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I haven't been paying overly close attention, but all of the reaction I have seen has generally been blog/twitter based expressions of sadness/disappointment/be

I haven't been paying overly close attention, but all of the reaction I have seen has generally been blog/twitter based expressions of sadness/disappointment/betrayal. Has it really escalated far beyond that? (Genuine question).

sehr 13y ago
There were supposedly death threats, but I haven't seen any. In general though, and from an anecdotal perspective, various internet communities do seem to be more and more involved in 'causes' of various sorts. Whether or not those causes lead to escalation seems to depend on the subject matter and participants, just like anything else really.
- ZeroGravitas 13y ago
  We should probably start a list of thing that don't lead to death threats online, it'll be shorter. The most recent example was someone suggesting putting a famous woman's face on the next UK pound note and getting such threats.
mschuster91 13y ago
OKCupid blocked all Firefox users with a warning message saying that their users should not use a browser whose development CEO dislikes gay marriage. Borders to extortion or unfair competition, in my eyes.
- oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
  They didn't block them; they showed them a message, invited them to use an alternative browser, and allowed them to continue if they so wished.
  - SandB0x 13y ago
    Presumably that part was written in JavaScript.
  - maneesh 13y ago
    They also continued to use JavaScript on their site, regardless of browser. Since Eich invented JavaScript, shouldn't they stop using it?
    - oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
      (I'm slightly wary of this ridiculous argument, but here goes...) Eich wasn't the CEO of 'JavaScript', so that's not really the same thing, is it?
    - toyg 13y ago
      That's more of an accident of history, really. In his own words, Netscape told him to come up with something, anything, quick, and lo JavaScript was born. Had Netscape known that he was a closet homophobe, would they have hired him in the first place? It's also much easier being an homophobe engineer rather than a homophobe CEO, because of the nature of the role. His technical achievements can be as impressive as you want and have no relation to his homophobia; being CEO is a role built on public relationships inside and outside the company, relationships that would be severely influenced by his (perceived) homophobia.
- ZanyProgrammer 13y ago
  This is literally how the free market and competition work.
anon1385 13y ago
I've seen a few people say they won't be using Mozilla products any longer, which is up to them of course. I doubt it is any significant number of people. The only thing I've seen that 'crossed the line' so to speak was the okcpuid thing urging users to stop using Firefox. I didn't see exactly what the message was. It sounded more like a marketing stunt to get some media attention. I think if it had been other people/companies targeted then people on HN would have been applauding their disruptive and entrepreneurial marketing department.
- rsynnott 13y ago
  I don't see that that crosses any line, as such. It used to be very common for websites to tell people not to use Internet Explorer, sometimes on a purely technical basis, but often on a "Microsoft is evil" basis. This seems similar to the latter.
  - mschuster91 13y ago
    Flaming a company is a vastly different from death threats and hate mobs against a person.
    - rsynnott 13y ago
      I was responding to a comment about a website showing a message to Firefox users; the website made no death threats.

sehr 13y ago

There were supposedly death threats, but I haven't seen any. In general though, and from an anecdotal perspective, various internet communities do seem to be more and more involved in 'causes' of various sorts. Whether or not those causes lead to escalation seems to depend on the subject matter and participants, just like anything else really.

ZeroGravitas 13y ago
We should probably start a list of thing that don't lead to death threats online, it'll be shorter. The most recent example was someone suggesting putting a famous woman's face on the next UK pound note and getting such threats.

mschuster91 13y ago

OKCupid blocked all Firefox users with a warning message saying that their users should not use a browser whose development CEO dislikes gay marriage. Borders to extortion or unfair competition, in my eyes.

oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
They didn't block them; they showed them a message, invited them to use an alternative browser, and allowed them to continue if they so wished.
- SandB0x 13y ago
  Presumably that part was written in JavaScript.
- maneesh 13y ago
  They also continued to use JavaScript on their site, regardless of browser. Since Eich invented JavaScript, shouldn't they stop using it?
  - oneeyedpigeon 13y ago
    (I'm slightly wary of this ridiculous argument, but here goes...) Eich wasn't the CEO of 'JavaScript', so that's not really the same thing, is it?
  - toyg 13y ago
    That's more of an accident of history, really. In his own words, Netscape told him to come up with something, anything, quick, and lo JavaScript was born. Had Netscape known that he was a closet homophobe, would they have hired him in the first place? It's also much easier being an homophobe engineer rather than a homophobe CEO, because of the nature of the role. His technical achievements can be as impressive as you want and have no relation to his homophobia; being CEO is a role built on public relationships inside and outside the company, relationships that would be severely influenced by his (perceived) homophobia.
ZanyProgrammer 13y ago
This is literally how the free market and competition work.

anon1385 13y ago

I've seen a few people say they won't be using Mozilla products any longer, which is up to them of course. I doubt it is any significant number of people. The only thing I've seen that 'crossed the line' so to speak was the okcpuid thing urging users to stop using Firefox. I didn't see exactly what the message was. It sounded more like a marketing stunt to get some media attention. I think if it had been other people/companies targeted then people on HN would have been applauding their disruptive and entrepreneurial marketing department.

rsynnott 13y ago
I don't see that that crosses any line, as such. It used to be very common for websites to tell people not to use Internet Explorer, sometimes on a purely technical basis, but often on a "Microsoft is evil" basis. This seems similar to the latter.
- mschuster91 13y ago
  Flaming a company is a vastly different from death threats and hate mobs against a person.
  - rsynnott 13y ago
    I was responding to a comment about a website showing a message to Firefox users; the website made no death threats.