Hacker News Reader

Comment by adrienne | Hacker News Reader

If people are downvoting me for incivilty, they should also be downvoting all the misgendering, which is fundamentally uncivil no matter how calm and even the tone in which it is done.

View on HN

I skimmed the comments in this thread, searching for references to "he" or "they" (and the instance of "guy" I found) in reference to Manning. I found 3 "he", 1 "guy", and one "they". All were downvoted, two of them flagged dead. Admittedly this isn't comprehensive: there are currently over 500 comments. This doesn't include discussion of the use of "they" in general, or reflection on the use of "they" when the gender is unknown. Given that people regardless of whether you think it's reasonable or not have not come to a universal consensus on this issue, I think it's understandable to have civil discussion on this, which it nearly wholly has been.

User 'wtbob has posted three comments in this thread full of really appalling transphobia and they don't seem to be getting downvoted. Meanwhile i'm down 30+ points.

All of 'wtbob's comments have been posted within the past hour, well after I skimmed the comments two hours ago, and while HN is not nearly as active as it was earlier in the day. I've sincerely tried to engage you fairly and charitably, and in the case of looking at behavior, as objectively as I can, 'adrienne. I wish you the best.

Edit to add: Within the time it took me to compose this comment, at least two of their comments have been downvoted.

I just sent an email to the mods about those comments. And yes, i acknowledge that they are newer than your last post to me. I see how my comment implied otherwise, and i apologize for that. I am really, really appalled at those comments and i was uncareful in writing about it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com