by fake female speakers. what does that say about them top male speakers?

that they care about increasing diversity of the spaces where they're invited to talk.

I suppose it also says that they trusted the conference organizers and didn't do enough legwork to verify the fake speakers weren't fake, but it seems uncharitable to blame someone for that. Most people would have taken the claims at face value.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#39

Post by pelagicAustral »

guessmyname wrote: post #29

My suggestion to enhance diversity among conference presenters: each top presenter could bring a “plus one” from an underrepresented group to co-present. Alternatively, they could opt to forfeit their spot and locate someone in their professional network who can represent both a minority group and, if possible, deliver the original presentation.

Let's make even better. Let's use a roulette type of device with three wheels, one inside the other.

The center wheel is gender, the middle wheel is race, and the third wheel is underrepresented jobs in tech.

That way I can have a plus-one that is a gender fluid, Berber, truck driver.

Re: Backlash over fake female speakers shuts down developer conference

#40

Post by tyingq »

uwagar wrote: post #16

so top male speakers are attracted by fake female speakers. what does that say about them top male speakers?

"He also confirmed that speakers like him have rules for participating in conferences, including only joining inclusive speaker lineups."
Post reply on HN