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Ada Initiative Organization To End, But Its Work Will Continue 223

Posted by timothy from the cultural-learnings dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Today the Ada Initiative announced that the nonprofit will shut down in mid-October. Founded in 2011, the Ada Initiative is a nonprofit feminist organization created to help improve open source culture and build a more inviting, productive, safe environment for women. In this interview with Opensource.com, the co-founders look back at the organization's successes, and the work that still needs to be done.
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Ada Initiative Organization To End, But Its Work Will Continue More

Ada Initiative Organization To End, But Its Work Will Continue

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  • Ada? (Score:3)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @10:03AM (#50248845)
    I thought this article was about Ada [adacore.com] the programming language.
    • That organization died years ago.

      • Ada was never a "mainstream" language, and in fact is still used widely in aerospace and other mission critical control applications.

        • This is why the gov't shouldn't be specifying the details of how, just the want.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

            Really?
            So when they contract out for a say an avionics system it would be fine if the product was delivered in some proprietary language giving the vendor a complete lock in?

            • stipulate "open, widely used and available" standards in the contract. We're talking the government here anyway, it's a three legged bar stool and they'll still pay $1M/each for them even though you can go to a furniture store and get them for $100.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

                "open, widely used and available"
                Yeahhh... No.
                So Perl, Python ?
                Military systems have life spans of decades. What is widely used today is a niche tomorrow. When Ada was first specified about the only languages that fit your requirements where COBOL and FORTRAN. If you want to stretch it a bit you might include Pascal.
                This was 1977 after all.
                Ada actually fits your requirements pretty well. Most new systems are now using C++ but Ada is an interesting language for writing highly reliable systems.

                • Don't preach to me about military systems please. The use of Ada doesn't make a system anymore sustainable or better than Perl or Python. Frankly, there's C, C++, Pascal crap even COBOL still survives. Those aren't niche technologies depending on industry. It all depends on the context and use of the system.

                  Oh and in 1977 there was C and it was a hell of a lot better than Ada especially in the embedded space which is what you're primarily talking about. A bad idea that became worse just like BLISS for

                  • Ada failed for military systems because it was too easy to get exceptions. And as for embedded systems, modern Ada is a good fit there.

                    In 1982, Ada was very competitive to C as C at the time was still in flux, was not popular at all outside of Unix, was not standardized, and lacked many features that Ada had, such as strong typing. The C of 1977 was almost a toy, it didn't even have separate name spaces between structs at the time (check out the 1977 Lion's Commentary of Unix for examples).

                    • C wasn't in flux, there were multiple implementations and the beginnings of standard C came about in the late 70s with an ANSI committee finally getting into the mix in the early 80s. That didn't mean that C wasn't stable, it was fragmented and it could be #Ifdef hell. There were other operating systems other than UNIX that had C compilers, and all of the problems stemmed from mostly customized library and header implementations.

                      The DoD cooked up Ada and like all military projects it's bloated, costs too m

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

                    In 1982 their was no standard for c. You had K&R c but the official ANSI c standard was not published until 1989. In 1982 c did not fit your own requirements.
                    BTW frankly any programing language makes a system more maintainable than PERL.

                    • K&R C worked great, the source was available and it was available on most of the mainstream platforms and took off on PCs. The fact that it wasn't blessed by ANSI didn't make it invalid nor unusable. The fact that ANSI took years to adopt XJ311 was another indication of why ANSI shouldn't have been "the standards body" because AFAIR there wasn't much change really from 1978 K&R and C89, function definition as I recall was a big one and library standardization. The fact that it took 6 years was a b

                • Right, in 1977 until the first Ada compilers in 1982, there was not yet the attitude that there should be a monoculture with only one language. Designing a new language was relatively common, and it promoted a lot of new ideas which was a good thing.

        • There's a quote about Ada [c2.com] that I always think about:

          It's quite apparent that the evolution of the C family of languages (C, C++, Java, C#) is converging on a language very like Ada, except unfortunately as a kludgepile rather than a clean design.

