Also, private conversations held in public are no longer private.
By the way, she has posted a message on that blog post thanking HN users for stopping by and taking interest in her. That pretty clearly reinforces the idea that she is quite happy and cognizant of the fact that she managed to turn this into something far more than it was.
Along those lines, why do you feel comfortable to sit in judgement of this woman, because she didn't do what you would have done?
Try looking at this from another perspective. If the issue that she is concerned about is not this particular incidence of sexism that happens to be happening near her (if it did), but instead that the mindset of those in her community, telling these particular guys to STFU is not going to address the problem. If they're going to blow her off and just go somewhere else and continue being jackasses (again, if they actually were being jackasses), then what could she hope to achieve by confronting them directly?
If on the other hand, her goal is to call out a particular type of conduct as unacceptable, then her behavior seems sensible. She's not going to change these dudes' minds, but she might reach others. So, post to blog, post to twitter.
I wish everyone would stop jumping immediately to evil plots, and accusing others of intentionally gaining at the expense of someone else.
The message she sent was very simple: Being anywhere near her is a liability. You never know what will offend her, and how she will react to it. Do not hire her or take a job that would involve interaction with her. Stay away. Don't even eat lunch near her, as she may broadcast your lunch conversation if she finds the content to be objectionable.
Has she gloated that her follower count has increased? Has she expressed any glee over these firings?
In fact, if you've read the Venture Beat article they assert directly the opposite:
Richards, while standing by her actions, has tweeted that she did not think the developer should lose his job. It’s fairly clear that getting him fired was not her intention.
No, but she did compare herself to Joan of Arc and say that she stepped up when the future of women in tech was on the line. A tad bit dramatic.
She can be both obnoxious, maybe even wrong-headed, and still act in good faith. (even if her actions did not have the consequences she intended)
I agree, this is how you'd expect kids to behave.
If the joke offends you, say so, in so many words. If the offender doesn't respect that, then, fair enough, take it further.
But my point isn't about what I would have done, or what should have been done. It's whether or not Adrian Richards was behaving maliciously, which is what GP and a long list of others have insinuated or asserted without any good evidence.
Speculating? There were actual actions.
Not to mention that she speculated about someone else's motives -- that he told a casual fucking joke to his pal because he was sexist, that he was responsible for women not going into tech, etc.
Was the joke immature? Maybe. Should we socially crucify Kevin Smith and anybody that ever made a similar joke?
And more importantly, was it addressed to her? No.
I'm beyond outrage by such disgusting behavior.
Not only did she EAVESDROP on a private conversation (which is horrible in itself), she also made it public, with a totally unnecessary picture of the persons talking, and made someone lose his job over a joke.
She deserves to be taken out of the tech world and fired to taste her own medicine.
>Also, private conversations held in public are no longer private.
Really? Talking to your friend in the cinema, a conference or anywhere, is as private as it gets. He didn't say it addressing a large company. How you'd like to be followed in public by someone with a recording machine and expose your every idiotic comment to the world?