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Nóirín Plunkett has died
- baseballmerpeak 11y agoRIP Nóirín
- caniszczyk 11y agoterrible :(
- mvtn 11y agoGodspeed, Nóirín! :(
- kozukumi 11y agoI do not know much about the ASF, could somebody share a little of who Nóirín was, what she did, etc?
- davelnewton 11y agoShe was actively involved in documentation, communication, and conferences.
- lizzard 11y agoShe was also on the Board of the Apache Software Foundation.
- isaac32767 11y agoI know nothing about her work with ASF, but I knew her briefly when she lived in Portland. She was one of the organizers who create those great tech events this city is known for. I used to attend the weekly brewpup hackathons she organized, and which are still going strong. I seem to recall that her day job at the time was writing docs for Eucalyptus. We weren't close, but I can say that she was an interesting, smart, talented, complicated person. Her loss saddens me deeply.
- BuildTheRobots 11y agoSad news, RIP. Based on her community involvement it strikes me as almost appropriate for her name to be added to the X-Clacks-Overhead HTTP header [1] [1] http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/
- drzaiusapelord 11y agoShe looks pretty young in her social media photos. Please don't be yet another bright young techie suicide. We've had too many of those recently, and no one seems to understand why or how we can avoid them in the future.
- Udo 11y agoI agree, and although they're "just" a symptom they are a particularly haunting one. The taboo surrounding these deaths doesn't help, either. Edit: thank you, surapaneni, for correcting my mistake.
- surapaneni 11y agoGot you covered.
- vacri 11y agoRegarding suicides (separate to this article, where cause is unknown) - there is nothing particular to tech which means suicides. Suicides cut across all demographics, though it is particularly prevalent amongst young adults. People who work in mental health and related areas understand the reasons behind suicides pretty well. When it comes to avoiding them, the answer involves lots of tax dollars thrown at a demographic with little political power. Suicides will never be eradicated, but they can be reduced with well-targeted mental health programs. Understanding and solutions are available, it's just that it's a complex problem with no single solution, so the general public isn't really interested in understanding it... and as they don't understand it, they're also not really interested in funding it.
- drzaiusapelord 11y agoI believe there are many studies linking tech work to poor mental health, so no, I don't agree that this is just 'law of averages' thing.
- vacri 11y ago
- davelnewton 11y agoI sincerely hope this isn't related to the recent legal stuff that was going on (http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/1vely89ia/oregon-district-court/schwern-v-plunkett/ http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/1vely89ia/oregon-district-c... etc). Going away due to natural causes is tragic enough.
- mfoy_ 11y agoThat looks like it was a mess. :( For the lazy, the introduction of the complaint (at the bottom of the page): (Jan. 2014) "This is a civil action for damages brought by plaintiff Michael G. Schwern against his exwife, defendant Nóirín Plunkett. Plaintiff and defendant are both nternationally renowned open source computer software experts and ctivists for women’s rights in the open source software development community. Defendant intentionally, falsely, and without privilege claimed to third parties that plaintiff had sexually assaulted her and subjected her to intimate partner violence. Plaintiff has suffered immediate, severe, and lasting damage to his professional, volunteer, and social lives and to his reputation, together with profound emotional harm. Plaintiff states claims for defamation, intentional infliction of severe emotional distress, and intentional interference with prospective economic relations." As of the most recent filings it looks like they were still fighting it out.
- cperciva 11y agoAs of the most recent filings it looks like they were still fighting it out. Not just fighting, but fighting very dirty. Not many cases get to the point of "he anonymously sent me flowers in an attempt to intimidate me" / "I didn't send any flowers, and moreover I have evidence that she sent the flowers to herself in an attempt to fabricate evidence".
- probdist 11y agoYes. The appeal (Court of Appeals Docket #: 14-35576) and the district court case (Docket #:3:14-cv-00146) are both accurately categorized as huge messes. The allegation that Plunkett actually sent the "threat" flowers to herself (allegedly backed up by the credit card data and order history from the merchant) is noteworthy for the utter wildness involved. But it looks like nothing has happened recently in the cases (since June 25th) while waiting on part of the appeal. So GGP's line of inquiry seems to be answered with a probably not?
