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Comment by jjcon | Hacker News Reader

One random example I ran across recently of note to HN crowd - the creator of Javscript and Brave, Founder of Mozilla Brendan Eich.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich

Under known for it says, “Known for JavaScript, opposition to same-sex marriage”

Really? I’m as gay as they come but this just gives me scarlet letter vibes. I sincerely doubt people know this guy for his work opposing ssm (of which there wasn’t any, he was just opposed to it back in the day). People do know firefox, brave, mozilla etc though. In the talk page it is clear there are a couple editors with a vendetta against this guy or something.

Maybe an example of personal bias more than a left/right thing but I still found it kinda weird.

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I mean, it's what he's known for. It was a very big deal when it was discovered that he opposed and donated against gay marriage. He resigned as CEO of Mozilla over it.

Many people outside of internet communities like HN first learned his name when this all went down. Creator of JS wasn't as big a deal to most people at the time as CEO of a major non profit internet company opposing one of the biggest human rights issues of our time.

> as CEO of a major non profit internet company opposing one of the biggest human rights issues of our time.

Obama, the president of the united states opposed same sex marriage at the time of the donations, as did most americans. I hardly fight it noteworthy considering how widespread it was.

The thing of opposing same sex marriage itself isn't noteworthy. The fact it was widely discussed in the context of Brendan Eich particularly was noteworthy. Obama opposing that has nothing to do with what Brendan Eich is "known for" - Obama is known for plenty of things, lots of which are on his wikipedia page.

They are saying he's famous for it, not that other people did or did not do it, nor are they saying its a good or bad thing that he is famous for it.

The world is an unfair place. Sometimes its hypocritical. Saying that he should not be famous for it has no bearing on whether or not he is actually famous for it.

Lots of people opposed it at the time. That’s pretty much required in order for it to be one of the biggest human rights issues at the time.

Which is exactly my point

I think he is known for being the creator of Brave nowadays, and most likely that's how he will be remembered, thanks to the SJW-leftist overreaction to his rather insignificant donation of $1000, and his own subsequent creative output while working on Brave of course.

I'm surprised by the claim that he's known for Brave and that Brave will be remembered.

Outside of HN-types I don't think Brave is known literally at all, much less who is involved in the project.

I guess he's known for it in the sense that he made a $1000 donation to support prop 8 and a bunch of people overreacted and he had to resign. Really, he's known for a specific controversy around gay marriage.

Just an anecdote, but those are the top 2 and only 2 things I know him for. Didn’t know (or at least remember) that he created Brave or was involved with Mozilla. I’d be willing to bet that, indeed, those are the top 2 things he is known for.

Same for me. Definitely would be an interesting family fortunes/family feud question

It would have to be a special "software engineer" edition of family fortunes otherwise 99% of contestants wouldn't have a clue who he is.

The Wikipedia page dedicates an entire section to explaining that comment, under "Appointment to CEO, controversy and resignation". He was forced out of the CEO position for this political view. It was a pretty significant news story, and I think they are right for including this as part of what he is known for (particularly outside the HN community).

I think you misunderstand the purpose of a summary of a person . It isn't P(think of this subject | think of this person), it's P(think of this person | think of this subject).

Likewise, in a summary of a subject, a person would show up if P(think of this subject | think of this person) shows up.

So, for instance, Nelson Mandela shows up in the intro to Apartheid and vice versa; Pi shows up in Fabrice Bellard, but Bellard doesn't show up in Pi; Poor Richard's Almanack links to Benjamin Franklin but Benjamin Franklin doesn't mention PRA in its summary.

He lost his job at Mozilla as a result of it being widespread knowledge.

It's an objective fact that he is known for it.

Mostly the handiwork of an editor, David Gerard, who is obsessed with me and has no encyclopedic perspective, just anger and agenda. One reason among many not to support Wikipedia.

> Really? I’m as gay as they come but this just gives me scarlet letter vibes.

I agree, I sure wouldn't want to be known for inventing JavaScript. And the name wasn't even his idea. How unfair!

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