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Why the Trolls Will Always Win

maynard writes: Kathy Sierra spent a tech career developing videogames and teaching Java programming in Sun Microsystems masterclasses. Up until 2007, she'd been a well regarded tech specialist who happened to be female. Until the day she opined on her private blog that given the crap-flood of bad comments, maybe forum moderation wasn't a bad idea. This opinion made her a target. A sustained trolling and harassment campaign followed, comprised of death and rape threats, threats against her family, fabricated claims of prostitution, and a false claim that she had issued a DMCA takedown to stifle criticism. All of this culminated in the public release of her private address and Social Security Number, a technique known as Doxxing. And so she fled from the public, her career, and even her home.

It turned out that a man named Andrew Auernheimer was responsible for having harassed Sierra. Known as 'Weev', he admitted it in a 2008 New York Times story on Internet Trolls. There, he spoke to the lengths which he and his cohorts went to discredit and destroy the woman. "Over a candlelit dinner of tuna sashimi, Weev asked if I would attribute his comments to Memphis Two, the handle he used to troll Kathy Sierra, a blogger. Inspired by her touchy response to online commenters, Weev said he "dropped docs" on Sierra, posting a fabricated narrative of her career alongside her real Social Security number and address. This was part of a larger trolling campaign against Sierra, one that culminated in death threats."

Now, seven years later, Kathy Sierra has returned to explain why she left and what recent spates of online harassment against women portend for the future if decent people don't organize. The situation has grown much more serious since she went into hiding all those years ago. It's more than just the threat of Doxxing to incite physical violence by random crazies with a screw loose.
Read on for the rest of maynard's thoughts. These days, malicious trolls have taken to SWATting, where harassers call police and make false accusations to induce a SWAT raid. One prominent example is that of game developer Chris Kootra, who experienced a SWAT raid on camera while playing an online video game recently. There is also the troubling trend of developing malicious software intended to harm victims directly. For example, posting images on epilepsy forums which flicker at rates known to induce epileptic seizure. Given that Sierra is epileptic herself, this kind of harmful trolling hits home personally. She writes:

[While not photo-sensitive], I have a deep understanding of the horror of seizures, and the dramatically increased chance of death and brain damage many of us with epilepsy live with, in my case, since the age of 4. FYI, deaths related to epilepsy in the US are roughly equal with deaths from breast cancer. There isn't a shred of doubt in my mind that if the troll hackers could find a way to increase your risk of breast cancer? They'd do it. Because what's better than lulz? Lulz with BOOBS. Yeah, they'd do it.

And yet Auernheimer, the man who put her through all this horror, has for entirely different reasons become a kind of 'Net cause célèbre for Internet freedom. After having committed a hack against AT&T where he obtained the email addresses of thousands of iPad users, he attracted the attention of federal authorities. In due course he was convicted and sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization. Many thought his conviction and sentence egregious. Weev attracted support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and prominent Georgia University Law Professor Tor Ekeland, and they worked together to craft an appeal and overturn the conviction. In April 2014, they succeeded. Auernheimer is now free.

Ekeland wasn't the only one bothered by the government's case. Even Kathy Sierra disagreed. Yet she's appalled that somehow she'd been dragged into supporting the very man who'd abused her.

But you all know what happened next. Something something something horrifically unfair government case against him and just like that, he becomes tech's "hacktivist hero." He now had A Platform not just in the hacker/troll world but in the broader tech community I was part of. ... But hard as I tried to find a ray of hope that the case against him was, somehow, justified and that he deserved, somehow, to be in prison for this, oh god I could not find it. I could not escape my own realization that the cast against him was wrong. So wrong. And not just wrong, but wrong in a way that puts us all at risk.

The lawyer Ekeland, in recent commentary at Wired, continues to defend Auernheimer as having been wronged by an overzealous prosecution, the precedent of which could have significant ramifications for 'Net freedom. "...the crucial issue here is not weev or his ideas but the future of criminal computer law in the U.S. You may think weev is an #@$hole. But being an #@$hole is not a crime, and neither is obtaining unsecured information from publicly facing servers."

Which leaves Sierra lamenting that Auernheimer still hasn't been charged and convicted for what she considers the real crime of harassment he'd committed, harming her and countless others. Where's the justice? Inciting violence and dissemination of "fighting words" are not free speech. Yet, as she admits, unless you're a celebrity, you're "...more likely to win the lottery than get any law enforcement agency to take action." So there is none. "We are on our own," she laments. "And if we don't take care of one another, nobody else will."

Thus, Sierra returned to push back — to push back against prominent journalists and members in the tech community who'd conflate prosecutorial violations of due process with the right to disseminate harassment and cruelty.

I came back because I believe this sent a terrible, devastating message about what was acceptable. ... To push back on the twist and spin. I believed the fine-grained distinctions mattered. I pushed back because I believed I was pushing back on the implicit message that women would be punished for speaking out. I pushed back because almost nobody else was, and it seemed like so many people in tech were basically OK with that.

Auernheimer, for his part, remains unapologetic. Responding to Sierra on Livejournal, he writes:

Yesterday Kathy Sierra (a.k.a. seriouspony), a mentally ill woman, continued to accuse me on her blog of leading some sort of harassment campaign against her by dropping her dox (information related to identify and location) on the Internet. ... Kathy Sierra has for years acted like a toddler, throwing tantrums and making demands whenever things didn't go her way. She rejects any presentation of polite criticism or presentation of evidence as some sort of assault on her. She was the blueprint for women like Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, who also feign victimhood for financial and social gain. Kathy Sierra is the epitome of what is wrong with my community. She had something coming to her and by the standards set by her own peers in the social justice community, there was nothing wrong with what she got.

Some people never change.

128 of 728 comments (clear)

  1. Auernheimer is now free. by wiredog · · Score: 3, Funny

    Time for a Second amendment solution.

    1. Re:Auernheimer is now free. by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The second amendment is not supposed to be the appeals court for the first...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Auernheimer is now free. by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The Second Amendment is the appeals court for the whole Constitution. When the laws and government that is supposed to uphold those laws don't, the last resort is a well armed "victim". So, you're actually wrong, it is an appeals court.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    3. Re:Auernheimer is now free. by sjames · · Score: 2

      True, but the courts and law enforcement should be mindful that where they leave a vacuum, vigilantes will fill in with guns, knives, stones, or rope where necessary.

    4. Re:Auernheimer is now free. by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It is an appeals court for the rest of the constitution, but I hope we can agree that there is hopefully a lot of other options being tried first before reaching for it. I always considered the second the last resort item. Be willing to use it if need be, but only after every other possible option has been tried and failed. I'm a big fan of the Four Boxes of Liberty, but I consider two things important about them:

      1. Be prepared to use them all if you start using them.
      2. Use them in EXACTLY this order and do NOT skip a single one.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Auernheimer is now free. by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      The problem with "last resort" options is that we will do anything to avoid them, even when we should. Simply because there is no line that has been drawn that says "ENOUGH!"

      I have a huge problem with a government that tells me I have to buy a product simply because I am alive. We live in a tyranny, it is just that most people are too afraid to say it. And that says something.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  2. TFA isn't about trolls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's about anonymous online sexual harassment, particularly when it's done by packs playing the part of street gangs.

    Trolling is like ranting about systemd in response to every single /. article.

    1. Re:TFA isn't about trolls by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's about anonymous online sexual harassment, particularly when it's done by packs playing the part of street gangs.

      Trolling is like ranting about systemd in response to every single /. article.

      No, it's about online criminal harassment.

      We have to face it, these things will get a lot more traction if we just treat the perps as what they are - criminals that need prosecuted, rather than people harassing someone soley because they are female. Once the dude started with her SS, fake CV, and death threats, welcome to skeeveland.

      As for trolling - eliminating that will be like eliminating anyone who disagrees with you. Because that's how some people define trolling.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. Re:TFA isn't about trolls by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let me define what real trolling is for you: Trolling is the attempt to get an emotional reaction out of a target by using social engineering. The primary goal of trolling is usually, but not limited to, getting targets to become less emotionally invested in online discussions.

