3 ms·

No need to freak out. Let people be people, and learn to just shrug your shoulders once in a while.

kstenerud 15y ago
Actually, that's just plain unprofessional behavior, and reflects poorly not only on the speakers, but on the organizers as well. Though I hear the organizers were equally concerned over what transpired, so I expect it was naivety on the part of the organizers in their lack of firm communication that professional conduct was a requirement in order to be a speaker at the event.
- rimantas 15y ago
  Why should anything professional be sterile, humourless, polit-correct to the point of being lifeless? Why is any mention of sexuality "inappropriate"? It is so sad that we degnerate to primitive knee-jerk reaction—spekear mentions anything sexuality related—I must by offended. WHY? We are _wired_ to pay attention to this stuff, this is a reason why we are there and I really don't get this trend to pretend we are all cold, sexless robots.
  - sp332 15y ago
    I'm not sexless. On the contrary, I'm physically uncomfortable in a room full of people talking about sex. People like me are not a tiny minority, and so it is considered counter-productive to inject unnecessary sexually-charged content into a professional conference. We are _wired_ to pay attention to this stuff Yes, it's a huge distraction and again, counter-productive if you're trying to pay attention to anything else. I'm not saying that you have to be offended. I'm telling you that I am uncomfortable here, please stop.
    - gojomo 15y ago
      I respect your discomfort. But if there is also a roomful of people who want to talk about sex, who maybe even enjoy the discomfort of sprinkling often-taboo subjects into their discussion, can we as a community accommodate both them, and people who are discomforted? Can we just go to separate rooms?
      - sp332 15y ago
        Sure, but it seems out of place at a tech conference, and I'm not sure it was clear that this was for a subset of the community. In fact I think it was pitched as a general survey of the API, so people seem to have confused it for something the whole community is into, or stands for or something.
  - kstenerud 15y ago
    Because it's offensive to women, as many have stated time and time again, and offending 50% of the population in a manner completely unrelated to the subject of conversation neither makes you clever nor witty nor funny. When you're in polite mixed company, you don't make tits & ass jokes. Nor do you go around tackling people, or belching the star spangled banner, or peeing in the water fountain. The same applies to speakers at a conference. There are expectations of minimally acceptable behavior in any social context. Racy humor is racy because it rides the fine line between the titillating and the vulgar. But that line is different depending on the social context, which makes it even more important to either get it right or not bother trying, because getting it wrong offends people and makes you look like an ass.
sp332 15y ago
If it's just some guy making jokes with his friends, no big deal. But at a conference, that's not cool.

Actually, that's just plain unprofessional behavior, and reflects poorly not only on the speakers, but on the organizers as well. Though I hear the organizers were equally concerned over what transpired, so I expect it was naivety on the part of the organizers in their lack of firm communication that professional conduct was a requirement in order to be a speaker at the event.

rimantas 15y ago
Why should anything professional be sterile, humourless, polit-correct to the point of being lifeless? Why is any mention of sexuality "inappropriate"? It is so sad that we degnerate to primitive knee-jerk reaction—spekear mentions anything sexuality related—I must by offended. WHY? We are _wired_ to pay attention to this stuff, this is a reason why we are there and I really don't get this trend to pretend we are all cold, sexless robots.
- sp332 15y ago
  I'm not sexless. On the contrary, I'm physically uncomfortable in a room full of people talking about sex. People like me are not a tiny minority, and so it is considered counter-productive to inject unnecessary sexually-charged content into a professional conference. We are _wired_ to pay attention to this stuff Yes, it's a huge distraction and again, counter-productive if you're trying to pay attention to anything else. I'm not saying that you have to be offended. I'm telling you that I am uncomfortable here, please stop.
  - gojomo 15y ago
    I respect your discomfort. But if there is also a roomful of people who want to talk about sex, who maybe even enjoy the discomfort of sprinkling often-taboo subjects into their discussion, can we as a community accommodate both them, and people who are discomforted? Can we just go to separate rooms?
    - sp332 15y ago
      Sure, but it seems out of place at a tech conference, and I'm not sure it was clear that this was for a subset of the community. In fact I think it was pitched as a general survey of the API, so people seem to have confused it for something the whole community is into, or stands for or something.
- kstenerud 15y ago
  Because it's offensive to women, as many have stated time and time again, and offending 50% of the population in a manner completely unrelated to the subject of conversation neither makes you clever nor witty nor funny. When you're in polite mixed company, you don't make tits & ass jokes. Nor do you go around tackling people, or belching the star spangled banner, or peeing in the water fountain. The same applies to speakers at a conference. There are expectations of minimally acceptable behavior in any social context. Racy humor is racy because it rides the fine line between the titillating and the vulgar. But that line is different depending on the social context, which makes it even more important to either get it right or not bother trying, because getting it wrong offends people and makes you look like an ass.

sp332 15y ago

If it's just some guy making jokes with his friends, no big deal. But at a conference, that's not cool.