_(Attention conservation notice: rambling Diary-like post that I felt like writing anyway for psychological reasons; likely not worth your time.)_
-<em>(Also, it turns out that I got my Blerp-d9aa89fd commit bit a few weeks later, which makes me think I shouldn't publish this one—even when everything is pseudonymified, it would feel like a betrayal to publish something that could be read as a petty snipe-attack on my/the group. As a writing exercise, it may still be worth continuing to draft it, so that I can so that I can go back and extract any insights into some yet-untitled future post on women-and-trans-and-SJW-in-tech phenomena that <strong>isn't</strong> written in the boring/petty Diary anecdote genre.)</em>
+<em>(Also, it turns out that I got my Blerp-d9aa89fd commit bit a few weeks later, which makes me think I shouldn't publish this one—even when everything is pseudonymified, it would feel like a betrayal to publish something that could be misread as a petty snipe-attack on my/the group. As a writing exercise, it may still be worth continuing to draft it just a little bit further, so that I can go back and extract any insights into some yet-untitled future post or posts on women-and-trans-and-SJW-in-tech phenomena that <strong>isn't</strong> written in the boring/petty Diary anecdote genre.)</em>
<em>(I could imagine someone arguing that the fact that I make the Git repository public means that committing the draft <strong>is</strong> publishing, but I think the distinction between "posts on the blog itself, displayed proudly for all to see" and "slush text that my one or two most devoted readers might find if they notice the tiny 'Site source' link in the footer and bother rummaging through the drafts/ folder" is pretty significant. Any hypothetical adversary who wants to mine the blog for the biggest socially-unjust gaffe in a targeted attempt to destroy my real-life reputation is just going to have a field day with March 2017's ["Smart"](/2017/Mar/smart/).)</em>
But none of this really matters: if you don't want to wear a sticker, you can just not wear one, with no discernible social consequences. (At least, not this year!)
-I did get asked for my pronouns once (the first day, by someone who I think was not yet aware of the stickers)—the only time I've been asked for
+I did get asked for my pronouns once (the first day with the training sessions, by someone who I think was not yet aware of the stickers)—the only time I've been asked for pronouns when I wasn't at an explicitly social-justice oriented event (like at the local [genderqueer support group](/2017/Jan/title-sequence/), or "Introduction to Feminisms" class at the University ten years ago) or literally wearing a dress (in the cosplay repair lounge at Comic-Con). I think I handled it reasonably well?—hemming and stalling for a few seconds before giving _he_, with a disclaimer that the reason I hesitated was because I don't want to imply that I _identify_ with masculinity. The questioner, sensing my discomfort, made an effort to placate or reassure me: "Sure," the person said, nodding, "That's just what you're using right now; that's cool."
+[in a way, it was a compliment—I wouldn't have been asked that if I had a beard]
+The conference-proper talks were the next day. The opening keynote was on the topic of the human and community aspects of open-source development, and started with the obligatory pæan to the importance of the Code of Conduct, and that anything that made anyone feel unwelcome could be reported to conference staff—including cases where the reporter doesn't want any action to be taken. The talk itself was OK, I guess, but I was actually somewhat upset by one particular slide that quoted (as a jumping-off point for further discussion) "Every good piece of software starts with a hacker scratching their own itch," with the footnote: "Not going to cite this one because the author is a huge jerk." I recognized the quote as being from Eric S. Raymond, whose blog I read occasionally.
+I want to explain why I found this upsetting, because the dynamic here is kind of subtle, and I don't want to be mistaken for—or for that matter, to _be_—someone who is too easily offended by a snarky footnote (really, a mere _footnote_!) in someone's presentation. Obviously, I'm not going to get in a huff over someone deliberately snubbing Eric Raymond in their own work (even if their profile also happens to mention that they work on Blerp-d9aa89fd—contra the prosecution in Opalgate, I don't consider that "representing the project"). And obviously, I would have no quarrel with the presenters harshly _criticizing_ Raymond for some specific thing he said that was bad, or choosing to quote authors they like rather than those they dislike, or even just deciding that the "itch-scratching" metaphor that they wanted to reference was sufficiently widespread as to be part of the commons and not worth attributing to anyone. But to deliberately flaunt the "if you verbatim quote someone, cite them by name" discourse norm in the context official BlerpConf opening keynote—that's a context that I _do_ consider "representing the project", speaking _ex cathedra_, and _that_ does makes me nervous.
+
+If Eric Raymond is such a V\*\*\*\*mort-tier Bad Man that you're not even willing to _name_ the guy, then presumably he wouldn't be welcome to speak at the conference, either (if Eric Raymond should ever have something to say about Blerp-d9aa89fd specifically). And that ... seems Actually Bad to me?—that a celebrity with _that much_ technical credibility (author of _The Cathedral and the Bazaar_, maintainer of libpng, _&c_.) wouldn't be welcome on account of his political views (or "being a huge jerk", I guess, but forgive me if I'm suspicious that the appelation was applied solely for matters of interpersonal conduct rather than ideological transgressions).
+
+
+[the vibe, 40-year-old men, "Wilhelm", behavioral genetics]
+
+[the taxi man]
Damore lawsuit also quotes an instance of "40-something white men" (p. 43)
https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/so-about-this-googlers-manifesto-1e3773ed1788
+
+/2017/Aug/interlude-vii/
projects / Ultimately_Untrue_Thought.git / commitdiff