      You can use trolling to harass a person.
      You could end up harassing a person while trolling.
      But they are 2 completely separate activities.

      Likewise, trolling is not chauvinistic or race related, but because those topics tend to elicit strong emotional reactions in people, they are obviously good subjects to use while trolling.

    3. Re:TFA isn't about trolls by bwcbwc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Technically, libel and slander are grounds for a civil suit, not criminal. Death threats and impersonation/identity theft are criminal but can be pursued civilly as well. Victims need to start lawyering up and getting rulings that bankrupt the trolls, and put them under restraining orders for their internet activity. If they persist put them under court orders barring them from accessing the internet, and throw them in jail for criminal contempt if they violate the court orders.

      The standard of proof for civil suits is significantly lower than beyond a reasonable doubt, so the main barrier is getting internet sites and ISPs to release information that can identify the anonymous offenders.

      And once again, this is not a feminist issue. Doxxing an SWATting are rampant against males as well. From Wikipedia:
      * In the past, there have been swatting incidents at the homes of Ashton Kutcher, Tom Cruise, Chris Brown, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and Clint Eastwood.

      Brian Krebs has suffered various harassments for several years now, as documented here: https://krebsonsecurity.com/20...

      Basically once you reach a certain level of fame or notoriety on the internet, you are likely to piss off someone who thinks it's fun to engage in these kinds of activities.

      --
      We are the 198 proof..
    4. Re:TFA isn't about trolls by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

      It's about anonymous online sexual harassment, particularly when it's done by packs playing the part of street gangs.

      Trolling is like ranting about systemd in response to every single /. article.

      No, it's about online criminal harassment.

      Wait. Are we still talking about systemd?

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  3. Re:More feminist bullshit by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't try to play the sex card, that guy is an asshole. Do you think the reactions 'round here would be different if it had been a woman harassing a guy?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I really wish we could just drop the sexism part of this right now. Both genders get attacked by these people.
    The second issue is if you want Anonymity than you will have this issue a lot.
    Third is the simple fact that it is just a small number of folks causing the issue. The trouble is that it does not take a lot of folks to cause a good amount of harm.
    The issue is that some people make heroes out of the idiots that do this when they do it to someone they do not agree with or like.
    It really needs to be a time where all attacks are looked down on and discussion takes it place.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by xanthines-R-yummy · · Score: 2

      Or you know, the majority of us could be actual good guys (and gals) and actually do something to fight back against this horrid behavior...

    2. Re:Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by PhilHibbs · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sexism is just a tool that the trolls use where appropriate. It's all about personal power. For example, one of the trolls sent to jail for harrassing Caroline Criado-Perez was a woman.

    3. Re:Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by jareth-0205 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I really wish we could just drop the sexism part of this right now. Both genders get attacked by these people.

      Both do, but it *is* sexist. It is far more widespread and vicious towards women. Ignoring that is not helping.

    4. Re:Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by FirstOne · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Agreed, I had to deal with these types on the Usenet forums. It seams no insult was too low for these types. They used 100's of aliases, I kept track of them and posted a list periodically.

      When they started posting criminal confessions in my name.. I called the FBI office near the perp, that only slowed them down.. Even a threat of legal action didn't seam to phase them. Eventually they stopped when they could no longer get a response from me.

    5. Re:Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by meta-monkey · · Score: 2

      No, the choice of target is not necessarily related to gender. They choose a target based on any number of reasons, but it generally has something to do with their opinions or actions.

      Once they've identified a target, they use whatever weakness they can perceive to inflict maximum psychological damage. For many women, that is rape threats.

      They would target a man for the same opinions, actions, whatever, but they would use something he'd respond to, like threats against his family or his job.

      The sexist language is just the weapon, not necessarily the cause.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    6. Re:Anonymity == being a schmuck for a good number. by Minwee · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Reality has a well-known liberal bias.

  5. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More bullshit from the "people regularly threatening women in public is no big deal" crowd.

    Nobody said women are "always victims" but you shits have absolutely nothing to attack unless you can craft fake arguments to dismantle. You're trapped in a room with straw walls closing in, and only you can dismantle, their evil insidious not wanting to tolerate misogynistic assholes in public spaces.

    People are bigots to other groups too, and feminists, by and large are quite reasonable in their acknowledgement of that.

    Who's not being oppressed? People who are being told that maybe they can't threaten the lives of women freely. Those people are meeting the boundaries known as "the law" and "common decency" and feeling just so oppressed by it.

  6. Re:More feminist bullshit by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem is not feminists or anti-feminists.

    The problem is sociopaths, and sociopaths come in all genders and races.

    Sociopaths are very good at mobilizing well-intentioned humans for their own purposes.

    Humans tend to conform to the desires of sociopaths instead of confront them, because natural selection did not historically favor humans who opposed sociopaths.

  7. Being an asshole is not a crime by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    But acting upon it is.

    Nobody really cares if you know a fool proof way to kill the prez (well, aside of some professional paranoiacs). As long as you don't act upon it, you're fine. If you DO, though, don't expect to remain free (or, for that matter, alive) for any measurable stretch of time.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Being an asshole is not a crime by Jahta · · Score: 2

      But acting upon it is.

      Nobody really cares if you know a fool proof way to kill the prez (well, aside of some professional paranoiacs). As long as you don't act upon it, you're fine. If you DO, though, don't expect to remain free (or, for that matter, alive) for any measurable stretch of time.

      Being an asshole may not be a crime. But threatening to kill somebody (whether you follow through or not) or spreading fabricated stories alleging criminal behavior to destroy somebody's good name is a crime. And rightly so.

      The "I only posted it, so it's all OK" meme is part of the problem here.

  8. Re:Don't over generalize by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Trolls of this nature are unusual and they don't just target women. They target everyone.

    For some reason, it's culturally acceptable for men to learn how to defend themselves from sociopaths (who, like all predators prefer soft targets to hard targets).

    However if anyone ever tries to talk about teaching women any kind of self defense, the accusations of "victim blaming" start up immediately.

    Which is exactly what you'd expect sociopaths to instigate. Of course they'd oppose any effort to turn soft targets into hard targets.

  9. Re:Don't over generalize by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think you're minimizing things just a bit, aren't you? While trolls may not focus specifically on women (my opinion, is that they do), women certainly face much more intense and prolonged harassment in the form of campaigns. How many men have had death/rape threats against them AND their families AND have been forced to move AND taken a 7-year hiatus?

  10. The more things change the more the stay the same. by dmgxmichael · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In any unmoderated discussion the loudest and most insistent voices win. This has been true since democracy started - "politic" meaning roughly in the original Greek "To shout down"

    We see this in our current political system as well - wingnuts running the show in both parties because reasonable people won't speak up.

    Time and again I've seen this on forums I've been on that have been unmoderated, such as the OkCupid forums. After awhile, only the rudest and the crudest remain there along with those willing to tolerate them.

  11. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes and no.

    Sociopaths are a problem, but we're also facing people who think there shouldn't be consequences for how they attack others. That's not a symptom of anti-social personality disorders(they tend to know that what they do is condemned and lack the self control to stop themselves). That's strictly a matter of people who specifically think what they're doing is acceptable. Which suggests, as lots of people have said with various evidential justifications, that culture is part of the problem.

    Anti-feminists, on the other hand, are only a problem in that they will cry "false flag" at literally every situation that implicates a culture hostile to prominent women, turning every discussion about solutions into long drawn-out dismantlings of their conspiracy theories.

  12. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the fact that it specifically threatens them with bodily harm?

    Oh.

  13. Re:More feminist bullshit by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And, apologies for replying to myself, this actually is WAY closer to "News for Nerds" than a lot that has been posted lately. It's about someone teaching a programming language getting trolled on the internet, how detailed the trolling was and how she dealt with it, as well as the legal repercussions of the trolling. How much more "News for Nerds" does it get?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  14. Re:More feminist bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think he's referring to the following:

    "I came back because I believe this sent a terrible, devastating message about what was acceptable. ... To push back on the twist and spin. I believed the fine-grained distinctions mattered. I pushed back because I believed I was pushing back on the implicit message that women would be punished for speaking out."

