Dear Fellow Geeks: WTF?

I've said this before, but people on "mansphere" blogs flipped out over this whole thing, a lot harder than HN did.

Seems harsh to blame the professional software industry for everything done by internet trolls.

Would be like me seeing troll commments posted on a car forum and saying "damn, mechanics are such assholes".

The community has been defined by one thing: People who were affluent enough to be able to afford a computer, a connection to the internet, and on top of all that, the time and inclination to explore and learn.

This excluded virtually everyone in low-income families due to economic reasons. While most men and women were uninterested in personal computers until they became affordable and the software and services available for them was more compelling, in general terms, women seemed even less interested than men in the early days.

The nascent personal computer and internet space had a lot more to it than straight white men. If you were relatively affluent and had the inclination to try, you were a part of that community. Women and non-straight, non-white men have always been an important element of the community. It's just easy to ignore that.

If we stopped assuming all the people in the community were like us, or more importantly, that they were supposed to be like us, we'd probably do a lot better.

We're in an age where anyone can buy a notebook computer, I've even seen homeless people with netbooks they could've purchased by turning in a few thousand empty cans, and the barrier to engaging with the internet is very low. Where the internet used to be exclusive, it's now inclusive and we should be acting accordingly.

It's worth noting that every misogynistic, racist, sexist or threatening comment I've seen during this whole thing has been in screen shots because they all get downvoted or reported/removed before they cross my screen, which seems like exactly the right response from the community at large.