OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
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OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
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Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#2On the one hand, Brendan Eich is entitled to his political views, and they do not inherently preclude him from being a great CEO.
On the other hand, a non-trivial portion of the population, particularly the next generation, see opposition to gay marriage as morally repugnant, the way most people now view anti-miscegenation laws.
I don't think this is going to go away. Mozilla will continue to suffer a minor but significant attrition of mindshare over this issue as long as he remains at the helm, regardless of his merits as a leader or as a human being.
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#3On the one hand, Brendan Eich is entitled to his political views, and they do not inherently preclude him from being a great CEO. On the other hand, a non-trivial portion of the population, particularly the next generation, see opposition to gay marriage as morally repugnant, the way most people now view anti-miscegenation laws. I don't think this is going to go away. Mozilla will continue to suffer a minor but signi…
I've got to disagree. At the end of the day, there aren't a whole lot of "substitute goods" for Mozilla the same way as there are for, say, Chick-Fil-A. Unless people within Mozilla oust Eich or fork the organization, the world may just have to deal with it. I wish Brendan Eich had different points of view, but I'm certainly not prepared to ditch Firefox over the situation.
But I'm also I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of someone emotionally closer to the situation than myself. I'm a black guy in an interracial relationship. It's tough to say how I'd feel if Brendan Eich had donated to an anti-miscegenation campaign. I'd probably feel pretty shitty about it. But I don't think I'd stop using Firefox on that basis alone.
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#4On the one hand, Brendan Eich is entitled to his political views, and they do not inherently preclude him from being a great CEO. On the other hand, a non-trivial portion of the population, particularly the next generation, see opposition to gay marriage as morally repugnant, the way most people now view anti-miscegenation laws. I don't think this is going to go away. Mozilla will continue to suffer a minor but signi…
I've got to disagree. At the end of the day, there aren't a whole lot of "substitute goods" for Mozilla the same way as there are for, say, Chick-Fil-A. Unless people within Mozilla oust Eich or fork the organization, the world may just have to deal with it. I wish Brendan Eich had different points of view, but I'm certainly not prepared to ditch Firefox over the situation. But I'm also I'm trying to put myself in th…
> But I don't think I'd stop using Firefox on that basis alone.
Maybe it's because you are not LGBT? Given that you're black, would you stop using Firefox if he had donated to the KKK?
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#5It's been curious to me from the beginning that this has been treated as a free speech issue. Free speech is a legal question. If a group of people boycott you, they aren't impeding on your right to free speech. In fact, they are merely exercising their own right to free speech.
As a CEO, you have the right to support slavery. As a worker, you have the right to quit in response to those views.
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've got to disagree. At the end of the day, there aren't a whole lot of "substitute goods" for Mozilla the same way as there are for, say, Chick-Fil-A. Unless people within Mozilla oust Eich or fork the organization, the world may just have to deal with it. I wish Brendan Eich had different points of view, but I'm certainly not prepared to ditch Firefox over the situation. But I'm also I'm trying to put myself in th…
> But I don't think I'd stop using Firefox on that basis alone. Maybe it's because you are not LGBT? Given that you're black, would you stop using Firefox if he had donated to the KKK?
He seems to have answered a version of the question prior to the quote you selected.
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#7One thing I was struck by, when I read yesterday's Gizmodo report[1], was how haphazardly the decision was made to add the Firefox blocker message to the site.
OKCupid founder Christian Rudder essentially said that they made the decision in a hurry, in the span of about 36 hours, and had no concrete plan about what they would do next.
In fact, when Gizmodo asked him what outcome he expected, he said, "I don't have a good answer for you."
Let's step aside, for a minute, from the divisive social issue that inspired the stunt, and consider what this says about OKCupid's ability to make business decisions.
If I'm IAC, OKCupid's owner[2], should I really have confidence in Rudder and other OKCupid decision-makers if this is the way they make far-reaching, very public business decisions?
"Hey, let's slap something together and see what happens!"
I think that it is possible for a business to make a bold stand on social issues, even if it means calling out another business for its conduct. But if you're going to do it, you'd better have thought it out well and have a game plan.
OKCupid did not ... and that says a lot about the people in charge there.
[1] http://gizmodo.com/why-okcupid-took-a-stand-against-mozillas...
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#8One thing I was struck by, when I read yesterday's Gizmodo report[1], was how haphazardly the decision was made to add the Firefox blocker message to the site. OKCupid founder Christian Rudder essentially said that they made the decision in a hurry, in the span of about 36 hours, and had no concrete plan about what they would do next. In fact, when Gizmodo asked him what outcome he expected, he said, "I don't have a…
More likely the reality is that the reason they went ahead with it is because they knew they would get a bunch of PR for it and a corresponding spike in signups.
That isn't the sort of thing you can come out and say in a gizmodo interview.
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#9It's been curious to me from the beginning that this has been treated as a free speech issue. Free speech is a legal question. If a group of people boycott you, they aren't impeding on your right to free speech. In fact, they are merely exercising their own right to free speech. As a CEO, you have the right to support slavery. As a worker, you have the right to quit in response to those views.
Free speech is a larger concept in America than the legal protection, specifically that people with alternate viewpoints should be respected even if you disagree, and that a marketplace of ideas is a good thing for society.
Re: OkCupid Pulls Firefox Blocker
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've got to disagree. At the end of the day, there aren't a whole lot of "substitute goods" for Mozilla the same way as there are for, say, Chick-Fil-A. Unless people within Mozilla oust Eich or fork the organization, the world may just have to deal with it. I wish Brendan Eich had different points of view, but I'm certainly not prepared to ditch Firefox over the situation. But I'm also I'm trying to put myself in th…
> But I don't think I'd stop using Firefox on that basis alone. Maybe it's because you are not LGBT? Given that you're black, would you stop using Firefox if he had donated to the KKK?
As someone who identifies as Bisexual and has been invovled with a few gay relationships, I have no intention of ditching Firefox nor do I plan to stop supporting Mozilla. While I don't agree with Eich's personal beliefs on the matter of same sex marriage, it's his PERSONAL belief. It seems he has and still wants personal matters distant from Mozilla or Firefox or anything else related to his career. Everyone will disagree with you on something, doesn't mean you should always shame them for an opinion.