          Then there is this quote from the same page:

          ? I wrote in Ada for two years. My experience was that its extremely consistent data-typing rules and high readability gave me the highest productivity and lowest bug rate of any environment I've used before or since.....I would say that in Ada more than any language I've ever personally used (or seen) it is possible to truly express and recognize DESIGN.

          Of course, the Ariane 5 shows that no language can save you from bad programming. Ultimately it is the people using the language that matters, not the language itself.

      • That's probably why this one died as well. Ada wasn't mainstream unless you were contracting for the Feds.

    • When I here ADA, I think of The Americans With Disabilities Act [ada.gov].

    • I did too. I was required to take semester of Ada in college circa 1985 to satisfy my degree requirements (probably an advanced data structures class) because it was the future. Never saw a line of Ada since. When I saw the headline I thought to myself, "Well, it's about bloody time."

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

      I thought the same thing.

  • No one knows who you are on the internet (Score:3, Funny)

    by invictusvoyd ( 3546069 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @10:05AM (#50248863)
    Neo: How do you know that name? Trinity: I know a lot about you. Neo: Who are you? Trinity: My name is Trinity. Neo: Trinity. Thé Trinity? That cracked the IRS d-base? Trinity: That was a long time ago. Neo: Jesus. Trinity: What? Neo: I just thought, uhm, you were a girl. Trinity: Most guys do.

    _______________________________
    except if you are on facebook

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rossdee ( 243626 )

      I always thought Trinity was Terrance Hill

  • Oh, Christ, here we go... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by LaurenCates ( 3410445 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @10:37AM (#50249123)

    FTFA: "Check back for our Diversity in Open Source series, which starts August 10."

    Yes, of fucking course, because the product takes second place to having enough women and minorities that are safe from microaggressions working on it.

    I admit that I respond to a lot of this stuff, and I probably should back off, but the number one reason why I do is because I feel I have to offer a counter-message to stuff like this. As much as I don't want to talk about it anymore, I feel like the more of the stuff like this that gets posted, the more it gets accepted as "truth" that women are somehow under attack by "the boys club".

    For every woman that claims there's some inherent "truth" that conferences need "anti-harassment policies" and "safe spaces", I'd like to be a woman that says there are plenty of women with experiences that indicate the problem isn't as bad as they say it is.

    (And, no, your feminist blog is not proof that it is. Any and all feminist blogs offering such "proof" will be roundly ignored.)

    Yes, you have assholes. You have them everywhere. You can't keep them out of your arena.

    But I go to Code Camps and other technical events fairly regularly. And I've never once got the sense that I (or any of the other women in the room) have been hounded, or hounded out or treated with derision.

    Maybe the problem is because that one asshole draws so much attention to him- (and indeed, her-) self, we create archetypes based on those personalities which we then elevate into "the norm", and then we forget all the nice, normal people around us that aren't being assholes to us. And believe me, there are far fewer assholes than there are decent people out there.

    If you can't find any decent people around you, and you're calling everyone an asshole, you might want to grab some toilet paper and give yourself a good once-over. Or as we used to say when we were kids: "She who smelt it, dealt it."

    Maybe, then, the solution is to stop treating sexism as if it's a constant problem for everyone at all times. Maybe it's time to start understanding that what's creating a hostile work environment in many places is the assumption that it's going to be hostile from the jump. Maybe it's time to start acknowledging that when you have an organization that's a hammer, perhaps you've developed a myopia that tells you everything around you looks like a nail.

    Men don't need to be taught not to rape (or for the purposes of this discussion, harass).
    Women need to toughen up and realize that no space is ever completely "safe", and sometimes you just have to deal with it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by phaana ( 1235178 )
      Please consider this me raising my glass to you, a fellow engineer/techie/coder/geek (whatever you may be) irrespective of your gender. We need (and indeed have) a lot of women like yourself in our industry. No doubt we need more, but the way these shrill and often non-technical people go about advocating for it does nothing to advance their cause.

