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Comment by rdtsc | Hacker News Reader

I think it is attitudes like this that stop women and others from participating. I am against censoring but I am for self-policing and being sensitive to others. So it is not about someone coming and bashing you on the head, it is about you hopefull realizing that you are hurting the community and just change the name of the project voluntarily.

If you were a nerd in high-school (I know I was) remember how it felt sometimes if you tried to fit in with the jocks because perhaps you wanted to give some sport a try, but everyone kept making fun of skinny-know-it-all-glasses-wearing-nerd jokes around you? They would think it is fun, and not offensive, but you as a skinny-glasses-wearing-nerd would feel singled out and rejected.

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>If you were a nerd in high-school (I know I was) remember how it felt sometimes if you tried to fit in with the jocks because perhaps you wanted to give some sport a try, but everyone kept making fun of skinny-know-it-all-wearing-glasses-wearing-nerd jokes around you? They would think it is fun, and not offensive, but you as a skinny-glasses-wearing-nerd would feel singled out and rejected.

This comparison should be drawn more often, it is extremely germane to this discussion.

> I think it is attitudes like this that stop women and others from participating.

Perhaps as an excuse, but rather not as a real reason.

Upskirt's original author is a woman alright: Natacha Porté, a.k.a. `the lady of markdown'.

If you read the OP, you'd see that there's a strong implication that the original author of libupskirt did not understand the connotations of upskirt when she agreed to the name

"My personal distate for these particular names is heightened because it appears that the original libupskirt author's acceptance on trust of a foreign-language name for her library has caused her considerable discomfort and possibly harassment. She apparently no longer wishes to work on open source."

That makes me more upset than the original story.

I don't think that detracts from the argument. The fact that she is a woman doesn't change the perception of how other women would view that name.

Now the way I understand it, it was probably a cultural difference, or perhaps an honest mistake. Someone who speaks English as a second language might just not realize that the word has a different connotation.

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