- colmmacc 11y agoTthis is a devastating loss for all involved. Nóirín was active in Open Source, but something lesser known is that she was a founding director of Digital Rights Ireland; who recently succeeded in a legal challenge against European Data retention. Nóirín was also a life-long volunteer Medic with St. John's ambulance in Ireland: http://www.stjohn.ie http://www.stjohn.ie . I'm certain her family would appreciate any condolences or donations in her name. I spoke with Nóirín's mother and brother this morning, and they know that she had a huge impact on people, and "on the web" (to use her proud mother's words), but I think it's worth making concrete. If you have a story or testimonial about how Nóirín helped or inspired you (and I know there are many), please send it on to colm@allcosts.net and I'll make sure to pass it on.
- fixxer 11y agoA devastating loss indeed. Has cause of death been released? She was so young. EDIT: Surprised by the downvotes. I'm leaving it, regardless. The question does not imply any lack of respect for the deceased. Those who think it does are wrong.
- comrh 11y agoThanks for this and giving a place to donate.
- lizzard 11y agoThank you for mentioning Noirin's work with digital rights and other organizations. I didn't know about their work as a medic. Thank you also for mentioning their family's thoughts.
- rdancer 11y agoYet another "contributor to Open Source" who has been "valued" so much that they committed [cause of death conspicuously left out of the obituary]?
- robinhowlett 11y agoHer first name is pronounced "No-reen" for those wondering.
- jMyles 11y agoOh hell. :-( We are losing a lot of good people.
- EarlPoncho 11y agowhat they do
- ranty 11y agoOh shit, I met her. She was bloody hilarious.
- butthackerz 11y agoAccording to their Twitter bio, Nóirín prefers to be referred to in the singular "they". Please respect their identity, HN.
- ihuman 11y agoPeople wouldn't know unless they looked up their twitter page. People here are using "her" because the article uses "her." https://twitter.com/noirinp https://twitter.com/noirinp
- sas 11y agonow they do!
- davidw 11y agoAre you sure that doesn't just refer to a preference for using 'they/them' as opposed to 'him' when it's a generic singular pronoun? People who knew her are using "her": http://drbacchus.com/festina-lente/ http://drbacchus.com/festina-lente/
- lizdenys 11y agoIt's unlikely that they meant "preferred pronoun" to be about a singular person generally, since it commonly refers to preferences about oneself. People often use pronouns other than the ones someone prefers for a variety of reasons: sometimes the preferred pronoun is new, sometimes people forget, sometimes people don't respect that person's preferred pronoun.
- davidw 11y ago> It's unlikely that they meant "preferred pronoun" to be about a singular person generally, since it commonly refers to preferences about oneself. Without more context, even in that case, it could be either 2nd or 3rd person. Queen Elizabeth, for instance, might put her preferred pronoun as 'we', but you'd still write about her. In any event, very sad.
- sarciszewski 11y ago...by natural causes, I certainly hope. My condolences to their family, either way.
- eryno 11y agoIt was requested on Facebook that in lieu of flowers, people consider donating to one of the following organizations in Nóirín's name: Rape Abuse Incest National Network: https://donate.rainn.org/ https://donate.rainn.org/ Center of Excellence for Transgender Health: http://transhealth.ucsf.edu/trans?page=ab-donate http://transhealth.ucsf.edu/trans?page=ab-donate (please follow the additional instructions underneath the “Donate” button) Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology http://anitaborg.org/donate/ http://anitaborg.org/donate/
- CrackpotGonzo 11y agoVery sad. May they rest in peace.
- lizzard 11y agoThis is sad for us all. Noirin was a lovely person, smart and motivated, dedicated to open source for many years, part of so many communities. I will miss them from geekfeminism and from all our open source and feminist activist circles.