    I wouldn't be surprised if some of his "trolling" was gender based, but I don't know why she has to make some sort of connection between internet trolling and gender. Exactly as you said, had this been a guy it would have been exactly the same - up until the comment quoted above.

    There is a convenience store near where I live where one of the cashiers is for lack of better words an asshole. A girl I know at work attributed that to racism. I think a lot of times if you consider yourself in some minority or group, and you meet an ass, you often jump to conclusions about bigotry etc.

  15. Can't have nice things by zildgulf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Auernheimer is one of the reasons we nice people can not have nice things. The worse problem is his supporters supporting his underhanded crusade against anyone he doesn't like. He is a threat to the safety of his targets to the extent that it most people would be imprisoned for decades for doing what he did. The message our justice system say to would be Auernheimers is "don't screw with the businesses and don't get caught threatening and underhandedly attack people" meaning doing what he did to Kathy Sierra is OK as long as you do it in a way that law enforcement won't care about it.

  16. Re:Don't over generalize by PhilHibbs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You take basic precautions and do your best to avoid being a target. As to who is more or less likely to be a target? Anyone being obnoxious tends to get some focus.

    I disagree. If a small group of trolls are being trolls, and you "do your best to avoid being a target", they've won. A small group of trolls have had a chilling effect. We need to do more to uncover and punish that kind of behaviour. And, was Kathy being obnoxious when she was targetted? I don't see any evidence of that, and even if she was, I don't care. That's no excuse for death and rape threats.
    The thing that astonished me most about trolling is, there was a case over here (UK) where someone was targetted with rape threats for organizing a campaign to get a woman onto our banknotes, and one of the trolls sent to jail for it was a woman. Which tells me it's nothing to do with sexism, and all about personal power. Sexual threats are just a tool in the box.

  17. WHY are men trying to scare women away from gaming by ZorinLynx · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I truly don't understand this. When I was a young awkward geek with very specific interests, I would have absolutely LOVED there to be women around with those same interests. Us guys totally loved the few geeky girls that were around and always wished there were more.

    Yet today we see guys trying to scare the women away. What the hell changed?

  18. Sadist by Roodvlees · · Score: 2

    Some people just like to see others suffer. It's a shame that his punishment was overturned. Freedom is not infinite, in the real world we don't have the freedom to cut each other with knives, why would we need that freedom on the internet?

    --
    Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
    1. Re:Sadist by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a shame that his punishment was overturned.

      From a karmic point of view perhaps, but the conviction was based on an insane reading of the law. The law was bad and fundementally anti freedom, and it's worth having a hundred trolls like him than a law like that.

      However, he should be convicted for harassment.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:Sadist by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny

      Some people just like to see others suffer.

      This explains Slashdot beta.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  19. Re:In a just world Weev would have a 9mm headache by subanark · · Score: 2

    It is this kind of attitude that leads this behavior in the first place. Assuming you don't really mean "kill the bastard," but rather something more tame like "In a just world Weev would be laughed at his attempts to troll" I would still disagree with you. Vengeance is seldom a good answer. We can only hope that society will mature to the point where these antics are frowned upon, and end up having little effect.

    Thank you for using GIFT, your opinion has been heard, filed, and will be forgotten.

  20. Sociopath Ruins Lives, Film at 11 by Jahoda · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This isn't about women, or trolling, or "culture". Andrew Auernheimer is a fucking sociopath loser who has no concept of what it means to live in a society of decent human beings. that he thinks he is "fighting the rich" or "part of the struggle" is fucking meaningless. It's just the stuff he tells himself to try to give some meaning to his pathetic, pissant little life where no one gives a fuck about him or who he is.

    1. Re:Sociopath Ruins Lives, Film at 11 by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Informative

      What I Learned from My Time in Prison
      Andrew Auernheimer

      I have some new tattoos that mark the wisdom I gained from my time in prison, which happens to be the same as the wisdom of my ancestors. [...] My first tattoo is a 4.5 inch swastika on my chest featuring Odinn, Baldr, Freyr, and Ãzor. My second is a Jormungandr-wrapped Ãzorshamar flanked by Huginn and Muninn on my forearm.

      There's also some comprehensive antisemitism in that article.
      http://www.dailystormer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/weev.jpg
      This is not the hero you are looking for.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:Sociopath Ruins Lives, Film at 11 by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      His behaviour is extreme, but not as uncommon as you think. There is a lot of trolling and hate out there, and it can't all be a small number of sociopaths with sock puppet accounts.

      More over there is a general problem with more low level stuff. Any technical video by a woman on YouTube is full of comments from social retards asking to marry her, or offering pathetic complements about her appearance in the vain hope she might respond. Stuff like the recently celebrity photo leaks are pretty bad too, when you see the number of guys egging them on or even demanding to see their favourite wank fantasy nude. Photos of Matt Smith appeared, but strangely there were not a similar number of comments from women demanding them to be posted.

      Concentrating on extremes isn't always helpful because people dismiss them as just that, extreme and therefore not part of a more general problem. The question is are they just lone extremists with a mental illness or are they extreme but supported by a large amount of less extreme trolling. In a different environment would be have acted that way? If people didn't "like" his posts or watch the YouTube videos of other trolls in their hundreds of thousands would people like him be confident enough and feel supported enough to behave that way?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Sociopath Ruins Lives, Film at 11 by Altus · · Score: 2

      It all depends on what you mean by a small number. Even if it was only a fraction of a percentage of internet users that is still an unbelievable number of people and while they are making a concerted effort to ruin peoples lives there isn't really that much that decent people can do to stop them. I cannot somehow stop a sociopath from finding and publishing some poor persons social security number and I can't stop an asshole from posting a death threat and even a ton of people supporting someone does not make that death threat any less frightening.

      It seems like a very difficult battle to win

      --

      "In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson

  21. Re:The more things change the more the stay the sa by rnturn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ``wingnuts running the show in both parties because reasonable people won't speak up.''

    I think that the reasonable people do speak up. The trouble is that the press doesn't cover their input to the discussions. We end up only hearing from the extremist crazies because that's what the press thinks will attack more ears and eyeballs and sell more advertising.

    --
    CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  22. Re:Don't over generalize by T.E.D. · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Trolls of this nature are unusual and they don't just target women. They target everyone.

    In a pinch, yes a troll will go after your default WASP male. I once saw a troll reduced to attacking someone for being Canadian. (!)

    However, what they target is a perceived weakness. If they find out you've posted in nudist or drug forums, they'll go after that. But if you are a woman or a minority, they don't even have to do research to find your weak points. They can paint you as driven by your sexual urges and/or overly sensitive and emotional, and a large amount of the audience will be receptive to that message because that is the preexisting prejudice for those groups. So if you are female or a minority (or God help you, both) you will always be their first target of choice.

  23. Re:WHY are men trying to scare women away from gam by thepainguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because to be beaten by a woman would utterly destroy them.

    If they can scare the women away, they can preserve their illusion of superiority (in a mythical competition in a mythical world).

  24. Re:More feminist bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "What is the threat with squiggles on a piece of paper?"
    "What is the threat of vibrations in the air?"
    "What is the threat of someone pointing a metal tube in your direction?"

    I hate to be rude, but that line of logic sounds quite sociopathic, and a good line of reasoning for offending someone and justifying the actions.

  25. Re:Don't over generalize by Karmashock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Precisely. Women tend to call for help or say comments hurt their feelings or otherwise give the EXACT reaction the trolls want.

    They do the same thing to most men and... no reaction.

    This is what is causing the focus on women. Not that the trolls are against women though I'm sure some are... but that the women often do not know how to deal with bullies.