    • Re:Oh, Christ, here we go... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @10:57AM (#50249285)

      A wise man once said:

      "If you meet one person in your day who is an asshole, he's an asshole. If everyone you meet in your day is an asshole, you're the asshole."

    • yeah don't let a great technical solution get in the way of an organizations diversity initiatives. I long time ago I was sitting in a room with HR people who espoused how the company had received multiple awards from this three letter acronym and this four letter acronym on diversity and support of this set of rights and that. That forced me to ask: "Hey, while you may have received these awards, where are they physically? I don't see them in the hallways or on the walls? Do you have them in a closet?

    • Re:Oh, Christ, here we go... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ADRA ( 37398 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @11:07AM (#50249337)

      I'd call this the taxi distinction. Every time my girlfriend, sees a taxi she's terrified that they're going to do something dangerous or reckless. The reason? Quite a few taxi drivers are doing stupid things. Are all of them? Certainly not. Are they any more likely to do stupid things per km of driving vs. the general public? Almost certainly not, but the difference is this:

      1. To my GF, all taxi drivers are the same. They represent the single very present danger of being in an accident, so she is terrified that all drivers (the good and the bad) act according to their
      2. Taxi drivers are generally on the road much longer hours than we are, so statistically if nothing else, they're more likely to be involved in accidents.

      Have these women had bad experiences (perceved or in real) in the workplace? Almost certainly.
      Are their experiences with men in general colored by these bad past experiences (much like my taxi analogy)? Very possible.

      It really sucks to generalize, but no matter how much you want to fight against it, its ingrained in who we are to defend against people/things that have wronged them (or perception of wrongness).

      • You realise you just pretty much quoted the KKK's justification for calling blacks inferior and violent, right?

        • It's just an observation of human nature. It's why groups like the KKK exist and you'll be hard pressed to find a person or group that doesn't do this. People have experiences and generalize from them and then act on those generalizations. People are even notorious for holding on to those beliefs even when shown clearly contradictory evidence. Our brains are wired to work that way after hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, and even if a person is congnizant of this, they're still susceptible to fall

    • Thank you Lauren. As a guy, it's often a bit dicey to come out and call BS on this (even though I am married to a woman with all sorts of technical credentials).

      My take is: the more people point the spotlight as women in tech, the more they scare potential women away. In my experience, people don't want the limelight, at least, not that way. They want to be respected for their skills, not their gender, or skin color, or religion, or whatever.

    • Indeed such initiatives seem very one sided. While fighting one kind of stereotypes(men being sex obsessed assholes) they reinforce other stereotypes (women being pathologically nice and insecure). But human character isn't defined by configuration of their genitalia, rather than by sum of their past experiences. Yet stereotypes are part of one's experience and sometimes make one implicitly believe things that are not true.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by psm321 ( 450181 )
      Your post reminds me of this (IMO excellent) essay: http://www.linuxjournal.com/co... [linuxjournal.com]

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by serviscope_minor ( 664417 )

      And, no, your feminist blog is not proof that it is. Any and all feminist blogs offering such "proof" will be roundly ignored.

      This seems to be your primary method of argument: ignore everything you don't like, except for easily forged GIFs and ranty blogs "proving" that gamergate isn't in fact filled with utter scum. I like how last time I pesented you with evidence you (a) refused to acknowledge its existence, (b) accused me of ignoring your eveidence when you never presented any.

      Given you're clearly biase

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Shadow of Eternity ( 795165 )

        Women in tech have a 4:1 advantage over men [cnn.com], and men are much more likely to experience harassment [archive.is] and more severe harassment than women. [pewinternet.org]

        And of course there's nothing that harasses and abuses women in this world nearly as much as feminism.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      We also have female assholes (about 50% of them all, IMO, consistent with feminist "theory" that gender is an illusion) and when these do their thing and then experience push-back, that is not "harassment" either.

