4 ms·

Playhaven did the cowardly thing by destroying the guy's career as a preemptive measure for any bad PR they may receive over this. It would take a very sure min

Playhaven did the cowardly thing by destroying the guy's career as a preemptive measure for any bad PR they may receive over this. It would take a very sure minded employer to hire him now, considering the nasty ways this can be spun by the blogs/media ("Notorious PyCon Attendee Lands A Job With X, Where Sexual Jokes Are Apparently OK"). Sorry but I don't like it one bit. If PH's CEO had any balls at all he'd make this guy publicly apologize. Firing someone like this is the easiest solution. I'm sure Playhaven employees take note of how one of their own has been had a summary execution. And for the rest of us, Playhaven is now "the company that fired that guy over a joke".

jiggy2011 14y ago
I'd never heard of any of these companies or people before today. Maybe this could be a promotion technique for new startups? Create some internet drama to get people to hit your site. I'm sure people at these respective companies are looking at the extra traffic they got and tracking conversion rates etc.
rmc 14y ago
If only there was some way he could have prevented this miscarriage of justice! Hint: Don't make dick jokes in a professional conference when the con has a "code of conduct" saying: "don't make dick jokes". As a more extreme example, The Onion can be too accurate sometimes: "Athlete overcomes raping someone" https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zWLJZw9Ws-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...
- flyinglizard 14y ago
  There are numerous ways this employee could have disciplined without destroying his career, each and every one of them would have made Playhaven actually look good coming out of this incident. They could have sent that guy to volunteer at a woman's shelter or could have donated a part of his salary for a similar cause (even making a dollar for dollar contribution, it's pittance and excellent PR) or just put up a public apology. Instead of taking meaningful action, they've distanced themselves as quickly and as crudely from this situation, while destroying this man's career without giving it a second thought. I'm not defending this man - although I belong to the part of the population that's more likely to make such jokes at a professional convention than to be bothered by them - I am condemning Playhaven. And you know what, it's not even about Adria. She's taking undue fire here; she's a social person with a job focused around social media, and as such it is understandable why she uploaded this picture in the first place. Some people shoot their food, some others take photos what they deem as bad behavior in public (after all if she pictured someone acting lewdly at Walmart no one would have said a thing). She's not the bad person here, although I don't think I'd get along very well with her. Nope, the only one I can blame squarely at the unneeded escalation of this story is Playhaven CEO, for choosing the easiest way out. How very corporate America.
  - rmc 14y ago
    They could have sent that guy to volunteer at a woman's shelter "Hey women who were abused! We'd like this guy who thinks dick jokes are OK in professional contexts to come and help all those rape and violence victims you have. That's cool, right?" Yeah. not going to happen. Think your suggestions through. We don't know the full situtation, perhaps all these responses have already been done? Maybe there are other reasons at play aswell?
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      To be fair, a woman who had been beaten by an abusive husband or whatever might not think a guy who likes dick jokes is such a monster in comparison.
      - rmc 14y ago
        Highly unlikely. You're just saying things without doing any research. Have you ever read feminist blogs / writings? They'll often prefix text with a "trigger warning" (or TW) to alert readers if this text needs to talk about violence or sexism or racism etc. This is because some people might be "triggered" and have strong negative emotional reactions to some things. (cf. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning ) Given that, it's highly likely that making dick jokes and especially claiming "It's OK, I'm not as bad as the man who beat you!" to excuse said dick jokes, is a sure fire way to get your head kicked in in some places.
        jiggy2011 14y ago
        People will kick your head in because you made a dick joke once?
        rmc 14y ago
        Context! If you go to a battered women's shelter, make lots of demaning-to-women jokes, and then say it's OK because, "hey! at least you didn't beat them!", then yes, you might get some people really annoyed. I mean, it's like the start of Die Hard, with the "I hate N*s" sign in a black area. What do you think'll happen?! Imagine going into a gay bar and making jokes about gay people. What do you think'll happen?

jiggy2011 14y ago

I'd never heard of any of these companies or people before today. Maybe this could be a promotion technique for new startups? Create some internet drama to get people to hit your site. I'm sure people at these respective companies are looking at the extra traffic they got and tracking conversion rates etc.

rmc 14y ago

If only there was some way he could have prevented this miscarriage of justice! Hint: Don't make dick jokes in a professional conference when the con has a "code of conduct" saying: "don't make dick jokes". As a more extreme example, The Onion can be too accurate sometimes: "Athlete overcomes raping someone" https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zWLJZw9Ws-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=...

flyinglizard 14y ago
There are numerous ways this employee could have disciplined without destroying his career, each and every one of them would have made Playhaven actually look good coming out of this incident. They could have sent that guy to volunteer at a woman's shelter or could have donated a part of his salary for a similar cause (even making a dollar for dollar contribution, it's pittance and excellent PR) or just put up a public apology. Instead of taking meaningful action, they've distanced themselves as quickly and as crudely from this situation, while destroying this man's career without giving it a second thought. I'm not defending this man - although I belong to the part of the population that's more likely to make such jokes at a professional convention than to be bothered by them - I am condemning Playhaven. And you know what, it's not even about Adria. She's taking undue fire here; she's a social person with a job focused around social media, and as such it is understandable why she uploaded this picture in the first place. Some people shoot their food, some others take photos what they deem as bad behavior in public (after all if she pictured someone acting lewdly at Walmart no one would have said a thing). She's not the bad person here, although I don't think I'd get along very well with her. Nope, the only one I can blame squarely at the unneeded escalation of this story is Playhaven CEO, for choosing the easiest way out. How very corporate America.
- rmc 14y ago
  They could have sent that guy to volunteer at a woman's shelter "Hey women who were abused! We'd like this guy who thinks dick jokes are OK in professional contexts to come and help all those rape and violence victims you have. That's cool, right?" Yeah. not going to happen. Think your suggestions through. We don't know the full situtation, perhaps all these responses have already been done? Maybe there are other reasons at play aswell?
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    To be fair, a woman who had been beaten by an abusive husband or whatever might not think a guy who likes dick jokes is such a monster in comparison.
    - rmc 14y ago
      Highly unlikely. You're just saying things without doing any research. Have you ever read feminist blogs / writings? They'll often prefix text with a "trigger warning" (or TW) to alert readers if this text needs to talk about violence or sexism or racism etc. This is because some people might be "triggered" and have strong negative emotional reactions to some things. (cf. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_warning ) Given that, it's highly likely that making dick jokes and especially claiming "It's OK, I'm not as bad as the man who beat you!" to excuse said dick jokes, is a sure fire way to get your head kicked in in some places.
      - jiggy2011 14y ago
        People will kick your head in because you made a dick joke once?
        rmc 14y ago
        Context! If you go to a battered women's shelter, make lots of demaning-to-women jokes, and then say it's OK because, "hey! at least you didn't beat them!", then yes, you might get some people really annoyed. I mean, it's like the start of Die Hard, with the "I hate N*s" sign in a black area. What do you think'll happen?! Imagine going into a gay bar and making jokes about gay people. What do you think'll happen?