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There was really no intention to be mean spirited. The idea was just to shift the focus onto something relevant. Girls Who Code is a great cause. There's no nee

by Finbarr 14y ago

There was really no intention to be mean spirited. The idea was just to shift the focus onto something relevant. Girls Who Code is a great cause. There's no need to buy a shirt to donate.

kaonashi 14y ago
Shift the focus by putting the original tasteless remarks that started the whole ordeal on a t-shirt? Sorry, but I'm skeptical.
- Finbarr 14y ago
  AFAIK we haven't quoted the original remarks and the phrase on the shirt is a nonsensical paraphrase of what was said. Part of the intention was to neutralize the words. Really, it's just a bit of fun and the best outcome would be to raise some money for women in tech.
  - taligent 14y ago
    Really, it's just a bit of fun and the best outcome would be to raise some money for women in tech. Yes. You're doing a wonderful thing to advance the cause of women in technology. I am sure women will be out in droves dying to buy this shirt.
pekk 14y ago
Then why not just donate to Girls Who Code, and skip the snarky t-shirt?
- Finbarr 14y ago
  Well, the collective donating power of many is much greater than a single donor.
cube13 14y ago
I find it distasteful because it's not really that funny in this context. Dongle's a funny word, sure, but here, it just feels meanspirited. It's taking sides in an issue where nobody looks good. I don't have a problem with the joke being made. I don't have a problem Richards being offended and reporting it to the convention staff, and, as a matter of fact, I applaud her decision to do something about it. And PyCon's staff, from all reports, handled themselves very well in this situation. Could the two guys in the photo been a little more sensitive to those around them? Sure. Could Richards have followed the advice she wrote in her own blog post and talked to the two men or alerted the staff privately? Absolutely. Would this entire clusterfuck have been avoided if one of those two things happened? Yes. But both of those things happened, and it spiraled out of control. Because of one somewhat insensitive joke, and a really bad twitter post. Everything that's happened after: the twitter posts, the blog posts, the firings, the harrasment, the DDOS', it all leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, and I don't see anything funny about this at all. Because nobody involved here came out looking sympathetic. Richards used her soapbox to publicly shame two men who really didn't deserve much more than maybe a simple talking to. The two men who made the joke could have shown some restraint, but did not. Both of the companies probably made the wrong decision to fire the two, though in Play Haven's case, there could be other things we don't know about, and Richards dragged in her company into the conversation probably without their approval. Because it's been twisted into everyone's pet racism/sexism/ism trigger topic. Bigots are using Adria's behavior as an example of why women can't be trusted. People sensitive to issues of gender, sex, and race are using it as an example for why the entire industry's a cesspool of bigotry and sexism. For those of us who know that the truth is neither of those, it's incredibly disheartening, because you can choose your belief, and there's something here that will validate it. So yes, this just feels meanspirited.

by Finbarr 14y ago

There was really no intention to be mean spirited. The idea was just to shift the focus onto something relevant. Girls Who Code is a great cause. There's no need to buy a shirt to donate.

kaonashi 14y ago

Shift the focus by putting the original tasteless remarks that started the whole ordeal on a t-shirt? Sorry, but I'm skeptical.

Finbarr 14y ago
AFAIK we haven't quoted the original remarks and the phrase on the shirt is a nonsensical paraphrase of what was said. Part of the intention was to neutralize the words. Really, it's just a bit of fun and the best outcome would be to raise some money for women in tech.
- taligent 14y ago
  Really, it's just a bit of fun and the best outcome would be to raise some money for women in tech. Yes. You're doing a wonderful thing to advance the cause of women in technology. I am sure women will be out in droves dying to buy this shirt.

pekk 14y ago

Then why not just donate to Girls Who Code, and skip the snarky t-shirt?

Finbarr 14y ago
Well, the collective donating power of many is much greater than a single donor.

cube13 14y ago

I find it distasteful because it's not really that funny in this context. Dongle's a funny word, sure, but here, it just feels meanspirited. It's taking sides in an issue where nobody looks good. I don't have a problem with the joke being made. I don't have a problem Richards being offended and reporting it to the convention staff, and, as a matter of fact, I applaud her decision to do something about it. And PyCon's staff, from all reports, handled themselves very well in this situation. Could the two guys in the photo been a little more sensitive to those around them? Sure. Could Richards have followed the advice she wrote in her own blog post and talked to the two men or alerted the staff privately? Absolutely. Would this entire clusterfuck have been avoided if one of those two things happened? Yes. But both of those things happened, and it spiraled out of control. Because of one somewhat insensitive joke, and a really bad twitter post. Everything that's happened after: the twitter posts, the blog posts, the firings, the harrasment, the DDOS', it all leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, and I don't see anything funny about this at all. Because nobody involved here came out looking sympathetic. Richards used her soapbox to publicly shame two men who really didn't deserve much more than maybe a simple talking to. The two men who made the joke could have shown some restraint, but did not. Both of the companies probably made the wrong decision to fire the two, though in Play Haven's case, there could be other things we don't know about, and Richards dragged in her company into the conversation probably without their approval. Because it's been twisted into everyone's pet racism/sexism/ism trigger topic. Bigots are using Adria's behavior as an example of why women can't be trusted. People sensitive to issues of gender, sex, and race are using it as an example for why the entire industry's a cesspool of bigotry and sexism. For those of us who know that the truth is neither of those, it's incredibly disheartening, because you can choose your belief, and there's something here that will validate it. So yes, this just feels meanspirited.