Comment by yummyfajitas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by yummyfajitas | Hacker News Reader

... I need to put them in the category with Aimonetti and David Heinemeier Hansson and PennyArcade as people who think the feminists who think this stuff is a problem are a bunch of whiny attention-seekers, and that the hubub about “climate” and conferences is just a bunch of angry people with nothing better to do than make life difficult for people with senses of humor.

A minor amendment I'd make to this. A large number of people think the feminists who complain about this stuff are angry people with nothing better to do.

The LessConf organizers get to join a much smaller and more elite category - the narrow category of people willing to admit their true beliefs even at the risk of public condemnation by various people who wish certain views weren't expressed.

By the way, since the original post didn't provide it, here is a link to the actual conference page. Form your own opinion. http://lessconf.lesseverything.com/

I have no idea why the author included "Uncle Bear" on her page. He's ugly, but didn't saying anything sexist in his promo video. Maybe the author of the blog post is doing double duty, defending the honor of both women and sheep (watch his video and you'll understand)?

I respect speakers' rights to express whichever beliefs they hold, but I think it's also important, both for them and for attendees, to recognize the effect that it has. Their views on women (or any group), popular or otherwise, are irrelevant so long as they don't needlessly bring them up, but when they choose to do something that makes some members of the audience less comfortable and less likely to attend in the future (particularly since speakers are often perceived to represent the community), then that's a loss for the entire community, with negligible gain.

Even if those who are offended are overreacting, publicizing their views is probably the best way to be sure that both speakers and attendees can make well informed decisions about which conferences to attend.

If they want it to be a club for guys (and women who'll deal with it), that's their prerogative. If, on the other hand, they think it's more to their benefit to be inclusive, they should probably make an effort not to be needlessly offensive. To that end, it's probably best they be made aware of who they're offending.

particularly since speakers are often perceived to represent the community

There needs to be a serious education effort to remove that mistaken idea from people's minds.

It's also a bit insulting to the audience to assume they are too dense to realize that the actions and opinions of one person are simply the actions and opinions of one person.

Even if those who are offended are overreacting, publicizing their views is probably the best way to be sure that both speakers and attendees can make well informed decisions about which conferences to attend.

Exactly.

> It's also a bit insulting...

Perhaps true, but if the community doesn't acknowledge offensive behavior, it comes off as tacit acceptance. If the speaker is invited back without question or actively defended by the community, a person couldn't be blamed for getting the impression that the speaker's views reflect the views of the community as a whole, or at least of those responsible for the event.

> There needs to be a serious education effort to remove that mistaken idea from people's minds.

I'd argue that that's difficult to do without acknowledging the behavior as undesired/detrimental when it happens, for the reason above.

For what it's worth, I'm very glad their views are expressed. I think they're destructive and suggest a certain myopia, but I'd rather the beliefs be out there than people hide them for fear of public condemnation.

Who cares? The Uncle Bear video was stupid and funny and if that offends you then don't come to the conference because you are uptight and I don't want you there. And if anyone that makes fun or uses Charlie Sheen (because he is the IT thing right now)to promote themselves then you will need to write a blog post for every comedian and news anchor out there who have bombarded us with his face for the past 2 weeks.

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