    Men are taught how to deal with bullies from a very young age. You toughen up or you're a weakling. The boys will literally call you "a girl" if you complain.

    To not be "a girl" boys must hide their feelings and laugh off abuse. And then at some later date... taking some revenge is generally considered par for the course.

    Women need to understand that they can't rely on men or society to come to their aid on the internet. They're going to have to take care of themselves and toughen up a bit. Crying foul just causes a troll feeding frenzy.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  26. Re:Don't over generalize by T.E.D. · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For some reason, it's culturally acceptable for men to learn how to defend themselves from sociopaths (who, like all predators prefer soft targets to hard targets).

    This has nothing to do with self-defence. Believe me, no respectable troll will ever attack you in any manner that you can fairly fight back. I got the full package once. Personal details published, implied threats to my family (nothing over the line to prosecutable of course), calling up my company and my company's customers in an attempt to get me fired, etc. Until you've had one come after you, you really have no idea.

  27. Re:Never forget by JazzHarper · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, children, the trolls were not here first. Some of us remember that human beings inhabited the Internet before the Eternal September.

  28. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Informative

    Kathy Sierra did no such thing. Making shit up just makes you exactly the like the OP I was chastizing for needing a straw-argument to dismantle, all the while feeling SOOOO oppressed.

    As for the 1 in 5 women thing... well

    The CDC just recently verified that number that MRA types have been insisting is biased. Every study comes up with markedly similar results about that.

  29. Re:The more things change the more the stay the sa by kruach+aum · · Score: 2

    Politics comes from politeia, which comes from polis (city) and a suffix meaning person. It has nothing to do with shouting down.

  30. Re:More feminist bullshit by durrr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is not a problem exclusive to women.
    As a man you can also get your life disrupted by death threats, unordered pizzas/taxis/products and doxxing.

    It's probably easier to get singled out for it as a women, but if you are subject to it as a man you'll get much less support to cope with it. This is reflected in the offline world too as a MUCH higher suicide rate for men compared to women. Trying to construct this as some purely misgyonistic issue is just reinforcing the gender bias of men as some disposable soldier caste and is likely to aggrevate misgyonistic tendencies overall in society.

    If you insist that this is just about females then you're a proponent for gender privlege and not equality.

  31. Re:Don't over generalize by Karmashock · · Score: 2

    Really? Then burn a Koran on national TV right now...

    Oh wait... then the extremist muslims have won. Because you are so concerned about getting beheaded by some crazy person that you wouldn't dare burn a silly book.

    Same thing on the internet. And I am not comparing the internet trolls to people that cut people's heads off. However, you don't go out of your way to draw their attention if you can help it.

    Why? Because life is too short and it is a giant waste of time to deal with those people. I don't fear trolls. I fear trolls wasting my time. So I avoid them because they turn everything they touch to shit.

    That realization on my part does not mean they won. It means they're something that has to be avoided.

    As to a chilling effect... there is nothing the trolls prevent me from saying. It is all about how you say things and where you say them. Take any dumb position you like and it won't automatically get a response from the trolls. Take any position that is delivered in an irritating fashion and the trolls tend to respond.

    Is this a hard and fast rule? Nope... just what I've noticed.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  32. Re:If you want to cover Gamergate, do it honestly by gurps_npc · · Score: 2
    Your problem is that you refuse to see that someone can be a misogynist and also be shouting about real problems.

    Worse, you seem to think that collusion between game journalists and game manufacturers is someone: 1) Being denied 2) Important

    Let me set the record for you. Reviewers LIE about games. They get paid to do it. Not with sex, but with actual hard cash.

    No sane person really cares about it. Game journalists are not important. I am GLAD they are corrupt We need insignificant jobs for corrupt people to take. If we kick the corrupt people out of game review, they might get into something important, like health inspection, real estate inspection, politics, etc.

    What's going on is simple. Someone found out that the cake is a lie, so they broke into a cake store and started stealing cake and throwing it at people. Then they get all puzzled about why the cops are arresting them instead of the man that promised them cake.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  33. Kathy Sierra has contributed to the community by roccomaglio · · Score: 5, Informative

    Kathy Sierra has written several books that were very helpful when taking java exams. She has the ability to clearly explain things that not many people have mastered. She also created the javaranch.com site which is a great place to look when you have questions about java. I appreciate her contributions to the community and wish there were more people like her.

  34. weev is a fucking D-bag....but by ganjadude · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It also is not cool the way the government went after him. I mean he recently outted himself as a racist asshole, but we do need to remember the big picture here which IMO is more important than the fact that he is an asshole. Check out this article from wired I found today - http://www.wired.com/2014/10/u...

    Let me stop and mention here that last week weev caused a storm when he wrote a racist screed for a white supremacist website. As usual I found out about it when my twitter timeline lit up with exhortations to do something about my client, the unpopular defendant. To me his bigoted viewpoint is just noise; the crucial issue here is not weev or his ideas but the future of criminal computer law in the U.S. You may think weev is an asshole. But being an asshole is not a crime, and neither is obtaining unsecured information from publicly facing servers.

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    1. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by Theaetetus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It also is not cool the way the government went after him.

      Or technically, it was not cool the way the government went after him for the wrong crime. If they had pursued his ass for the stalking and harassment, that'd be just fine.

    2. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by meustrus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they had pursued his ass for the stalking and harassment, that'd be just fine.

      But that's not what the government does. That's not whom they are protecting. You want law enforcement to protect you, go become a large corporation like Sony. Because that's whom our government fights for.

      --
      I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
    3. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      Don't forget libel and slander.

      Libel and slander are civil offenses. The government does not prosecute them.

    4. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Informative

      Or technically, it was not cool the way the government went after him for the wrong crime. If they had pursued his ass for the stalking and harassment, that'd be just fine.

      THIS!

      Stalking, harassment, including "doxxing" which is a product of both, is not just uncool, courts have ruled it criminal. And in most places there are specific statutes against it.

    5. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by Teancum · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Stalking, harassment, including "doxxing" which is a product of both, is not just uncool, courts have ruled it criminal. And in most places there are specific statutes against it.

      Which unfortunately won't get prosecuted unless you have a pile of money or are famous enough for the police to bother caring about you. I've had similar death threats against me and zero action done against the perpetrator. There is literally nothing you can do about it in most cases other than pray and hope that the asshat on the internet won't actually act. If you or your child (which was what was threatened in my case... they said my kids wouldn't come home from school the next day) is dead, it is too late to act anyway.

      While technically illegal, you can't get the police to act.

      The only time I got any action was when I observed somebody making a death threat openly to the President of the USA. The Secret Service took that one seriously.

    6. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by nbauman · · Score: 2

      It also is not cool the way the government went after him. I mean he recently outted himself as a racist asshole, but we do need to remember the big picture here which IMO is more important than the fact that he is an asshole. Check out this article from wired I found today - http://www.wired.com/2014/10/u...

      Miranda, the guy who gave us the Supreme Court decision that you have the right to an employer when the cops interrogate you, was a confessed rapist. A lot of cases that establish our rights were defending not-very-nice guys.

    7. Re:weev is a fucking D-bag....but by lgw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Sony? Really? The Justice Department bitchslapped Sony so hard the shareholders cried (they missed their quarter, by a lot, due to the fines and the CEO resigned) over the rootkit fiasco. There are real examples of corporate corruption of the justice system, but that's not one of them.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  35. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Derpy do. You didn't threaten me. Everyone knows what "fuck you" means. The article on the other hand, mentions people photoshopping a woman's face with bruises and abrasions with the caption "Women are like grass, they need to be beaten and cut sometimes" after she voiced an objection to some torture porn.

    That's a fairly targeted and overt threat.

  36. Re:More feminist bullshit by DocSavage64109 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Words on a screen with her address, social security number, and a made up story designed to manipulate the public into wanting to do something to her? I can imagine a campaign like that being rather frightening.

  37. We really need a different word for this behaviour by jenningsthecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In the context of the Internet, the word "troll" used to mean, (according to Wikipedia):

    "...a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."

