I publicly asked for help with addressing the problem: Can someone talk to these guys about their conduct? PyCon organizers spoke with the attendees and issued them with a warning but did not expel them or take other action.
One of the attendees, " mr-hank " on Hacker News, endorsed both PyCon's actions and Adria's decision to report his comments to staff and verified that no sanctions were imposed by PyCon.
He also stated that he was let go by his employer -- later confirmed in a blog post from them -- and claimed that his comments on "forking" were not intended to be sexual in nature. This may be worth its own page. I will be at pycon , I will joke and socialize with everyone but I will also be mindful of my audience, accidental or otherwise.
Again, I apologize. PlayHaven CEO Andy Yang acknowledged firing the developer, writing , "PlayHaven had an employee who was identified as making inappropriate comments at PyCon, and as a company that is dedicated to gender equality and values honorable behavior, we conducted a thorough investigation.
The result of this investigation led to the unfortunate outcome of having to let this employee go. We value and protect the privacy of our employees, both past and present, and we will not comment on all the factors that contributed to our parting ways We believe in the importance of discussing sensitive topics such as gender and conduct and we hope to move forward with a civil dialogue based on the facts.
Richards' own blog was subsequently hit by a DDoS attack. VentureBeat also reports that Richards has been the target of rape and death threats on Twitter, although such tweets have apparently been deleted by Twitter. The SendGrid website has also been unresponsive much of the day.
The company has not confirmed the cause, although it's assumed to be a DDoS attack. Hacktivist group Anonymous is supposedly behind it. The Website is up, and we're working to finalize this resolution. Today, SendGrid fired Richards. Is there no way they can change their mind? I am not sure you would want your job back because they really let you down. Now she has been fired, you two should start up your own tech company. Hi there, reporter for The Verge here.
We're doing a story on this and need to speak to you off the record. Email me at adrianne theverge. TY on March 20, parent prev next [—]. Actually, no, you are not. You are - by definition - a terrorist, applying unlawful use of force or violence against people with the intention of intimidating or coercing groups of people and societies for ideological or political reasons. The fact that you do have supporters shows the sad state of affairs this world is in.
My, how flexible the word 'terrorist' has become. KuraFire on March 21, root parent prev next [—]. Wow, you give tech a bad name both by your massively offensive accusation, as well as your completely wrong use of the word "terrorist" thereby reducing its significance.
The thing showing a sad state of affairs here is you. TY on March 21, root parent next [—]. I am following the definition given by many dictionaries and, by the way, 28 Code of Federal Regulations Section 0. Terrorists don't all wear beards and have TNT strapped around their waists while piloting hijacked planes, you know?
I think what she did was awful. But I have a hard time understanding how you cant see that her actions don't meet all of the conditions found in the definition you yourself supplied. Allow me to make a small addendum. You are not a 'developer evangelist' you are an 'arbitrary evangelist'. You've applied internal frustration in a seemingly random manner and you refuse to see it. I think you've gone too far to apologise now, but you should try and think hard about whether you were right at all to do this.
What a hypocrite. You can joke dirty publicly, but when it comes to 2 friends making private jokes with one another, you become Joan of Arc, a heroine, an activist.
Well "calculated" though, I have to say. IanCal on March 20, parent prev next [—]. What actually was the 'forking joke'? Because he seems to claim there wasn't one, but you think there was. He's made a claim about what he said, do you remember what it was? If I may ask, what made you think it was appropriate to take a picture of this person and distribute it without his permission or the permission of the venue?
You're what Jaron Lanier means when he talks about "digital Maoism". You smiled while you took the photo you planned to shame them with. Enjoy your notoriety. If you really feel regret for this, you should connect him with SendGrid and try to get him hired there.
Without commenting on the comment itself I'd like to note that this post is yet another example of downvoting abuse. Cut that out, people. There's nothing here that merits censorship or violates the rules. On the contrary, if the article itself is worthy of inclusion on HN then the interaction between Hank and Adria certainly is. I am curious why this comment has no downvote arrow. Comments over 24 hours old lose it.
SilasX on March 22, root parent prev next [—]. Hey, I never get a downvote arrow SallySinep on March 21, parent prev next [—]. Adria, can you please do us all a huge favor and provide for us the exact wording of both the "dongle" and "forking" remarks that were made?
All we have so far are assertions that these remarks were sexual in nature, but not evidence. I'm not saying I'd be surprised if one, or both of them were knowing all too well the way men sometimes are, at these conferences. But really, it shouldn't be too hard for you to just tell us exactly what you heard, along with any supporting context that you feel would help us understand your position.