    • Anyone who tries to accomplish something worthwhile in this world will be insulted and have people try to tear them down.
      Anyone who stands out will be mocked.
      Anyone who posts on the internet will eventually get a death threat.

      It's the way of life. You can't do anything without someone hating you for it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by imidan ( 559239 )

      As much as I don't want to talk about it anymore, I feel like the more of the stuff like this that gets posted, the more it gets accepted as "truth" that women are somehow under attack by "the boys club".

      I hope it isn't. I see the conversations on-line today, and they appear to be two completely polarized extremes hurling bilious invective at each other and threatening (and even acting against) each other in ways that are totally unacceptable in discourse. I am a guy, and in my shop, there happen to be th

    • There are two very opposite views of women clashing here. One side constantly publicly says that women are weak, less intelligent, and less capable than men and need constant handholding, coddling, and special treatment even in the safest of fields. One says that women are just as strong, intelligent, and capable as men and they should be taught that instead of being taught that they're inferior.

      The grand irony is that the latter is called misogyny and the former feminism.

  • Obvious (Score:4, Funny)

    by meta-monkey ( 321000 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @10:49AM (#50249231) Journal

    I think the solution is obvious. [theonion.com]

  • Good (Score:4, Informative)

    by Intrepid imaginaut ( 1970940 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @11:05AM (#50249325)

    The Ada Initiative is a hardcore feminist organisation whose conference guidelines were used to justify the expulsion and subsequent firings of two engineers in the donglegate debacle. Despite claiming to be non violent, apparently they aren't bothered by suggestions to hand out the S.C.U.M. Manifesto [adainitiative.org] at conferences - that would be the Society For Cutting Up Men - whose deranged author had attempted to murder Andy Warhol [wikipedia.org]. They were also responsible for shutting down a well known and respected speaker at another conference [wikipedia.org].

    These sorts of parasitic strident supremacist organisations aren't helping women, they're actively trying to damage men, and the sooner they are revealed for what they are the better. The extent to which this diseased movement has made its way into many parts of society will, for future generations, become a matter for horrified fascination, an education in mass institutionalised fraud and hysteria, an object lesson in the ease with which a moral panic can be raised.

    And don't even bother with accusations of misogyny. Seriously, it's a sad and transparent attempt to shame the voices of truth into silence.

    • the voices of truth

      Your point of view travels further when you allow it to be judged upon its own merits and you do not say every other point of view is not "the truth".

      I usually stop reading whenever I see someone saying that they are the 'voice of truth'. Good thing you waited until the end of your message before you said it, otherwise I would not have read your message.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      So you link to their "support" of handing out the S.C.U.M. is... I'm not sure, are you saying they should have deleted the comment that seems to be suggesting that the parent is an extremist and so should hand it out? The link really doesn't seem to support your claim that they support this document, quite the opposite in fact.

      As for the conference, it seems that someone wanted to give a talk not really related to information security, and the conference organizers asked the Ada Initiative for advice. They

    • The Ada Initiative is a hardcore feminist organisation whose conference guidelines were used to justify the expulsion and subsequent firings of two engineers in the donglegate debacle. Despite claiming to be non violent, apparently they aren't bothered by suggestions to hand out the S.C.U.M. Manifesto [adainitiative.org] at conferences - that would be the Society For Cutting Up Men - whose deranged author had attempted to murder Andy Warhol [wikipedia.org].

      You think that a comment with no replies means that the organization isn't bothered by it? If you're not a hypocrite, go read Slashdot at -1, and make those same accusations about the crowd here.

      They were also responsible for shutting down a well known and respected speaker at another conference [wikipedia.org].