    The campaign that Kathy Sierra was a victim of goes far, far beyond this. How does it make sense that one word is used to describe such a wide range of behaviour? It's like calling a violent rapist a 'cad'. Trolls, (in the original sense of the word), are assholes. Auernheimer and his associates exhibited obsessive, psychopathic, downright evil behaviour and attitudes. We should never equate mere assholes and psychopaths - doing so trivializes destructive psychopathic behaviour while making assholery seem much worse than it really is. And the latter is perhaps more dangerous; it gives authorities one more excuse for implementing draconian laws in response to minor social infractions.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  38. Re:If you want to cover Gamergate, do it honestly by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not sure I understand your point.

    Gamergate was all about mysoginy. As has been pointed out, hitching up with the gamergate guys in order to complain about journalist corruption is a bit like marching with the armies of Sauron because you don't like the feudal inheritance of title at Minas Tirith.

    http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-...

    Gamergate is ans always was primarily abiut mysoginy and harassmet. Anything else has been a poor attempt to legitimise it afterwards.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  39. Re:weev by Layzej · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The same technique is used by Marc Morano to silence climate scientists:

    Whether one agrees with that message or not, there’s no denying that its tone is drastically different from much of the email Hayhoe has been receiving after Limbaugh’s denunciation, Gingrich’s decision to kill her book chapter, and the repeated publication of her email address by an influential conservative blogger who ceaselessly campaigns against climate science and climate action, Mark Morano. - http://texasclimatenews.org/wp...

    Morano has sicked his minions on her for the crime of publicly discussing her scientific findings. Here is an example of the vitriol she is now receiving: Nazi Bitch Whore Climatebecile [] You stupid bitch, You are a mass murderer and will be convicted at the Reality TV Grand Jury in Nuremberg, Pennsylvania. AGW has never been anything but a Rockefeller depopulationary eugenical scam. [] After the Grand Jury indicts you, I would like to see you convicted and beheaded by guillotine in the public square, to show women that if they are going to take a man’s job, they have to take the heat for mass murder, just like the men do when they get caught. If you have a child, then women in the future will be even more leery of lying to get ahead, when they see your baby crying next to the basket next to the guillotine.

  40. Re:Don't over generalize by Karmashock · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They'll go after anyone. Yes they are drawn to weakness. But being a woman isn't a weakness unless women are inferior to men.

    I don't believe women are inferior to men. So I don't see why being a women is a weakness especially on the internet where strength is irrelevant.

    Why would a man on the internet be more powerful then a woman? Are not women supposed to be superior at social dynamics? Social intelligence? Then if anything women should have an advantage.

    So I don't see why men or white men are more able to fend off attacks.

    I have fought a LOT of trolls. I am a battle hardened forum warrior. I have been called everything under the sun. I have been doxxed. I have had my sexuality questioned. I have had... anything else you and imagine really. But whatever I felt when that was happened, I showed no weakness. No reaction.

    I laughed at them. I showed them contempt. I gave them nothing.

    And I won every single fucking time.

    On the internet... so... whatever that is worth. But if these women did what I did... they'd win too.

    They're big girls. I don't see why this is so hard. Why is it that I can read harassment posts directed at me and respond with cold ridicule and these women can't?

    Is it sexist for me to suggest that an equal sex should be able to deal with this? Because men deal with this crap all the time.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  41. Re:Ahh, but karma by gatkinso · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Dying before being brought to justice only means you got away with it.

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  42. Re:More feminist bullshit by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wouldn't be surprised if some of his "trolling" was gender based, but I don't know why she has to make some sort of connection between internet trolling and gender. Exactly as you said, had this been a guy it would have been exactly the same - up until the comment quoted above.

    There would have been one major difference, though: it wouldn't have happened. Trolls love to bully women. Women do visibly get the shitty end of the stick on the internet.

    (FYI: I'm a guy.)

    --
    Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  43. Re:WHY are men trying to scare women away from gam by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's a mix of two things.

    Firstly you have frustration and anger that women don't seem interested in these guys. Like that Rodger guy they really can't see what is wrong with them and vent that anger by attacking women, who must all be stupid evil manipulative whores because they only sleep with guys they can get something out of and never the poor troll.

    Secondly the trolls are in serious need of some men's liberation. I bet you know exactly what a "real man" is. Masculine, strong, breadwinner, protects his woman, has loads of cool stuff. Now ask yourself what a "real woman" is. Not so easy to define.

    It wasn't always that way. Back in the 1960s the ideal woman was the model 1950s housewife. A mother, good at cooking and cleaning, beautiful but homely, always trying to satisfy her man. Women's lib changed that. Women became free to break away from that model, be what they wanted to be, not get neurotic about their weight or finding a husband by age 25. Now they get to decide what matters to them, not what society expects of them. Men need that too. These trolls only feel threatened because they are so insecure, and see women participating in any traditionally male dominated area as a threat to the ideal they are trying to live up to.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  44. Re:More feminist bullshit by Theaetetus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is not a problem exclusive to women. As a man you can also get your life disrupted by death threats, unordered pizzas/taxis/products and doxxing.

    It's probably easier to get singled out for it as a women, but if you are subject to it as a man you'll get much less support to cope with it. This is reflected in the offline world too as a MUCH higher suicide rate for men compared to women. Trying to construct this as some purely misgyonistic issue is just reinforcing the gender bias of men as some disposable soldier caste and is likely to aggrevate misgyonistic tendencies overall in society.

    And who do you think is out there telling men to keep their feelings bottled up until they explode? Women? Misogyny hurts men, too.

  45. not-completely-off-topic by Thagg · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Listen the the podcast on 5x5 called "overtired". In episode 15, the incredible Christina Warren describes the shit that she gets every day, and how she deals with it. I have some hope that a younger generation of women like Ms Warren will be able to react to attacking idiots without disappearing from the 'net.

    --
    I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
  46. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We just had an article a few days ago where the male architect of systemd got similar hate. We all condemned that too, the difference is there was no one in that thread arguing there was some double standard.

  47. Re:More feminist bullshit by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People who don't think that is threatening, should post their own SS#, Address, Children's names on a picture on the internet and see what happens. I mean, if there is no threat, what are they afraid of?

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  48. Re:Don't over generalize by PhilHibbs · · Score: 2

    Really? Then burn a Koran on national TV right now...

    Oh wait... then the extremist muslims have won.

    Where did that come from, and what does it have to do with women being attacked just for being women on gaming forums? "If you want to have the right to campaign to get Jane Austen on British banknotes, then you also have to be prepared to burn a Koran" is something of a non-sequitur.

  49. Re:More feminist bullshit by nomadic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It doesn't suggest that at all. It does suggest that these kinds of attacks on women are worse, and well, that's pretty obviously true. Can you imagine a male blogger on his private blog receiving that kind of over-the-top campaign if he considered moderating comments?

  50. Mod parent up. by khasim · · Score: 2

    In a pinch, yes a troll will go after your default WASP male. I once saw a troll reduced to attacking someone for being Canadian. (!)

    Or Jewish. Or gay. Or black. Or of a different political party. Or with a different opinion on a subject.

    "Trolls" (they aren't trolls, they're ass-holes) will attack anyone for anything that the ass-holes do not approve of.

    Anything.

    The ass-holes are not attacking women because the ass-holes are misogynists. The ass-holes are attacking because that is what ass-holes do. Their attacks are phrased in misogynistic terms because the target is a woman.

    1. Re:Mod parent up. by GTRacer · · Score: 2

      The ass-holes are not attacking women because the ass-holes are misogynists

      Putting aside 4chan and Gamergate for a moment, do you honestly believe this is true, at least for the gaming and IT communities? Do black men face the same level of harassment from other gamers when they play online or in tournaments? Same for a black IT staffer - does he get the same crap from peers and/or the users he's supporting?

