12 ms·

I have to ask, what was the ruby conference drama?

by shiftpgdn 14y ago

Argorak 14y ago
There was a presentation relating CouchDB and "Performance" in a sexual way some years ago.
- coldtea 14y ago
  Sex! Mentioned in jest! Oh, the humanity! Aren't those conferences targeted at adults? Is there some assumption in english speaking countries that the average adult is offended when he hears about sex? Because it sure as hell doesn't hold true in most non-english speaking countries...
  - vidarh 14y ago
    I think the assumption generally is that some women will feel uncomfortable with a sex jokes in an audience where they tend to be a small minority. My experience as a man is that women in groups are at least as prone to telling dirty jokes as men, but I can understand that if you're one of a handful of women in a room full of men it might feel quite different.
    - fencepost 14y ago
      As the IT guy in a variety of medical offices who's known for being pretty laid back, some of the discussions that have happened when I was in the room are filthy. Also, sometimes folks forget I'm in the room. The most memorable and amusing was the discussion by several women (some busty) of "[flopping them on the counter]", but there have also been discussions of men or parts thereof.
  - saraid216 14y ago
    I live in America. It's still unclear if there's a national consensus on women being mainly sex objects with breeding potential rather than thinking, speaking human beings, and thus every woman with a brain needs to be reminded that they're properly understood to be fuckholes. Maybe in your English-speaking country, things are better?
    - derleth 14y ago
      I live in America and you're completely incorrect.
kroger 14y ago
A Ruby conference was cancelled: https://gist.github.com/seanhandley/4106776 https://gist.github.com/seanhandley/4106776 And for more drama: http://rubydramas.com http://rubydramas.com EDIT: more facts
- Xion 14y ago
  > http://rubydramas.com http://rubydramas.com You just made my day posting this. It's absolutely hilarious!
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- Legion 14y ago
  Awesome. This is getting added to our company chatbot's little morning news report, right next to the "days since last Java exploit" one someone posted here a couple of weeks ago.
- lectrick 14y ago
  dhh really doesn't allow too many other good opinions, eh? If I was dhh, I'd let the other smart folks have their good says without getting all defensive. You only have to get defensive if you somehow think you are better than others. I harbor no such illusions.
rmoriz 14y ago
2009 http://gadgetopia.com/post/6794 http://gadgetopia.com/post/6794
canttestthis 14y ago
I know of at least three incidents. The CouchDB talk at a Ruby conference in 2009 had soft porn pictures [1]. Another Ruby conference in 2008 offered a 'daycare' where attendees could leave their 'spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend' if they weren't interested in the conference itself. They called it a 'girlfriend daycare' which generated some controversy on a mailing list named DevChix. [2] These aren't the most objective and reliable sources, its just to give you an idea of that drama. Also BritRuby was cancelled because the speaker list consisted entirely of white males, which is somehow a bad thing. [3] [1] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/CouchDB_talk http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/CouchDB_talk [2] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/RubyFringe_offers_girlfriend_daycare http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/RubyFringe_offers_girlfri... [3] http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/18/britruby-conference-felled-by-white-males/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/18/britruby-conference-felled...
- Argorak 14y ago
  > Also BritRuby was cancelled because the speaker list consisted entirely of white males, which is somehow a bad thing. The dismissive tone is unnecessary, the matter was more complex than it seems. See here for a previous discussion. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5399848 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5399848
  - canttestthis 14y ago
    I just read your link. So the issue is that they advertised themselves as a 'diverse conference' but didn't have a diverse speaker list. I don't typically look at race/gender when I look at speaker lists, so I didn't think it was a bad thing.
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lectrick 14y ago
One of the first RailsConfs (perhaps even the first one) had male/female drama... There was a chatroom somewhere that people were on while the presentations were going on and some folks said some questionable things and a woman blogged about it. I ended up having to apologize to the woman :O

I have to ask, what was the ruby conference drama?

Argorak 14y ago

There was a presentation relating CouchDB and "Performance" in a sexual way some years ago.

coldtea 14y ago
Sex! Mentioned in jest! Oh, the humanity! Aren't those conferences targeted at adults? Is there some assumption in english speaking countries that the average adult is offended when he hears about sex? Because it sure as hell doesn't hold true in most non-english speaking countries...
- vidarh 14y ago
  I think the assumption generally is that some women will feel uncomfortable with a sex jokes in an audience where they tend to be a small minority. My experience as a man is that women in groups are at least as prone to telling dirty jokes as men, but I can understand that if you're one of a handful of women in a room full of men it might feel quite different.
  - fencepost 14y ago
    As the IT guy in a variety of medical offices who's known for being pretty laid back, some of the discussions that have happened when I was in the room are filthy. Also, sometimes folks forget I'm in the room. The most memorable and amusing was the discussion by several women (some busty) of "[flopping them on the counter]", but there have also been discussions of men or parts thereof.
- saraid216 14y ago
  I live in America. It's still unclear if there's a national consensus on women being mainly sex objects with breeding potential rather than thinking, speaking human beings, and thus every woman with a brain needs to be reminded that they're properly understood to be fuckholes. Maybe in your English-speaking country, things are better?
  - derleth 14y ago
    I live in America and you're completely incorrect.

kroger 14y ago

A Ruby conference was cancelled: https://gist.github.com/seanhandley/4106776 https://gist.github.com/seanhandley/4106776 And for more drama: http://rubydramas.com http://rubydramas.com EDIT: more facts

Xion 14y ago
> http://rubydramas.com http://rubydramas.com You just made my day posting this. It's absolutely hilarious!
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
Legion 14y ago
Awesome. This is getting added to our company chatbot's little morning news report, right next to the "days since last Java exploit" one someone posted here a couple of weeks ago.
lectrick 14y ago
dhh really doesn't allow too many other good opinions, eh? If I was dhh, I'd let the other smart folks have their good says without getting all defensive. You only have to get defensive if you somehow think you are better than others. I harbor no such illusions.

rmoriz 14y ago

2009 http://gadgetopia.com/post/6794 http://gadgetopia.com/post/6794

canttestthis 14y ago

I know of at least three incidents. The CouchDB talk at a Ruby conference in 2009 had soft porn pictures [1]. Another Ruby conference in 2008 offered a 'daycare' where attendees could leave their 'spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend' if they weren't interested in the conference itself. They called it a 'girlfriend daycare' which generated some controversy on a mailing list named DevChix. [2] These aren't the most objective and reliable sources, its just to give you an idea of that drama. Also BritRuby was cancelled because the speaker list consisted entirely of white males, which is somehow a bad thing. [3] [1] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/CouchDB_talk http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/CouchDB_talk [2] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/RubyFringe_offers_girlfriend_daycare http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/RubyFringe_offers_girlfri... [3] http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/18/britruby-conference-felled-by-white-males/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/18/britruby-conference-felled...

Argorak 14y ago
> Also BritRuby was cancelled because the speaker list consisted entirely of white males, which is somehow a bad thing. The dismissive tone is unnecessary, the matter was more complex than it seems. See here for a previous discussion. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5399848 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5399848
- canttestthis 14y ago
  I just read your link. So the issue is that they advertised themselves as a 'diverse conference' but didn't have a diverse speaker list. I don't typically look at race/gender when I look at speaker lists, so I didn't think it was a bad thing.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - 14y ago

lectrick 14y ago

One of the first RailsConfs (perhaps even the first one) had male/female drama... There was a chatroom somewhere that people were on while the presentations were going on and some folks said some questionable things and a woman blogged about it. I ended up having to apologize to the woman :O