Anyone know why they were rejected from Bytecode Alliance?
It's possible what you say is true, but, how could anyone judge the validity of such an allegation from a throwaway account without more info?
It's impossible to know. I do know someone elsewhere on HN[1] claimed to (a) work at wasmer and (b) that the decision was based on personal reasons. On a very low rated post. But that's also unverified, and could just mean that they think the founder is an ass.
What is relevant, though, is that a member of the Alliance made public claims of inappropriate behavior by Wasmer's founder and, nearly a year later, boosted them to justify why they weren't personally collaborating. I'm not going to link this for the benefit of the victim, but in fairness they did publish this online, and you can still find it if you're really interested.
And once you take this background into context, some of the issues Wasmer faces just seem to click. Consider the late-cofounder post-mortem you linked in a different thread:
> Another point: Syrus Akbary also has made many public errors that have created hostility against the company.
Could it be about different issues? Well, certainly, but that one issue was steaming for a year within the Alliance, so...
Sexual harassment issues are a serious matter. They are not discussed online as a throwaway weapon. They are denounced to the relevant authorities so they can be punished by law. I will always defend anyone doing that even if the claim goes against my person or anyone I love.
If you have chatted with anyone that has really suffered from it, you would know how important is to treat this things properly and not as a weapon to attack a company we don't like.
Are you implying this didn't affect Wasmer's rejection from the Alliance?
I hope you can understand how making unsupported claims of this caliber can be very damaging specially if done without any verification whatsoever. You didn't stated it but you did implied it.
> Are you implying Wasmer was rejected from the Alliance for a different reason?
You shall ask them instead of me.
>
> We made both of these points explicit in the rejection email. In that email, we also said that if Wasmer established a track record of positive engagement, we would re-evaluate.
From a BA member[0]. If I was you, I'd start reading some interpersonal communication books ASAP and really take some time to reflect deeply on what is happening here. It seems like a lot of people around you are making decisions that gravely impact your business and personal future (your lawyers trademarking things without you understanding what, the Bytecode Alliance rejecting you, people alleging harassment, etc.) and you're having a hard time understanding what they are doing and why.
[0] https://github.com/WebAssembly/WASI/issues/3#issuecomment-71...
I hope we can share the opinion that making this statement without actually pin-pointing into what's the exact behavior that is not compatible with the CoC makes the whole point plain. If provided, one can reflect upon that. Otherwise is just plain words that don't help in any way towards reflection or self-growth.
> your lawyers trademarking things without you understanding what
That's my fault, as stated in the article and other comments here. Sometimes we try to chew more than we can swallow, and fuckups happen. If you been in a startup you probably know what I'm talking about.
> people alleging harassment
This one is the one that I think we have to be most cautious about, specially because anyone can "allege" anything. Tomorrow I can read in Twitter that someone likes to kill cats and I can say that "Allegedly X is a cat killer", but that doesn't make it any more true (and to be honest, it will be irresponsible for me sharing that without proof, even if I frame it as an allegation). It's on each of us the responsibility to seriously treat those claims by putting them in the hands of the authorities so any bad behavior is penalized with the law.
> It seems like a lot of people around you are making decisions that gravely impact your business and personal future
Fortunately enough, the business thrives when we make a product that people like and use. And for me personally, I'm learning a lot and going through a lot of experiences that are for sure enriching. Thus, each day I'm (hopefully) becoming a better version of myself (or at least I try to!). Hope you do too!
This allegation is absolutely false
1. No, no one at the Bytecode Alliance ever accused me of inappropriate behavior.
2. Someone at the Bytecode Alliance accused me of inappropriate behavior, but that was a false allegation.
Spell it out, because regardless of which, this definitely played a part in why Wasmer is not a part of the Alliance, and that is what people were wondering about.
I'll do it from my end: yes, they were accused of it. Their answers are roundabout ways of never confirming it because they claim they were accused unfairly, and that's fine, if irrelevant to what ended up happening to the Wasmer-BA relationship.
> I'll do it from my end: yes, they were accused of it
Accused of sexual harassment by a member of the BA alliance? Never. This is absolutely false.
If you have proof of that please share the information. I think any future readers will like reading about it
But for the sake of discussion, let's play devils advocate. Even if such an accusation would exist (which in this case, it doesn't), it would not imply it's truthfulness. That's why it's super important to always put this matters into the hand of authorities so any bad behaviors (either sexual harassment or false accusations) are addressed with the full weight of the law.
Are you joking me? Inappropriate physical behavior IS sexual harassment. You're trying to twist words to deny something happened.
At this point I lost complete faith in you and now assume your claims that it was a misunderstanding an outright fabrication. I'm ashamed I ever rooted for Wasmer and hoped this was indeed culture clash.
At no point in this conversation was the truthfulness or the legality of whatever happened in question: the question was "why was wasmer rejected from the bytecode alliance," and a "false" allegation that you "touched someone in a prolonged and overly-familiar way that caused them discomfort according to them but wasn't sexual harassment according to you" is the answer.
In fact, you're saying this never happened and that false accusations need to be addressed with the full weight of the law? I'll see you in court I guess?
Greeting someone with two kisses (a typical way of greeting in Spain) in a public conference in front of many other people is not sexual harassment. In fact, I already suspect you know that since you also commented "For all we know, it could be a misunderstanding due to different cultures" in this same thread. In any case, if you really consider that sexual harassment I'd welcome you to report it to the authorities and see what they have to say about it.
For any future readers, this is what this throwaway account is falsely reporting as sexual harassment: https://twitter.com/syrusakbary/status/1202362342555545600
> In fact, report me to the authorities
Sure thing, I'd love to. Would you be so kind to share your real information so I can do so?