      Do you honestly not believe there is a higher than average level of misogyny in either of these groups? I consider myself thankful that I've not endured much harassment online at all, but I know my girl friends have been hit more often than my guy friends. Anecdotal? Yes, sure. But still... It matches so many others' anecdotes. Time for a controlled study?

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    2. Re:Mod parent up. by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2

      We already have one. Women aren't harassed more, people just CARE MORE when women are harassed.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  51. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except you douchebags have been wrong every fucking time.

    Like when you pretended there was no police report for the threats that made Sarkeesian move out of her house, without even a hint of investigating it.

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is an obvious manifestation of misogynistic stereotypes of women being manipulative liars, not any sort of rational consideration.

  52. Re:weev by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's so beyond pointless.

    Worse (for him) is the fact that his identity is known now.

    At some point he'll target the wrong victim, and he will end up dead - all "for lulz".

    --


    "Lame" - Galaxar
  53. Re:More feminist bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    does that number include 'i was not really feeling it but had sex anyway', 'it was a drunken sex therefore the consent was invalid', 'construction workers catcalled me the other day' and 'the guy confused about my feelings toward him attempted to kiss me'? [checks the article... yep]

    The definition of sexual assault is so broad it can mean pretty much anything depending on who you ask, which only waters down the words 'assault' and 'rape'. I can only assume it's done to manufacture the perception of a dire crisis despite the crime statistics steadily going down.

  54. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Informative

    Once again I have the "obsessed with false accusations of rape" reality denier. Because you are a person who believes in an a world where women are serial liars, and you're inured to observational evidence about it by some mental block I don't get.

    But here. Here's how wrong you are about false rape accusations.

    False accusations do exist but those 2-5% of cases are for our justice system to handle, and not a widespread systemic issue(and there's all sorts of clues as to when an accusation is made up).

  55. Re:More feminist bullshit by Meeni · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is not a problem exclusive to women. [...] but if you are subject to it as a man you'll get much less support to cope with it.

    That's true, and an independent yet important problem as well. However, I think we can agree that when men get less support (or even suffer stigma from not being "manly enough" to cope with it, which is pure BS), women face an echo chamber of aggressive misogynistic a-holes, ready to take on a crusade against them on a scale that most men never face. Just read the first comments here. In short, the harassment of women is more intense (from more harassers) and is pandemic.

  56. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course it is, but your "just asking questions" is bullshit. The way you assume it's a likely situation is your problem.

    She clearly didn't fabricate this fucking case, because the evidence made it onto the damn news, and faceboook has fucking records. Now you can "investigate" well established facts all you want, but the fact that you didn't even look at the article before "questioning" the threat is your fucking problem

  57. Re:WHY are men trying to scare women away from gam by Bob9113 · · Score: 2

    When I was a young awkward geek with very specific interests, I would have absolutely LOVED there to be women around with those same interests... Yet today we see guys trying to scare the women away. What the hell changed?

    Nothing but the volume. I loved geeky women back then, and some geeky men were hostile. Now, I still like geeky women, and some geeky men are still hostile.

    Nothing has changed, except the amplification of the extremists on both sides. The extremists on both sides want to drive a wedge to consolidate their base, just like the Republicans and Democrats. They use kernels of truth wrapped in emotionalist rhetoric to do it.

    Black people aren't gangbangers. Muslims aren't terrorists. White men aren't aryan supremecists. Women aren't hyperemotional basket cases.

    And male geeks aren't misogynists.

    When you pick a bad characteristic of a subset of a group and label the whole group with it, that is prejudicial sterotyping. Doing so does not help feminism or technology.

    Men aren't trying to scare women away from gaming, assholes are.

  58. Re:More feminist bullshit by Barsteward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    if its vaginal society, it must make you a complete c*nt

    --
    "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  59. Re:More feminist bullshit by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 2

    Don't try to play the sex card, that guy is an asshole. Do you think the reactions 'round here would be different if it had been a woman harassing a guy?

    True enough. But why shouldn't everyone be protected against death threats and harassment? Why would women get special justice (anybody remember "equal justice")?

    Kathy Sierra has returned to explain why she left and what recent spates of online harassment against women portend for the future if decent people don't organize.

    Why not just say against people? "I was harassed and received many death threats" - "So, what, dude? Man up!"

    --
    "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
    --- Jerry Garcia
  60. Re:More feminist bullshit by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am not anti-feminist, but what I am about to say is likely something they might say. The problem with many Feminists (and others) , is that they cry wolf. And there is a whole group of people that follow after those claims, repeating them ad nausium, long after proven false. Earlier this week, there was a suggestion that we need more women in IT, and it was due to some sort of latent sexism or whatever in the industry. The reality is, IT might have all the women interested in it, and that women aren't really all that interested in IT careers. Crying "sexism in IT" is not helpful in the discussion, and quite frankly, tends to end any discussion. The cry itself is a kind of "troll" comment. It requires no thought, and causes great harm.

    Is there sexism in IT? I'm sure there is. Is it endemic to IT? I'm pretty sure it isn't.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  61. Re:weev by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Funny

    So you're saying That is the lesser of two weevils? :-)

    With apologies to Paul Bettany in Master and Commander

  62. Re:weev by tibit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What is there to take his word over her word, or even to take either's word at face value? Exceptional claims require exceptional proof, and all that... The safest stance, without lots of corroboration, is for me to assume that they've both got serious issues. Sometimes the simplest explanation might be the correct one. I'd love to be shown otherwise, but whatever I could find online was just rather unconvincing.

    --
    A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  63. Re:More feminist bullshit by PPH · · Score: 2

    Humans tend to conform to the desires of sociopaths instead of confront them, because natural selection did not historically favor humans who opposed sociopaths.

    This is true. But this is why we have codes of honor (machismo, chivalry, etc.) in various societies. Courage, honor and a duty to defend the weak. Yes, these traditions were somewhat mysoginistic as well. But we can update them to suit modern society.

    Natural selection dictates that we protect ourselves from harm. So we avoid violent sociopaths. Or leave them to law enforcement, the people who are paid to confront such threats counter to the laws of natural selection. But weev isn't a physically dangerous individual (unless he gets hold of a gun). So the nature of an on-line confrontation and resulting harm wouldn't be life threatening. So unless we want some institutionalized Internet police force to be imposed upon us, we need to face some risk and stand up to these sorts of threats to social order as individuals.

    Or, like in medival times, a system of Internet 'knights' could arise to do battle with the trolls in exchange for public recognition and reward for their efforts.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  64. Christian Weston Chandler by Bismuthprince · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Weev is an asshole, no question and it'd be nice if he were reprimanded for his crimes.
    Somehow though, I have to be another one of those assholes and say that trolling is a big issue, but not solely a women's issue. If you want an example of trolling that reached an entirely new level and has most definitely contributed to the failing mental health of an autistic man, look up the story of Christian Weston Chandler.

    Trolling isn't new, it's always been mind-boggilingly terrible, but we couldn't be arsed to do anything but laugh back when the victims were usually mentally ill and male.

  65. Re:More feminist bullshit by Barsteward · · Score: 2

    Sounds like someone with a self-esteem problem around women and highly jealous of them

    --
    "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  66. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Oh, so it's entirely genetic, and that's why 20 years ago, the field's gender mix was almost 60-40 and now 85-15. Because genetics change dramatically over short timespans.[1] [2]

    Bio-determinism bites. And it's an easy, lazy, insufficient answer. I, and others, are prepared to accept that there exist biological gender differences. But, given human history, you can't say that gender differences are strictly biological without evidence. And you can examine socioeconomic factors that influence gender-based occupation decisions. In the previous link, girls(and boys) with higher self-esteem are more likely to avoid gender-typical job roles. Rather substantially, if you can actually read the article, and not just the abstract. Primitivistic psychoanalysis suggests that people who fill gender-typical jobs are likely following social pressure, than innate instincts.

    Sexism in IT is real, I mean, hell, ask a transgender person whose seen both sides. But even if that were 0% of the problem, it wouldn't imply genetic determinism.

