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Go read any thread here touching on sexism, feminism, or gender equality. You get all the standard anti-feminist arguments ("it's not really a problem"; "men ar

Go read any thread here touching on sexism, feminism, or gender equality. You get all the standard anti-feminist arguments ("it's not really a problem"; "men are oppressed too"; "she should have just asked nicely"; "my wife doesn't think that's sexist"; "it's just a joke"; etc. etc. etc.) I'm not sure I'd lump HN in with the MRA jerks wholesale, but in all HN reeks of privilege. There are several things HN does very well; gender equality really isn't one of them.

lifeisstillgood 14y ago
I see, I tend to ignore them, a mental defence mechanism evolved to deal with blog comments. I just assume anyone dumb enough to make a comment like that wont have anything much interesting to say on technology or entrepreneurship - it's been an accurate assumption so far as I can tell
- austinee 14y ago
  That's a lot of ignoring to do. In the last feminism related thread I can think of (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432277 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432277), the majority of people were, to put it mildly, not exactly progressive. That includes two mainstays of the HN community, with 15k+ karma. The last one before that got flagged off the front page after one commenter declared that he was flagging it because programs that help women are sexist (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5353136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5353136). The story was highly upvoted, but it only takes a handful of flags to relegate a story to oblivion. Pg commented that it was an abuse of flagging, and it was restored, but pg usually doesn't show up, and most of these stories get buried, even when they're upvoted. This story is a perfect example. With "19 points, 3 hours ago", it is ranked 151, right next two stories with "3 points, 14 hours ago".
  - lifeisstillgood 14y ago
    Thank you - that top comment by luu is right on the money
kabuks 14y ago
Yes. I have been very surprised at the discrepancy between the level of dialogue. When the discussion on HN is around almost anything, I find myself often learning, and surrounded by comments that are smarter, and more informed than any I would find in the real world. When it comes to gender issues though, I think we as a community in general tend to be pretty behind. I truly love HN. More than any other place on the interweb, this one has impacted my life in very real ways. I do however, cringe when the topic veers towards sexism. I think we can do better.
- mpyne 14y ago
  > I have been very surprised at the discrepancy between the level of dialogue. I haven't been. Without doubt there are some brilliant minds on HN, but even this populace is not immune from "believing first, proving second". The group writ large tends to fall into that trap on different topics than most people, but it falls eventually. Not just regarding sexism in tech either; there are others.
eric_bullington 14y ago
I think the type of comments you mentioned are not only relatively rare, but they are quickly downvoted when they occur. The thing that HN does not do well is political correctness. I think the Richards case was jarring to most tech folks (men and women) because someone was fired for being very mildly politically incorrect in a private conversation.
- jacobian 14y ago
  > I think the type of comments you mentioned are not only relatively rare, but they are quickly downvoted when they occur. Well, we see a very different subset of comments, apparently. Look at the top comments in this very thread, for example...

lifeisstillgood 14y ago

I see, I tend to ignore them, a mental defence mechanism evolved to deal with blog comments. I just assume anyone dumb enough to make a comment like that wont have anything much interesting to say on technology or entrepreneurship - it's been an accurate assumption so far as I can tell

austinee 14y ago
That's a lot of ignoring to do. In the last feminism related thread I can think of (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432277 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432277), the majority of people were, to put it mildly, not exactly progressive. That includes two mainstays of the HN community, with 15k+ karma. The last one before that got flagged off the front page after one commenter declared that he was flagging it because programs that help women are sexist (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5353136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5353136). The story was highly upvoted, but it only takes a handful of flags to relegate a story to oblivion. Pg commented that it was an abuse of flagging, and it was restored, but pg usually doesn't show up, and most of these stories get buried, even when they're upvoted. This story is a perfect example. With "19 points, 3 hours ago", it is ranked 151, right next two stories with "3 points, 14 hours ago".
- lifeisstillgood 14y ago
  Thank you - that top comment by luu is right on the money

kabuks 14y ago

Yes. I have been very surprised at the discrepancy between the level of dialogue. When the discussion on HN is around almost anything, I find myself often learning, and surrounded by comments that are smarter, and more informed than any I would find in the real world. When it comes to gender issues though, I think we as a community in general tend to be pretty behind. I truly love HN. More than any other place on the interweb, this one has impacted my life in very real ways. I do however, cringe when the topic veers towards sexism. I think we can do better.

mpyne 14y ago
> I have been very surprised at the discrepancy between the level of dialogue. I haven't been. Without doubt there are some brilliant minds on HN, but even this populace is not immune from "believing first, proving second". The group writ large tends to fall into that trap on different topics than most people, but it falls eventually. Not just regarding sexism in tech either; there are others.

eric_bullington 14y ago

I think the type of comments you mentioned are not only relatively rare, but they are quickly downvoted when they occur. The thing that HN does not do well is political correctness. I think the Richards case was jarring to most tech folks (men and women) because someone was fired for being very mildly politically incorrect in a private conversation.

jacobian 14y ago
> I think the type of comments you mentioned are not only relatively rare, but they are quickly downvoted when they occur. Well, we see a very different subset of comments, apparently. Look at the top comments in this very thread, for example...