      ... who was going to give a talk about sex, rape, and the use of drugs to obviate consent, at a computer security conference. And it wasn't the Ada Initiative that "shut it down", but rather, the conference organizer decided to shut it down because 'the talk included "discussion of date rape drugs"' [securitybsides.com]. In fact, contra

      • Re:Good (Score:5, Informative)

        by Intrepid imaginaut ( 1970940 ) on Tuesday August 04, 2015 @12:21PM (#50249989)

        You think that a comment with no replies means that the organization isn't bothered by it? If you're not a hypocrite, go read Slashdot at -1, and make those same accusations about the crowd here.

        Slashdot deliberately exercises very little editorial control, I would certainly expect a professional organisation to police the commentary on its website.

        ... who was going to give a talk about sex, rape, and the use of drugs to obviate consent, at a computer security conference. And it wasn't the Ada Initiative that "shut it down", but rather, the conference organizer decided to shut it down because 'the talk included "discussion of date rape drugs"' [securitybsides.com]. In fact, contrary to your accusation, the Ada Initiative suggested ways that the speaker could still make the presentation, specifically doing a video of the talk or as an after-con talk. As the organizer states, "I have since reached out to Violet about recording her talk so we can put it up on our video site."

        Trying to rewrite history doesn't work very well on the internet, you know. [tumblr.com]

        I arrived at the Security BSides venue half an hour before my talk was set to begin, and I tracked down the main organizer to get connected with the speaker wrangler. I found him next door at DNA Pizza, where he was talking with this person. I apologized for the interruption, the organizer told me where to wait, and the woman he was talking to smiled at me. I smiled back.

        The organizer came into the LockSport Lounge around 10 minutes later and asked if he could speak with me. I asked Eric Michaud to join me.

        The organizer said, “So, I need to ask you: is there any rape in your talk?”

        I said, “Is there any WHAT in my talk?” I was shocked.

        “Well, there’s been a complaint about your talk.” He continued, “It’s from someone who is a rape survivor and they said they will be triggered by your talk if there’s any rape in it.”

        “No, no, there’s no rape in my talk. I talk about human sexual systems and the effects drugs, including caffeine and alcohol, affect the performance of these systems and the dangers of mixing different things. What’s going on here?”

        He replied, “Someone has said they will be triggered by your talk, and they’re a rape survivor.”

        “Okay. In the talk I do cover ‘date rape’ drugs, and I explain their actions and how they’re dangerous.”

        Then he said, “Do you describe how to use date rape drugs? They said that if you are going to tell people how to use date rape drugs then it’s the same as rape, and there’s going to be a problem.”

        I told the organizer, “Wow, this really sucks - I know it’s not your fault. Well, how about if I shift the talk to a different room? We could put it on the smaller stage where the room has doors that close, or I could do it in the LockSport Lounge. Hell, I can even present it at the afterparty, it’s no problem. What is going to be easiest for you? It looks like you’re in a shitty position.”

        “No, they’re here and they’re not leaving. They told me they’ll make it into a bigger problem if you do your talk.”

        I paused for a minute. I said, “Okay. I guess I won’t give my talk, then. I don’t want this to be a problem for you, you’re in a shit position. It sounds like this person is going to make it into a bigger problem no matter what you do. It’s no big deal, don’t worry about it. Maybe I can do a video of the talk and BSides can have it as an after-con talk.”

        The way the organizer looked at me, I knew that wouldn’t happen, either.

        I said,

        • You think that a comment with no replies means that the organization isn't bothered by it? If you're not a hypocrite, go read Slashdot at -1, and make those same accusations about the crowd here.

          Slashdot deliberately exercises very little editorial control, I would certainly expect a professional organisation to police the commentary on its website.

          Based on what? Apparently, they aren't, but rather than facts get in the way of your rhetoric, you'll just go on your own expectations.

          ... who was going to give a talk about sex, rape, and the use of drugs to obviate consent, at a computer security conference. And it wasn't the Ada Initiative that "shut it down", but rather, the conference organizer decided to shut it down because 'the talk included "discussion of date rape drugs"' [securitybsides.com]. In fact, contrary to your accusation, the Ada Initiative suggested ways that the speaker could still make the presentation, specifically doing a video of the talk or as an after-con talk. As the organizer states, "I have since reached out to Violet about recording her talk so we can put it up on our video site."