  67. One example doesn't make an "always" by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why the Trolls Will Always Win

    They don't.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-e...
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-2...

    And sometimes they really don't.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-2...

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:One example doesn't make an "always" by meustrus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The UK has laws that make it very easy to punish people for making defamatory, abusive, and/or libelous statements, without any need to prove how much actual damage they caused, if any.

      The US has free speech.

      --
      I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
  68. Re:Don't over generalize by Karmashock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And they do that to men as well.

    Ever been Swatted? A friend of mine was swatted twice.

    The troll called the police, said there was a murder in progress, and men with machine guns showed up at my friend's house... kicked the door down, slammed him to the ground, handcuffed him, searched his home, and then questioned him in a hostile manner for about an hour before leaving.

    So I know how bad this can get. But saying they go after women is just false. They do not. They go after everyone. You make it easy for them or you do things that annoy them or you show that they're getting to you... and they'll just keep doing it.

    People need to learn how to deal with bullies and trolls. The answer is not some PSA talking about feelings and awareness. That is useless clueless bullshit. If you want to have a positive influence on this situation, then you need to get people that are reacting badly to trolls to react in a more effective manner.

    Know what the troll wants and what the troll needs... and deny that troll both.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  69. Re:Don't over generalize by GTRacer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You toughen up or you're a weakling. The boys will literally call you "a girl" if you complain.

    I thank God that my two boys live in a house where we've NEVER told them to toughen up or compared weakness to being a girl.

    You realize that's a token indicator of a lot of what's wrong here? That men are seemingly most insulted by being called feminine slurs, and women by calling them feminine slurs. So we have people that intentionally or not reinforce the idea that being female is a problem.

    That little tidbit, plus another one that's been passing around social media are so telling to me: (summarized) "When you send a girl out of class / home from school for 'inappropriate' dress you're telling her a dress code or preventing male distraction is more important than her education, and that the boys' distraction-free education is more important than theirs."

    My boys are in high school now, but I also have a young daughter. I'm trying to ensure she lives in a world where equality (gender, sexual, marriage, etc.) is a goal if not reality. I want all of my family to live in that world.

    --
    Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
  70. Re:Don't over generalize by Barsteward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Perhaps you should live the life of a woman for a while and see how it feels. Women usually try and talk out the problem in order to educate and eradicate the problem. Trolls who hide and make threats from under cover are basically shitty little cowards. Women and men should have recourse to the law for protection from trolls who intimidate by making death, rape threats etc and these trolls should be exposed and jailed in the same way if they had made the threats face to face. Just because its digital doesn;t make it any less a threat.

    --
    "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  71. Re:WHY are men trying to scare women away from gam by fa2k · · Score: 2

    I don't think it's a concious decision about scaring someone away. The reason some people do this trolling is probably not even obvious to themselves, it's a deep psychological cause and effect. The incidence of trolling towards women may also be over-represented if women are more likely to take this kind of abuse seriously, especially threats, and also if women are more likely to report the experience in public, instead of silently wtirhdrawing. I can't back up any of those theories, but they should be considered before concluding that the abuse is especially bad towards women.

    If it turns out that women are indeed "trolled" more than men, that wouldn't be a surprise either. There is so many expectations related to dating and relationships, and the "creepy" label is dealt at the slightest deviation from the norm (this seems especially bad, almost ridiculous, in the US, based on TV and movies). If failure at dating constitutes the majority of ones experience with the other sex, it's not that surprising that some minority of people online will react in devious ways. Don't know how to fix it, but if more kids had friends of both sexes that may be a start.

  72. Re:Don't over generalize by Karmashock · · Score: 3, Informative

    As to what you do in your home, my father and mother didn't say such things to me either. If you think you can control this you're deluded.

    Your children will be subjected to this by their peers whether you like it or not. And if they cry, call for their mother, or otherwise show signs of weakness then they'll be seen as weak. This is instinctual. It is in the blood. You can pretend all you like otherwise... but pretend is pretend.

    As to how your raise your family... that is your own business. But you are raising human beings. Homo Sapiens. You can pass on your values but just as your child can't help it if he's a homosexual... there are other instincts that we also can't help having.

    We can suppress them. But the suppression of instincts requires conscious will. The kids in the school yard are going to be the kids in the school yard. They're consistent and predictable. You should know that.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  73. Re:More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    What does the bubble have to do with it if it's purely genetic?

    What do genes care about cultural artifacts like bubbles?

    You're the one alleging a mechanism to explain a phenomenon. I've supplied counter-evidence, you really ought to be able to back up your pet hypothesis better than "nuh uh"

  74. Re:weev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What a wonderful person you are. Welcome to the rule of the jungle, or what ?

    Here is a little dirty secret: if the people of Viet Nam, Chile, Iran and so on had the same grudges against you Americans, they would call for all of you treated just as you described Mr weev should be treated.

    Granted, he might be an asshole, but sure as hell he is a very tiny asshole as compared to A$$holes like Bush, Blair and Fuld. Or Erdogan. A guy who arsonizes the next house and then calls the firebrigade (German SAM forces) to protect his house from contracting fire, too.

  75. Re:We really need a different word for this behavi by meta-monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    I agree with you. This is not trolling. Trolling is a art.

    I used to troll slashdot under another account. It was great fun. I'd see a good target story and write a well-structure comment. The first paragraph would be something on topic and sensible. The second would introduce minor logical flaws, which in the third paragraph would explode into completely ridiculous conclusions that would incense slashdotters, like that the only way to ensure privacy is for the government to monitor all communications at all times or something. Then you sit back and watch moderators only read the first paragraph and mod you +5 insightful, and then people come along and actually read the post and get enraged and write 12 paragraphs about how wrong I am. Then it gets moderated down to +1 troll, then people realize it's funny and it winds up at +5 funny. It was good fun.

    But sociopaths threatening and harassing people not just on the internet but spilling over into real life (phone calls, calling their boss, their customers, etc) is not trolling. It's...criminal. Online trolling can be ignored, but I think the only way to stop that kind of behavior is legal action.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  76. Re:weev by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    It isn't hard. I'll use small words so that you can understand. You assume people are good and have good intentions unless they demonstrate (sorry word too big, "show") that are not. The lady in this case did nothing to show she is a bad person. She just made a comment about comment moderation (long word, I know). The other guy made threats and thinks whites are better than every other color. He has a history of doing things that show he is a bad person.

    Easy enough to understand? Slashdot really should have cut off registration once they reached the six digit IDs

  77. Re: More feminist bullshit by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    Argument by analogy:
    If blacks don't want to vote because of KKK threats, that's fine. That's their choice. It's not something I need to concern myself with. Maybe it'll change in the future.

  78. not false accusation, bad interpretation of survey by raymorris · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I believe GP was saying that the particular study cited had a questionable definition of "rape", not that the victims were lying. The survey didn't ask if they were raped. The survey asked questions about if this happened or that happened, then the researchers call it rape, even if the "victim" was perfectly happy with what happened.

    One question was if they engaged in sex while drunk or high to the point that they couldn't really give informed consent, or if their partner initiated sex while they were asleep. The researchers then called that rape, which is many cases it probably was. In other cases not - I recently spoke with a woman who didn't remember having sex with her husband one night when they were drunk. It just so happened that he videotaped about two minutes of it, and after he starts, then backs off she says "what are you doing, I thought we were going to have sex?" Upon viewing the tape, she wasn't bothered about it. Since she didn't remember it and was too drunk to really give consent, this study would call that rape. The woman doesn't think it's rape, but the researchers say it is.

    I've actually talked to my wife about some of these situations ahead of time. I've told her I'd very much enjoy being awoken by her in a special way, and she said it's fine if I massaging her and such while she's asleep, waking her with sexual contact. The RESEARCHERS call that rape, we call it a great way to wake up.

    The researchers also called it sexual violence if the partner did any of these things (quoting from the survey):
      doing things like telling you lies, MAKING PROMISES ABOUT THE FUTURE WHICH THEY KNEW WERE UNTRUE, threatening to end your relationship,
    or threatening to spread rumors about you?

      wearing you down by repeatedly asking for
    sex, or SHOWING THEY WERE UNHAPPY?

