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I read the entire thing thinking OP was male. It perplexed me why Kagan responded with a curt "No" when asked whether he wanted to understand the episode. The

by Vivtek 15y ago

I read the entire thing thinking OP was male. It perplexed me why Kagan responded with a curt "No" when asked whether he wanted to understand the episode. Then I saw from the first comment that OP's name is Anne - and suddenly saw why Kagan had been a jerk with her.

Vivtek 15y ago
Also, reading through comments here, the issue of sexism really turns this crowd ugly.
- jdp23 15y ago
  Indeed. That tends to happen on HN. It seems to me, though, that there are now more posts from people who actually do get it. It's too bad we can't see the voting to know the relative popularity of the various posts...
k33n 15y ago
If someone threw a bottle of hot sauce at me during a high pressure situation, I wouldn't care at all about what they have to say to me. If she had approached him respectfully, without an unprovoked physical attack, he would have responded much differently.
- Vivtek 15y ago
  Maybe. I see nothing to support that hypothesis here, but if it makes you feel better, then by all means.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- jtheory 15y ago
  See the comment above from someone who was sitting near her; she was trying to toss it back up to the stage to return it to him (and tried to get his attention so he could catch it) but it didn't work out. She also gave every indication of being mortified when the bottle burst and splattered people. She certainly wasn't trying to bean Noah in the head with it, and I don't get the impression he would have thought that either.
benmccann 15y ago
Their relationship clearly isn't a good one. With that context, and depending on the tone with which it was said (remember there were enough emotions involved to write a blog post about the slide afterwards), the question "Do you want to understand what happened during your speech?" might also be interpreted as "Do you want to sit through a personal attack?". I'm not defending his slide, but I'm also not surprised he said "No". It's possible he already understood, regretted his slide, and wanted to avoid what he perceived as a forthcoming attack. It's really hard to judge since we weren't present. I think it's clear neither of us would put that slide in our own presentations, but it nonetheless might be better not to personally attack someone in a public forum based on an incident we weren't present for. Even if he was in the wrong to say "No", attacking someone automatically puts them in the defensive and makes it harder for them to constructively evaluate criticism.

by Vivtek 15y ago

Vivtek 15y ago

Also, reading through comments here, the issue of sexism really turns this crowd ugly.

jdp23 15y ago
Indeed. That tends to happen on HN. It seems to me, though, that there are now more posts from people who actually do get it. It's too bad we can't see the voting to know the relative popularity of the various posts...

k33n 15y ago

If someone threw a bottle of hot sauce at me during a high pressure situation, I wouldn't care at all about what they have to say to me. If she had approached him respectfully, without an unprovoked physical attack, he would have responded much differently.

Vivtek 15y ago
Maybe. I see nothing to support that hypothesis here, but if it makes you feel better, then by all means.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
jtheory 15y ago
See the comment above from someone who was sitting near her; she was trying to toss it back up to the stage to return it to him (and tried to get his attention so he could catch it) but it didn't work out. She also gave every indication of being mortified when the bottle burst and splattered people. She certainly wasn't trying to bean Noah in the head with it, and I don't get the impression he would have thought that either.

benmccann 15y ago

Their relationship clearly isn't a good one. With that context, and depending on the tone with which it was said (remember there were enough emotions involved to write a blog post about the slide afterwards), the question "Do you want to understand what happened during your speech?" might also be interpreted as "Do you want to sit through a personal attack?". I'm not defending his slide, but I'm also not surprised he said "No". It's possible he already understood, regretted his slide, and wanted to avoid what he perceived as a forthcoming attack. It's really hard to judge since we weren't present. I think it's clear neither of us would put that slide in our own presentations, but it nonetheless might be better not to personally attack someone in a public forum based on an incident we weren't present for. Even if he was in the wrong to say "No", attacking someone automatically puts them in the defensive and makes it harder for them to constructively evaluate criticism.