          Trying to rewrite history doesn't work very well on the internet, you know. [tumblr.com]

          You're right, it doesn't. [securitybsides.com] I'm not sure why you think the conference organizer's statement is "rewriting history", though. Is it because, again, you would rather disregard facts when they disagree with your rhetoric?

          Yeah your colours are showing

          Yep. Anyone who disagrees with you or provides evidence that you're wrong must immediately be attacked as biased. As someone else noted, anyone who refers to the

          • Based on what?

            ...based on any hope they might have that people would take them seriously? I mean do you know what the SCUM Manifesto actually is? It makes Mein Kampf look like a rational and reasonable body of writing by comparison. The bare notion that it would be recommended reading for anyone but students of psychiatry boggles the mind, and yet there's a comment, unchallenged, not so much as an eyebrow raised, recommending it right on the Ada website.

            You're right, it doesn't.

            It's all right there in black and white buddy, direct from Violet he

            • ...based on any hope they might have that people would take them seriously? I mean do you know what the SCUM Manifesto actually is? It makes Mein Kampf look like a rational and reasonable body of writing by comparison.

              Next, you're going to be outraged about Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, right? I mean, clearly, you don't understand satire.

              The bare notion that it would be recommended reading for anyone but students of psychiatry boggles the mind,

              Unless, of course, it's recommended for the same reason Swift's essay is.

              and yet there's a comment, unchallenged, not so much as an eyebrow raised, recommending it right on the Ada website.

              A comment left in a dead thread with no replies. Gawrsh! Again, I ask whether you've ever browsed Slashdot at -1?

              It's all right there in black and white buddy, direct from Violet herself. Unless you're calling her a liar now.

              The conference organizer apparently is, since he disagrees with her characterization of what happened. Unless you're calling him a liar now. And you must be, or else you've just proved my accusation o

              • Next, you're going to be outraged about Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, right? I mean, clearly, you don't understand satire.

                You have no idea who Valerie Solanis was, do you. Once again since your memory appears to be a bit flaky, she attempted to murder Andy Warhol and left him permanently mutilated, he was forced to wear a surgical corset for the rest of his life, for which she was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Robert Marmorstein, writing in The Village Voice, declared that Solanas "has dedicated the remainder of her life to the avowed purpose of eliminating every single male from the face of the earth." Norman

                • Next, you're going to be outraged about Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, right? I mean, clearly, you don't understand satire.

                  You have no idea who Valerie Solanis was, do you. Once again since your memory appears to be a bit flaky, she attempted to murder Andy Warhol and left him permanently mutilated, he was forced to wear a surgical corset for the rest of his life, for which she was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia.

                  And Warhol is mentioned in the SCUM Manifesto? No? Maybe surgical corsets are? No? So what exactly does the attempted murder of Andy Warhol have to do with your insistence that the Ada Initiative should be responding to dead comment threads? Is this just an attempt to tie a schizophrenic who tried to kill someone she thought was stealing from her to feminism as a whole? Of course it is.

                  The conference organizer apparently is, since he disagrees with her characterization of what happened. Unless you're calling him a liar now. And you must be, or else you've just proved my accusation of you as a hypocrite to be true. So, come on - are you calling him a liar, or are you admitting you're a hypocrite?

                  I'd say he was trying to cover his own ass as much as possible after the whole thing went viral, for which he can hardly be blamed.

                  Ah, so you accuse me of calling her a liar, but the conference organizer was just "covering his ass" for saying the same th

                  • And Warhol is mentioned in the SCUM Manifesto? No? Maybe surgical corsets are? No? So what exactly does the attempted murder of Andy Warhol have to do with your insistence that the Ada Initiative should be responding to dead comment threads? Is this just an attempt to tie a schizophrenic who tried to kill someone she thought was stealing from her to feminism as a whole? Of course it is.