There was I'd fork that guy's repo. If you don't know what forking and repo means, well to put it bluntly you're out of place a dev conf. I fail to see how either of which is sexist, although if strained may be sexual. And also Adria made the much more lewd big dongle joke herself on Twitter a while back It's all in comments here.
SallySinep on March 22, root parent next [—]. If you don't know what forking and repo means, If you think that, you're reading way too much into my question. Weeell, except you didn't. Or did you miss the part about how PyCon doesn't condone public shaming? Why were you too afraid to confront them directly and privately about your concerns? You smiled at them when you too the picture That is a dead link for people from Europe. Adria, your actions are not "leaning in".
Please, step back. Care to explain why you're allowed to make dick jokes but they can't? Great job ruining someone's career because you're an oversensitive -- and apparently hypocritical -- imbecile.
Maybe you should work on that. We the real developers don't need any "evangelizing. FYI - she took your picture and published it, without a model release. Her taking a picture and posting it to Twitter which is different from publishing is not illegal. She didn't need a model release. The only time you need a model release is if you intend to sell the photograph of a person to be used for commercial purposes.
You know, sell the picture to a company for the company to use it in an advertisement. At that time, a model release is required. No monetary gain was acquired in this situation, so why would a release be required? Know Copyright and publishing laws when you comment I doubt they would invite you or let you attend next year.
If they do, they shall have to rent a bigger venue just to make room for you and the empty seats around you. Not joking. I wouldn't want to be near you, leave alone having a conversation. Not the hate, it's fear to be fired or maybe sued for sexual harassment. After looking at Adria's vague explanation, you should show your employer her blogpost because "large dongle" is not sexual harassment.
This seems more like a case of someone so deep in a cause that they have lost sight of what the core idea of the cause is. This is very overreaching and I feel this way after reading her blogpost, before I thought her complaint had merit but not now.
Not only that. Overreaction goes both ways. It swings like pendulum. It went one way, Adria's and this guy's employer's way. But I am afraid it went to far, and now on the way back it might damage them more than it damaged this guy.
What do I mean? His employer before evaluating the situation jumped the gun and fired guy with 3 kids to support. That is fucked up.
Adria's online presence will forever be marred by this. It seemed like a win first, and her intentions were perhaps good, but it turned out to be a bad decision.
I think she will regret this when the dust settles. Anyone know the name of the company, I couldn't read it on the badge, so that next time I see them a at conference I have a nice 'pleasant' talk with them?
Some from the tech community might be immature and like to make stupid jokes. What else they don't like is bullying and irrational and bureaucratic decisions.
I have a feeling this will come back and bite them harder than they expected. The company she works for is SendGrid, if random redditors discussing this are to be trusted. Alright thanks. Ok it seems SendGrid might be the company that Adria works for not the company that fired the guy.
Guy's company is PlayHeaven. If I see either one of their companies' booths I will make sure to have 'a nice' chat with them. That is not what he was asking.
SendGrid is not a party to this issue. Sure they are to the same extent his employer is since her posse made sure they fired him. She is a horrific bully who has destroyed an innocent person's career to advance her own personal publicity and branding. She's a bad person. I would never hire her or have anything to do with her or anyone who defends her insane, horrific and unethical actions.
I also will have nothing to do with PyCon henceforth. They have made their beds. Let them lie in them. If you're going to base your whole argument just on the actions of the companies involved, I think you'll run into a pickle when you incorporate the fact that she was just fired herself over her actions.
Back up your opinion with self-sufficient evidence and justification. It does not suffice to just point at what others have done. Do you actually know what she was fired over? All I've seen in a statement that her employment was terminated. For all I know the situation went like this: SendGrid: We think you handled this situation badly, and since you were there as a SendGrid employee, that reflects badly on the company.
We'd like you to make a public apology about they way in which you dealt with it. Which is to say, she may have been terminated because of how she handled the situation within SendGrid, rather than what she did at the Con. Or maybe not. Actually, not quite factually true. She did not "report" it. She used her significant media presence to shame someone with vague allusions.
The right thing to do would have been for his company to get his side of the story which we see above and make a public statement, not to fire him over pitchforks and torches at the gates. PyCon US's response to this incident was measured and appropriate - please don't tar them with such a brush. Key phrase: "No individuals were removed from the conference, no sanctions were levied. Yes they are. The same way the guys were representing their company, she was representing SendGrid at the conference.
You can't be an "Evangelist" at a tech conference and pretend your actions don't represent your company as well. Sendgrid is a party to this issue. She's a public figure for them and she made use of her public image to shame two people and ultimately causing, at least one of them to lose their job. And she was being a hypocrite, as she made phallic jokes on her twitter account I hope sendgrid fires her.
