PyCon 2013 was held in Santa Clara in March 2013. The conference had a code of conduct in place (as did PyCon 2012, and the Python Software Foundation now requires it of their conferences).
PyCon attendee and exhibitor employee Adria Richards reported inappropriate behaviour to PyCon organisers publicly via twitter, including a photo of the attendees in question:
Yesterday, I publicly called out a group of guys at the PyCon conference who were not being respectful to the community. ...
I tweeted a photo of the guys behind me: Not cool. Jokes about forking repo’s in a sexual way and “big” dongles. Right behind me #pycon
I publicly asked for help with addressing the problem: Can someone talk to these guys about their conduct? I’m in lightning talks, top right near stage, 10 rows back #pycon
PyCon organizers spoke with the attendees and issued them with a warning but did not expel them or take other action. One of the attendees, "mr-hank" on Hacker News, endorsed both PyCon's actions and Adria's decision to report his comments to staff and verified that no sanctions were imposed by PyCon. He also stated that he was let go by his employer -- later confirmed in a blog post from them -- and claimed that his comments on "forking" were not intended to be sexual in nature.
Responses
- "It’s only been a year or so…" by dnoller, Jesse Noller's wife. She talks about the incident.
Backlash
| TRIGGER WARNING This article or section, or pages it links to, contains information about sexual assault and/or violence which may be triggering to survivors. |
MORE INFO WANTED re reports of the incident on 4chan, Reddit and Hacker News and resulting backlash. This may be worth its own page.
- Racial slurs: a Twitter user (NOT involved) stated that other Twitter users were tweeting racial slurs to Richards.
- Threats of violence:
- a Twitter user (NOT involved) paraphrased threats of violence towards Richards which were apparently later deleted by Hacker News.
- Adria's home address was posted on twitter, along with a death threat and a grisly photoshopped image. (severe trigger warning: news report; original tweet; account has been suspended)
- DDOS: SendGrid, Adria's employer, was DDOSed. An unattributed paste claims that Anonymous has obtained SendGrid's client list and initiated a campaign of harassment against SendGrid and others to whom they have financial ties.
- On 21 Mar, Adria was let go from her employer, SendGrid, which they announced on twitter and via Facebook:
Effective immediately, SendGrid has terminated the employment of Adria Richards. While we generally are sensitive and confidential with respect to employee matters, the situation has taken on a public nature. We have taken action that we believe is in the overall best interests of SendGrid, its employees, and our customers. As we continue to process the vast amount of information, we will post something more comprehensive.
Media Coverage
- http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/20/playhaven-developer-fired-for-making-sexual-jokes-after-sendgrids-developer-evangelist-outs-him-on-twitter/
- Daily Dot: 'How a "big dongle" joke brought out the worst of the Internet'