                    Ah, so you accuse me of calling her a liar, but the conference organizer was just "covering his ass" for saying the same thing? Do you have any idea how schizophrenic you sound?

                    There are three stories of an event, but you choose one that agrees with your prejudices and then say everyone else is "trying to drown out the facts". Got it - you're a paranoid schizophrenic, hence your obsession with Solanis. I'm glad I don't have a Factory for you to visit me at.

                    Yeah I'm just going to leave this here for the world to see, along with the revolutionary omelette maker who responded below. Thanks for showing everyone the intellectual pretzelling you're willing to undergo for your ideology. Really, hardcore religious fanatics are taking note. :D

                    • Yeah I'm just going to leave this here for the world to see, along with the revolutionary omelette maker who responded below.

                      Or, they could just hit the link to "parent". You don't actually have to do anything to "leave this here", but you believe you do. Narcissism, delusions of grandeur... That fits with your earlier statement calling yourself the "voice of truth" that you believe everyone is trying to silence, as does your paranoia.

                      In short, you're a looney.

                  • Wow. Just ... wow.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Tumblr, the most reliable source of information on the internet.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

      I have to say that while I do not extremists groups of any type your examples leave me wondering.
      Violet Blue is not a well known security expert she is sex columnist. I also think that you in the context of computer security least she is not highly respected. I can seen the logic in the statement that a sex talk has no place in a computer security conference.

    • Seriously, it's a sad and transparent attempt to shame the voices of truth into silence.

      Truth is easy to claim when you are in a place of power. It is easy to accuse anyone who tries to change the existing system. And no revolution is successful without getting dirty. There is no other choice. Peaceful argument has failed over and over again, since the status quo refuses to listen. Until those in power (mostly middle class white men in this case) can ever admit that there is a major issue that needs to be corrected, then expect the attacks to get nastier. If you don't want that, then sta

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ADRA ( 37398 )

      5 minutes of my life wasted, but here's the synopsis of the cancelled talk:

      "What drugs do to sexual performance, physiological reaction and pleasure is rarely discussed in - or out of - clinical or academic settings. Yet most people have sex under the influence of something (or many somethings) at some point in their lives.

      In this underground talk, Violet Blue shares what sex-positive doctors, nurses, MFT's, clinic workers and crisis counselors have learned and compiled about the interactions of drugs and s

  • Business Model (Score:2, Interesting)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 )
    From the linked interview:

    When it came to supporting our work financially, we figured that companies that benefited from open source software would just hand over giant wads of cash to an unproven new nonprofit run by two former software engineers.

    I realize they're probably being tongue-in-cheek, but does it really come as any surprise that such an organization (regardless of what it's doing) would be closing down? That seems like an even more cavalier approach to funding than the typical venture-capitalist start-up approach in silicon valley where the business model is to just get a bunch of users and figure out how to generate revenue at some magical point in the future.

    I think that the other big problem is that they di

  • I keep getting her confused with Linda Lovelace...

  • Reading through the website, it seems the reason they're shutting down is because the current Executive Director is stepping down, and they haven't found anyone that's a good fit, or those who are a good fit don't want the job.

    Reading through the job description - I think it kind of sucks. Salary 120k-160k which is apparently the market rate for this sort of position in San Francisco - doesn't seem very much. And the following paragraph jumped out:

    While this job is fulfilling and supportive in many ways, it also has some serious downsides. As the visible leader of a feminist activism organization, many people will feel entitled to your time and energy without compensation and you will need to tell them no frequently so that we can fulfill our mission. We will provide you with experienced support in handling harassment and threats, as you will almost certainly be the target of these. Sometimes partners, sponsors, donors, or community members will pressure the Ada Initiative to do things contrary to its mission and you will need to stand up to them. Listening to and responding to reports of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and criminal harassment are a frequent part of the job.

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