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During Hack Club's IRL Hackathons, teens can get their parents to sign a "freedom waiver" to allow them to leave the hackathon venue and explore the city (they

by Charmunk 11mo ago

During Hack Club's IRL Hackathons, teens can get their parents to sign a "freedom waiver" to allow them to leave the hackathon venue and explore the city (they usually happen in high profile cities like NYC or Boston) without supervision. I assume what happened to them was they got lost during this optional exploration period

linsomniac 11mo ago
No, that was not the situation, it happened at the event.
- Diaphragmwp 11mo ago
  [dead]
- embedding-shape 11mo ago
  You don't have to share any specifics or details, but could you at least share how they could end up in a life threatening situation while attending a programming event?
  - linsomniac 11mo ago
    https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:text=A%2032%2Dyear%2Dold%20man%20was%20found%20dead%20in,binge%2C%20the%20island's%20second%20death%20of%20an https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:t...
    - embedding-shape 11mo ago
      Do they let children sit and program for 3 days (without breaks?) at these events without a single person checking in on them?! That's absolutely bananas if true, how could something like that even happen, is it a sweatshop of programmers or what's going on? Truly, if they're forcing children to sit and code for 3 days straight someone should call the police this moment.
      - Charmunk 11mo ago
        No one is forced to code, they have sleeping areas, and plenty of time for breaks, and no one will care if someone decides to take a break for a bit
        embedding-shape 11mo ago
        The previous commentator said "could have very easily turned into life threatening" and when asked what that was about, they sent the link about that person dying after sitting playing games for 3 days. Are you saying they're lying or are wrong about this? They seemed to have personal experience about it, and I'm assuming they're not outright lying, but I do think it sounds strange they would let children sit and code for 3 days straight.
        sadeshmukh 11mo ago
        That article has no relation to Hack Club whatsoever. But that's beside the point - they provide rooms, plenty of food and snacks, workshops, and activities to do during breaks. Organizers are on-site at all times, and there is a live hotline for parents or kids to call at any time. "sit and code for 3 days straight" is a gross mischaracterization. Here's an example of an event hosted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA
        embedding-shape 11mo ago
        So again then, what exact "life threatening situations" could children be put in, besides the things parent already said it wasn't about, during these events? Parent themselves linked that article, I'm not 100% sure what they meant, but all I could think was that they experienced something similar, otherwise I'm not sure why they'd link that.
        pupwithcomputer 11mo ago
        Hey! You can probs recognize me by the username. Dunno anyone else who's open about being a fuckin dog on the slack. During Scrapyard, Hackatime was mandatory, and was one of the biggest defining factors to HQ about the success of a satellite. So yeah, technically attendees aren't _forced_ to code, but getting the most weighted grants is still your biggest focus. For those who don't know, HC uses a unit called "weighted grants" which supposedly equates to 10 hours of good quality work, in order to determine success. The issue is, the definition of good quality work is currently set as "most lines written", excluding R&D and the 20 other steps that it takes to design something.

linsomniac 11mo ago

No, that was not the situation, it happened at the event.

Diaphragmwp 11mo ago
[dead]
embedding-shape 11mo ago
You don't have to share any specifics or details, but could you at least share how they could end up in a life threatening situation while attending a programming event?
- linsomniac 11mo ago
  https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:text=A%2032%2Dyear%2Dold%20man%20was%20found%20dead%20in,binge%2C%20the%20island's%20second%20death%20of%20an https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:t...
  - embedding-shape 11mo ago
    Do they let children sit and program for 3 days (without breaks?) at these events without a single person checking in on them?! That's absolutely bananas if true, how could something like that even happen, is it a sweatshop of programmers or what's going on? Truly, if they're forcing children to sit and code for 3 days straight someone should call the police this moment.
    - Charmunk 11mo ago
      No one is forced to code, they have sleeping areas, and plenty of time for breaks, and no one will care if someone decides to take a break for a bit
      - embedding-shape 11mo ago
        The previous commentator said "could have very easily turned into life threatening" and when asked what that was about, they sent the link about that person dying after sitting playing games for 3 days. Are you saying they're lying or are wrong about this? They seemed to have personal experience about it, and I'm assuming they're not outright lying, but I do think it sounds strange they would let children sit and code for 3 days straight.
        sadeshmukh 11mo ago
        That article has no relation to Hack Club whatsoever. But that's beside the point - they provide rooms, plenty of food and snacks, workshops, and activities to do during breaks. Organizers are on-site at all times, and there is a live hotline for parents or kids to call at any time. "sit and code for 3 days straight" is a gross mischaracterization. Here's an example of an event hosted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA
        embedding-shape 11mo ago
        So again then, what exact "life threatening situations" could children be put in, besides the things parent already said it wasn't about, during these events? Parent themselves linked that article, I'm not 100% sure what they meant, but all I could think was that they experienced something similar, otherwise I'm not sure why they'd link that.
      - pupwithcomputer 11mo ago
        Hey! You can probs recognize me by the username. Dunno anyone else who's open about being a fuckin dog on the slack. During Scrapyard, Hackatime was mandatory, and was one of the biggest defining factors to HQ about the success of a satellite. So yeah, technically attendees aren't _forced_ to code, but getting the most weighted grants is still your biggest focus. For those who don't know, HC uses a unit called "weighted grants" which supposedly equates to 10 hours of good quality work, in order to determine success. The issue is, the definition of good quality work is currently set as "most lines written", excluding R&D and the 20 other steps that it takes to design something.