Comment by jdmoreira
4 years ago
I have no clue on who this guy is nor do I have any sort of interest in Scala but this is terrible.
If this is even remotely true I hope he suffers enormous consequences including being persecuted.
How are people still getting away with this kind of abuse? How?
>How are people still getting away with this kind of abuse? How?
It's quite simple, really.
You know that phenomenon you see here on HN with big names like Steve Jobs or RMS, or Elon Musk? The phenomenon where people give them a pass for being disgusting, abusive assholes because "he's a genius/luminary/visionary" or because "his contributions to $thing are so great"?
It's the same phenomenon with people like Jon Pretty.
Being quite involved in the Scala community myself, I can tell you that the impact of his technical contributions is basically zero.
None of the projects he developed along the years has had any momentum (save for one, called "magnolia", which has a modest userbase).
He was giving more talks than anyone else in the community, solely based on vague ideas he couldn't even make happen. He was always bluffing somehow, presenting himself as some kind of grand architect pursuing grand ideas, while his effective impact was close to zero.
I think he was tolerated just because he's been around since basically the language was created, and thus was friend with many people, and could tell stories about the early days of Scala.
With him (hopefully) going away, this will have no impact at all on the development of Scala or related projects, apart from saving slots at upcoming Scala conferences.
So it's definitely not the same phenomenon as RMS or Elon.
>Being quite involved in the Scala community myself, I can tell you that the impact of his technical contributions is basically zero.
>None of the projects he developed along the years has had any momentum (save for one, called "magnolia", which has a modest userbase).
>He was giving more talks than anyone else in the community, solely based on vague ideas he couldn't even make happen. He was always bluffing somehow, presenting himself as some kind of grand architect pursuing grand ideas, while his effective impact was close to zero.
>I think he was tolerated just because he's been around since basically the language was created, and thus was friend with many people, and could tell stories about the early days of Scala.
Change just a handful of words and this exactly describes Stallman. I think my description is more apt than you might think.
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Alternatively: people diluting the signal, where people bring up serious accusations of rape, and then others show up and compare it to people who are considered assholes by some.
See I can tell that you're snidely implying that I'm falsely equating rape with "being an asshole", which I explicitly did not do.
The phenomenon behind why these people get a pass is the same, even if their behavior is different.
Because people don't believe victims. They insist that somehow they gave consent, or that somehow the assaulter just couldn't have known. Or they blame the victim, saying that "they deserved it" or "they shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place."
I guarantee you that someone will post in this thread, if they haven't already, that she should know better than to get an airbnb with a man she doesn't know well. No, this isn't her fault. The dude should not have abused her.
It would be easier to judge if she said that she did not give consent.
You may be right, but you also have to agree that some people will pause before judging definite rape for described situation where girl accepts invitation to sleep in the same airbnb, without anybody else, with single guy, bringing bottle of wine, not mentioning she did not give consent, feeling bad afterwards. From that description it's really difficult to pass rape judgement - maybe it was, maybe not, what we know is that it was creepy at least for her.
> some people will pause before judging definite rape for described situation where girl accepts invitation to sleep in the same airbnb, without anybody else, with single guy, bringing bottle of wine,
None of those things even remotely imply consent for a sexual advance. Those are all things that should be fine for anyone of any gender to do together without there being fear of a sexual assault.
Anyone who looks at that list and thinks that it's ok to have unwanted sexual intercourse because they happened to have a bottle of wine in an AirBNB I'm not sure I want to associate with.
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It takes a critical mass of accusers to break past the inherent power differential and take down an influential figure without getting blacklisted. There are various reasons this often doesn’t happen. For one, it’s a coordination problem and second e.g. this post describes his clever choice in targeting immigrant women who don’t have much knowledge of western sexual norms and can be gaslit more easily.
This is also the community that brought us, for example, the Fantasyland Code of "Professionalism," a code of conduct that rivals the GPL in how unpleasant I have found it to read and piece together what is going on...
> How are people still getting away with this kind of abuse? How?
Read the comments in this thread six hours from now and you'll understand.
I think I know what you are trying to say and I agree but I’m also on the camp that Richard Stallman didn’t say anything necessarily wrong, just awkward.
On the one hand I want people to be able to to speak their minds but on the other hand this guy might be a sexual predator at best and a serial rapist at worst. and he is getting away with it!
You're apologising for a serial sexual harasser. You are the problem.
bring in the stallmanites!
I for one am glad there is someone to stand up for him - it makes it very easy to tell who wants to cherrypick and debate semantics due to their own biases.
didn't even take an hour...
so many absolutely disgusting comments already.
Six hours? It'll be flagged out of existence by then, most likely.
On edit: it took mere minutes for the HN rape apologists to show up!
She is definitely the kind of woman where a man shouldn't be making such advances. Let her be the acting party. She would have been telling another story if she were on top and had taken the initiative. One of the simplest ways for a man to avoid the problems of consent where he suspects there may be is to be the one from whom consent is needed.
That is the absolute safest other than leaving. If you as a man attempt to get consent that may not be something you're able to obtain. She might be intoxicated and unable to consent. You might not know that. However what's safe is to let anyone initiate sex with you while you remain passive and let them have sex with you.
If you leave then I would strongly advise to say it is because you are feeling sick and think it's something you ate. Go to the toilet first and say you have the runs. That will cushion her pride and make her just glad you left. No chance of something mean-spirited.
The top comment on this thread is a "what about the MEN?" exercise.
HN is incredibly pro-sexual harasser and anti-victim, along with the broader tech community, sadly.
The top comment discusses the fate of an accused in the court of public opinion, and the limitations of that court. The fact you conflate that with saying "what about the MEN?" is more an indictment of your world view than anything they actually wrote.