> But how was that different than 10-20 years ago? The way the internet has become intricately intertwined with our lives has made the repercussions to become

> But how was that different than 10-20 years ago? The way the internet has become intricately intertwined with our lives has made the repercussions to become a bit more severe than they used to be. Whereas before an event like "donglegate" might've blown over relatively quickly 15 years ago, technology fomented the masses and multiple people lost their jobs over a relatively harmless situation (Adria Richards was still unemployed last I checked). I don't think it's unfair to say that without the global reach of a mass communication platform like twitter, that situation would've been resolved quite differently (probably a scolding by the conference organizers to the two men) and probably to the satisfaction of everyone involved, instead of how it actually resolved to no one's satisfaction (other than the mob seeking blood). Relatively minor transgressions (like mis-using the word "dongle") become major blowups when people get to dehumanize the parties involved using technology. I don't think people are arguing that you should be able to use slurs with no consequences, more that it's incredibly easy to take something minor out of context and turn it into a massive blowup using the internet. Basically: "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged"