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Comment by ezl | Hacker News Reader

No, our industry has a blogging problem.

Tech (is that our industry?) is not unique in it's practice of hosting happy hours, especially after conferences.

People like drinking. We could ask more conferences to host 5k jogs as an alternative meeting event, and it would be novel and fun, but it likely wouldn't ever be as inclusive as a happy hour (Also, it's hard to get 5 people in a circle talking while on a jog).

Not everyone drinks or likes drinking, but as a practical matter, it's:

    1. convention
    2. inexpensive for organizers
    3. easy to organize
    4. likely to encourage mingling and conversation

Which are important goals for organizers that aren't as easily met by alternate activities.

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And people like me who don't drink can still happily grab a soda, hang with folks who are, and get all the social benefits.

I upvoted after the first sentence of your comment. The rest is good, but that first sentence is gold.

if you think people over-express their opinions on blogs then why do you hangout in places like HN, click on links, read blog posts, and then go in and comment on them?

Because silent dissent is a great way to not let people know you have a differing opinion.

Well, I don't do much of #3 & #4, but do plenty of #1 & #2. I count on the community to vet the loudness of private time-wasters. And so public watering holes become more palatable.

>> People like drinking.

This is the one sentence rebuttal to any complaints about drinking in any industry.

I absolutely agree. I don't often drink, and even when I'm not actively drinking just hanging out and socializing is a huge component of what makes many conferences worth while.

I run 5k and 10ks pretty often. I don't think I've been to one that didn't have free beer at the finish.

Almost anyone, regardless of age, weight, sex, health or ableness can sit around in a bar sitting a soda.

Although I've got muslim friends who are uncomfortable being somewhere where alcohol is being served.

I'd agree that a 5k run is vastly less inclusive.

Has anyone considered that blogging might be a disease?

a form of mental incontinence, perhaps?

Commenting on comments about a blog post, on the other hand, is the highest form of human expression.

You said exactly what I was going to post. It's strange to me that a group of ostensibly rational/scientific thinkers would be so oblivious to basic concepts of bias here. You of course notice the problems in your own group way more than you do, say, in the Steampunk Civil War Re-Enactment Association. Second, this group, developers, happens to be one very skilled with the Internet and a higher percentage than usual are the type to use the Internet to communicate, sometimes very often.

There is most definitely a gender imbalance and the problems that come with it in tech. But is the drinking and sexual harassment proportionally worse than it is in marketing or law or medicine, or academia? It's very possible that the reason why you don't hear about those conferences is because those are groups more reticent about blogging their dirty laundry.

(just to reiterate, before anyone jumps to a conclusion here: I'm not saying there isn't a problem...but it's not particular to our community. Which is not something to be happy about, if you care for more than just your own group)

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