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SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

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Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#571

Post by cloudfudge »

lsiq wrote: post #551
MallocVoidstar wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adafruit dev boards are way more expensive than Chinese alternatives but I've never used an Adafruit board where I went "why in the world did they do X ", where X is some design choice (except having a bright LED light up while the board had power). On the other hand I've had Chinese boards that have a battery jack but an always-powered component on the board uses like 10+mA at all times when alternative choices for…

Adafruit is basically the best but their whole reside-in-NYC philosophy makes zero sense. The contention that they can hire better people in NYC holds no water because over 50% of what they pay their employees goes to 3 layers of governments with no meaningful benefit AND their people pay NYC rents. They could literally halve their prices or double their pay if they moved to Jacksonville or similar. And their employe…

Turning this thread into a weird anti-NYC rant is certainly a choice.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#572

Post by cloudfudge »

asddubs wrote: post #499
hamburglar wrote: post #206

As an uninformed observer, here is a possible sequence of events that sounds somewhat plausible based on what we know so far: * sparkfun employee engages in some shitty behavior (maybe harassment, maybe photoshops) toward adafruit CEO * adafruit engages sparkfun to ask them to put a stop to it * employee leaves sparkfun * employee continues shitty behavior * adafruit continues to bug sparkfun about behavior * sparkfu…

Here's the ex-employees side of the story, complete with receipts (taken from another post on this story): https://chaos.social/@North/115602127173454774 IMO what they did is pretty overblown. They did register a joke domain but basically folded and apologized immediately. Then nothing for 8 years, until they commented on a post where adafruit was accused of doxxing on mastodon.

Wow, that really puts things in perspective.

Phil, based on this summary and reading the emails about what went down between you and Nick, you sound like an absolute lunatic. He mocked you once back in 2017. He set up a satirical website that had a single joke: you as obsessed detective, sniffing out perceived slights. Then, when called out on it, he very eloquently apologized for it, expanded on why he had done it, and offered an olive branch of friendship.

In response, you have absolutely flipped out on him. You've continuously attempted to expand his "crimes" into something against your wife, attempted to accuse him of misogyny, attempted to frame it as an attack on your kids, attempted to loop his employers into it, claimed you'd sue, and called him a bully. And later, when he made an offhand reference to this ordeal (to someone else you appear to be flipping out on), you accuse him of starting a new campaign of bullying. It's so completely out of scale that I have to question your mental state.

And the cherry on top is that in the middle of all this, you took a piece of information -- the fact that he has posted on social media about mental health issues -- and tried to leverage that into a claim that this is all his problem. I'm sorry, but that is absolutely disgusting behavior, and I hope you're ashamed of it.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#573

Post by no-dr-onboard »

butlike wrote: post #535
no-dr-onboard wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sparkfun chose to publish a vague public accusation. once you do that, speculation is inevitable. Ok sure, but the explanation provided strikes me as equally vague. I don't think anyone who isn't familiar with this situation has any idea what the hell is going on between these two orgs tbh. If a dispassionate observer can't figure out situation without significant effort, then it's very easy to handwave this away a…

The problem is once you get into concrete specifics, you enter the realm of legal liability and potential libel, so it's all posturing until their adrenaline runs out, then they'll either reconcile (or not) behind closed doors.

You know, I think you're right. I recant what I said earlier. I actually don't think I should care about this matter at all.

In a more general sense, it seems best to me that people should just mind their own business and settle things like adults without giving into this pervasive and strange desire to be vindicated by their framing of the situation to others.

There is literally no benefit to anyone but the storyteller. They are either seen as more or less virtuous by their framing of the situation.

They have an interest in telling you a story that makes them look good and a greater interest in downplaying their guilt in the matter. At the end of the day it means very little to most observers.

Pair that with the absolute disincentive to provide actual specifics, the whole thing is moot to an honest person.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#574

Post by 15155 »

KaiserPro wrote: post #568
15155 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Often these "rules" extend to conduct far outside of the purview of a project - typically crossing into identity politics. "If you espouse views I don't like on your personal Twitter, you can't contribute to this entirely unrelated software project."

> Often these "rules" extend to conduct far outside of the purview of a project - typically crossing into identity politics. So rules you don't agree with?

What is purview, and why should a software project be allowed to police all aspects of life and communication because "them's the rules and rules is rules!"

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#575

Post by bawolff »

rafram wrote: post #526
bawolff wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the allegations are for things that was be illegal in nature. I think the expected way to handle something like this would be to write the calm factual email. If that goes nowhere then sue them. I don't think the public airing approach is the right one.

It’s difficult to prosecute online harassment, and “hate sites and photoshopped images” aren’t illegal. There’s a right to freedom of speech in the US.

Slander is illegal, and while not exactly the same thing, there is a lot of overlap.

Depending on the nature of the site, there also might be rules around unfair competition that might be implicated.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#576

Post by ptorrone »

ptorrone wrote: post #21

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…

a follow up, sparkfun seems to still be doing business with while not doing business, "This message is to formally confirm that SparkFun Electronics intends to issue applicable royalty payment for Q4 2025 no later than January 31, 2026, in accordance with previously established timelines."

i get it, they want to keep selling those products. this was probably about money and margins.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#577

Post by pnw_throwaway »

cloudfudge wrote: post #572
asddubs wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the ex-employees side of the story, complete with receipts (taken from another post on this story): https://chaos.social/@North/115602127173454774 IMO what they did is pretty overblown. They did register a joke domain but basically folded and apologized immediately. Then nothing for 8 years, until they commented on a post where adafruit was accused of doxxing on mastodon.

Wow, that really puts things in perspective. Phil, based on this summary and reading the emails about what went down between you and Nick, you sound like an absolute lunatic. He mocked you once back in 2017. He set up a satirical website that had a single joke: you as obsessed detective, sniffing out perceived slights. Then, when called out on it, he very eloquently apologized for it, expanded on why he had done it,…

Between that and his behavior in this HN thread, looks like I'm done buying from Adafruit. Shame, they were decent.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#578

Post by rafram »

bawolff wrote: post #575
rafram wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s difficult to prosecute online harassment, and “hate sites and photoshopped images” aren’t illegal. There’s a right to freedom of speech in the US.

Slander is illegal, and while not exactly the same thing, there is a lot of overlap. Depending on the nature of the site, there also might be rules around unfair competition that might be implicated.

There is a very high bar for slander in the US, especially for public figures.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#579

Post by pnw_throwaway »

ptorrone wrote: post #231
relaxing wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buried in there is the Sparkfun guy did in fact register a vanity domain and stand up a site for the purpose of harassing the Adafruit guy. Kind of shitty to play the victim at that point.

correct "the Sparkfun guy did in fact register a vanity domain and stand up a site for the purpose of harassing"

This is how you’re coming off: https://imgur.com/a/hiUyh19

You really need to calm down and act more professional.

Re: SparkFun Officially Dropping AdaFruit due to CoC Violation

#580

Post by iancmceachern »

itomato wrote: post #566
huslage wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a ridiculous statement.

without Sparkfun, whose catalog could they have scraped? Without Sparkfun developing the business model for them to copy, where would they be?

You mean the radio shack business model?

The Heathkit business model?

The Eico business model?

Jameco? Digikey?

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