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A few years ago when I was a member of a relatively high profile open source project, I myself was once (informally) accused of non-inclusive behavior towards a

by oefrha 7y ago

A few years ago when I was a member of a relatively high profile open source project, I myself was once (informally) accused of non-inclusive behavior towards a trans person. It was a very confusing experience because I didn’t even know that person’s gender up until that point, much less whether they were trans or not; I only found out after the accusation. Nor did I ever care about their gender before or after the incident — the only thing I gave a damn about was the code they produced. Turns out my complaint against a poorly thought-out feature of theirs (which was greenlighted by the project lead, landed despite much opposition, and subsequently caused quite severe breakage) was distorted as an attack against their gender. That experience and experience from other clashes against the broader CoC-wielding crowd, either firsthand or secondhand, tells me that people who are determined to inject identity politics into software are either (a) honestly over-sensitive, can’t imagine other people not giving a shit; or (b) using CoC as a convenient tool to end technical debates (when they’re out of arguments or don’t want to argue further) with folks who prefer a more blunt communication style.

avaxzat 7y ago
>folks who prefer a more blunt communication style. You mean folks who like to casually throw around homophobic slurs and who will then go on HN to whine about how they were called out on their bullshit?
- odkamkfn 7y ago
  Please don't do this, try to be more charitable.
- oefrha 7y ago
  No, I mean folks who criticize other people’s work directly instead of qualifying every criticism with three insincere compliments. Where did you get the idea that I ever throw a single homophobic slur? Your comment tells me that you’re actually the kind of person that CoCs or guidelines or whatever should actually regulate. Flagged.
IanSanders 7y ago
>Turns out my complaint against a poorly thought-out feature of theirs (which was greenlighted by the project lead, landed despite much opposition, and subsequently caused quite severe breakage) was distorted as an attack against their gender. You can subvert any community/organisation/process this way. Social "grenade" in a sense. Scary.

by oefrha 7y ago

avaxzat 7y ago

>folks who prefer a more blunt communication style. You mean folks who like to casually throw around homophobic slurs and who will then go on HN to whine about how they were called out on their bullshit?

odkamkfn 7y ago
Please don't do this, try to be more charitable.
oefrha 7y ago
No, I mean folks who criticize other people’s work directly instead of qualifying every criticism with three insincere compliments. Where did you get the idea that I ever throw a single homophobic slur? Your comment tells me that you’re actually the kind of person that CoCs or guidelines or whatever should actually regulate. Flagged.

IanSanders 7y ago

>Turns out my complaint against a poorly thought-out feature of theirs (which was greenlighted by the project lead, landed despite much opposition, and subsequently caused quite severe breakage) was distorted as an attack against their gender. You can subvert any community/organisation/process this way. Social "grenade" in a sense. Scary.