Either way I'm not using any of their products anymore. Boldly speaking, you are a moron. She might feel offended, but i don't think she has any right to be upset. TSA agent faint. I prefer Hacker News to be a location for civil dialog. You're going to let the fact that he called someone a moron overshadow the fact that he points out her blatant hypocrisy over this entire thing? It's apparently alright for women to make sexual references in a public setting e.
Twitter , but when men do it amongst themselves in a crowd it's just wrong? Did she ever once say "Hey guys, can you keep it down? Nope, instead she tries to get people to take out their pitchforks and torches. This is what she does. He escalated in the same manner that she did.
He made a personal attack. The ends do not justify the means He could easily have taken a more civil tone He's talking about fosap One in the same for her Lulu12 on March 23, root parent next [—].
One and the same. I blame the kiwi accent and our mumbling ways. Please take your boldness elsewhere. This is HN, name calling is frowned at here. Dude, you have nothing to apologize for. I understand why you feel like you do, I would to, but you don't. She took the liberty to be offended over something not directed at her, at your expense. By doing so she caused great damage, not only screwing you over greatly but also doing a huge disservice to the struggle for equality within the tech industry.
I realize women have to put up with a lot of crap. I'm often flabbergasted by the kind of harassing childish behaviour women witness to at workplaces, conferences and user groups. The kind of stuff you can't believe adults can resort to. This is something different completely.
I hope you find a new job soon. Don't let this unexpected bump keep you down. Luckily she got fired today! I am a big fan of SmartGrid now that they got rid of her. I don't know who would hire Adria as "Evangelist" now, since she is probably the most hated person among developers now! I also hope that all the best developers stay 1, miles away from PlayHaven! While everyone is riled up about Adria Richards getting offended and publicly shaming the person who made a joke about big dongles, you should keep in mind that she did not fire anyone.
PlayHaven did. PlayHaven could have decided to be the responsible party and handle the incident constructively, but they did not want to do that. Even Adria, who still appears to think that the public shaming was a good thing to do, also thinks that PlayHaven should have not fired the person.
So please, if you think firing mr-hank was unreasonable, please let PlayHaven know that, and also how this might affect your image of PlayHaven. I shot a comment over, but the damage has probably been done at this point. Which, if we are taking responsibility for "what we say and do," then the focus really is back on Adria because she decided to make a big deal out of nothing. Sure, PlayHaven fired this dude.
But guess what? Their employee was being marked as sexist all over Twitter? To them, they might not have had a choice. But Adria, she had a choice. Nope, Adria is out of line, hypocritical at best, and now men won't trust women around them in the tech industry. Two steps back for everyone. VigUi7vv8G2 on March 22, root parent prev next [—]. I would guess it'd be slightly awkward.
It would certainly be awkward, but it would be a pretty big PR hit not to take them back. You're right. The company should have practiced a little rationality instead of instantly reacting.
But she should be held responsible above all because she took offense to a joke instead of taking it to superiors or confronting the guy, she posted it for all to see and read. Her actions did lead to his firing regardless of the company's questionable decision. You don't publicly humiliate someone for something so small. If he had been sexist or made a sexist joke to her or to someone else around then I would understand the company taking action, but I still wouldn't condone the public humiliation unless it was very egregious.
Adria thinks she won something here, she doesn't give a damn she destroyed someone's career over a simple sexual pun in a private conversation that she wasn't apart of nor was it directed towards her. I wish you luck in finding a new job where the company will actually try to defend their employee against such sensationalist nonsense masked as equality.
Why are you apologizing. She is an asshole who cost you your job. I really hope you are just doing it for potential employers in the future. Adria is a shitty person for getting you fired over this.
She's making herself look like an asshole. Maybe you should stop telling everyone how they should post, and instead do something to encourage civil dialog. I don't think anyone gives a shit what you prefer. You have absolutely zero to apologize for. It's quite the opposite. I hope you get an even better job, at a place that deserves you - and soon. I feel so sad about this. I am not liking the path of sexual harassment cases being so quick to be made in the USA. As a female, I am upset at the way everyone can be such babies in this country.
JoCoLa on March 19, prev next [—]. This is hypersensitive, passive aggressive, and paints women as fragile and in need of rescuing from every perceived slight. Stop apologizing. It is unprofessional and unbecoming at an outside of work event. You don't think he would have been fired for a black or Nazi joke?
I'm not sure that those jokes are comparable. There's no negative stereotype in a penis size joke. It contributes to the objectification and dehumanization of male morphological gender norms. Just kidding. I make dongle jokes all the time. I did nazi that coming. I was waiting for that to happen so everyone will go home and move on.
So she took the joke way too seriously and in turn caused you to lose your job. Great way to 'teach' someone to make a joke about dongles, right? Sad that you have to apologize. Even sadder that your employer doesn't see things any other way. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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