    So letting my wife know I'm disappointed that our last two date nights were cancelled and I'd like to have a romantic evening is sexual violence, as defined by these researchers.

    Sexual violence is an important issue. These researchers trivialize it and create more problems when they define "showing they were unhappy" as sexual violence.

  79. Re:Don't over generalize by meta-monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The answer is not some PSA talking about feelings and awareness. That is useless clueless bullshit. If you want to have a positive influence on this situation, then you need to get people that are reacting badly to trolls to react in a more effective manner.

    I completely agree. We don't need our fucking awareness raised. 99.999% of us know it's wrong to threaten to rape somebody and call the police or their boss or whatever. When the vast majority of us who didn't do a damn thing wrong now get lumped in with the actual perpetrator and then lectured to, it has the opposite effect. I am now less likely to be concerned with the plight of [insert victim group] because they're accusing me of having all sorts of attitudes I don't have.

    And I bet the trolls love it. Look at gamergame (I hate typing that). One deranged lunatic makes some not particularly credible threats against a woman who completely overreacts to what was purely online harassment at that point, goes full social justice warrior and starts attacking the entirety of "men who play video games" for the actions of one asshole. Those people get offended at being generalized as some kind of subhumans chafe and attack back, and the troll sits there gleefully watching thousands of people scream at each other for some tiny little words he wrote on twitter. At no point is the actual perpetrator punished. He is rewarded with a great show. And now people are more likely to dismiss harassment of women, because their experience has been this Sarkessian woman overacting to something and making ridiculous accusations against a bunch of people who didn't do anything.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  80. Re:not false accusation, bad interpretation of sur by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    From the methods section

    The specific types of sexual violence assessed included rape (completed or attempted forced penetration or alcohol- or drug-facilitated penetration) and sexual violence other than rape, including being made to penetrate a perpetrator, sexual coercion (nonphysically pressured unwanted penetration), unwanted sexual contact (e.g., kissing or fondling), and noncontact unwanted sexual experiences (e.g., being flashed or forced to view sexually explicit media).

    Those are the categories they questioned about. If you really think that forced penetration or alchohol/drug facilitated penetration isn't rape, I've got news for you, son.

  81. some thoughts by Chirs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The following is all subjective, so be warned. :)

    From what I've seen (admittedly second and third-hand) the people attacking women are generally doing so at least in part *because* they are women. On the other hand, attacks against men are rarely gender-based, but rather based on other factors like religion/ideology/actions.

    If this is true, then even if the numbers of attacks are the same, it would not be unreasonable for the attacked women to feel it differently because they are being attacked for something they *are* rather than something they *think*. (And actually I suspect this same feeling may hold true for race-based attacks against people as well.)

  82. Re:Never forget by Nethead · · Score: 2

    That was also back when if the sysadmin thought you had gone too far, your account would just be closed and a warning message about you sent to other admins in the area. Back then it was easy to blacklist someone from every ISP within the local calling area. Remember when we had to pay by the minute for long distance?

    --
    -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  83. Wrong crime tends to happen a lot by raymorris · · Score: 2

    I've noticed people tend to get busted for the wrong crime fairly often, or busted on the wrong day. An old friend of mine started selling drugs, buying and selling abusable prescription drugs. He got busted for selling pot, which he apparently doesn't do, and he wasn't selling anything at the moment.

    I can't think of anyone I know who isn't a criminal, yet ended up in jail. It's kind of odd, but in some ways it makes sense.

  84. Re:WHY are men trying to scare women away from gam by admiralh · · Score: 2

    When there were only a few "geeky girls" around, they were a novelty, and there weren't enough of them to affect change in the workplace. I remember those days. We had lots of highly sexist/racist terms people would just throw around without thinking. Look up "BCH, RCH, and GCH" and the mnemonic for remembering resistor color that begins "Black boys" for example (I won't repeat them). Cheesecake calendars and centerfolds were also displayed prominently at desks. And the women there had to tolerate it. They had no choice if they wanted to stay.

    But starting in the early 90's, women starting getting enough power to force companies to enact sexual harassment policies. The calendars disappeared and some topics of conversation became forbidden at work. And many men resented this.

    So the trolls learned from this, and thus any woman who starts to be listened to in other male-dominated areas must be destroyed as soon as possible. This is what Kathy Sierra said in her posting. Because, by default, they are not deserving of the attention.

    It's the same dynamic that has kept Rush Limbaugh on the radio for 30 years.

    --
    Hopelessly pedantic since 1963.
  85. Weev displays a consistent pattern of behavior by raymorris · · Score: 2

    He doesn't hide the fact that his normal pattern and practice is to act like a complete asshole, especially online. Therefore, if someone says he was being a complete asshole online, that matches with what one would expect from him.

    To me, it's similar to if someone were to tell me that my friend Christina delivered a pizza to their house. Christina was a pizza-delivery person for several years, so the statement is likely true, absent any evidence to the contrary.

    1. Re:Weev displays a consistent pattern of behavior by tibit · · Score: 2

      I've met a few self-proclaimed assholes who try very hard to maintain a hardy image and are otherwise harmless and haven't even attempted to hurt anyone, much less carried out their "recollections". The "not hiding the fact" can occasionally be a fabrication. The more I read, though, the more it appears that perhaps here the concerns are genuine and the lady is above suspicion.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  86. Always the legal solutions first by meustrus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why does it seem that the first response to these kinds of problems is always legal? To sue someone? Is it just because that's what is expedient to existing victims? Because it won't help future potential victims. Even changing the law or boosting enforcement won't get at the root cause.

    The fact is that sadly, sociopathic behavior like this is socially acceptable. Every time a woman speaks up, half of the crowd chimes in to defend the sociopath. "It was her own fault", you say. "Women are such whiners; this happens to everyone", you say. And let's be clear: it's easy for a woman to think women are unfairly targeted when she's come to know so many others who have been targeted, and the harassment is often sexual. There's a point to be made that women are perhaps too often thin-skinned. But often this point is made regardless to the severity of the harassment (total destruction of career, made to feel unsafe and insecure even in her own home or the home of her family, made to fear for the safety of that family). And most of the people making this point, especially in a place like Slashdot that allows people to post anonymously, make their point with misogynistic slurs. It's only understandable that this position is almost always attacked as "blaming the victim" when there are only a couple of rational voices in the mob.

    How can the law help us? Will it stop people from being sociopaths? Not any more than drunk driving laws made people stop driving drunk. Drunk driving used to be just as socially acceptable as wife beating and criminal harassment. What changed? MADD and systematic messaging from law enforcement and driver's education told entire generations of new drivers that it is not acceptable. Now drunk driving is the sort of thing only completely irresponsible people do, right? While that doesn't mean nobody does it, it does mean nobody defends the behavior. We need a single message to spread to every single child regarding harassment: this is not OK.

    Sociopaths are bad for society, which means that even when they aren't attacking you personally, their assaults still hurt you. Every time a Kathy Sierra is harassed out of her comfort zone, we lose another intelligent perspective. We lose the voice behind javaranch.com. And to all you lonely nerds out there: we lose one more woman that understands and appreciates what you do. One more woman that might have shared your dreams and obsessions.

    What can we do about sociopaths? First, we can learn to defend ourselves. My first rule of the internet is to use a pseudonym, and keep your pseudonym separate from your family and local friends. Never attach any pictures or personal information that could connect your pseudonym to you. Never, and I mean never take a nude picture of yourself.

    Remember though that none of this is a guarantee. All it takes is more effort to uncover who you are and where you live. So the second step is to support the victims. Now, I understand some of you are a bit obsessed with fraud, and think these victims are just seeking attention. You attack the victim's credibility. Stop. You don't have to personally believe the victim, but it does no good to cast doubt. Victims don't even want attention, and they definitely don't want to be assaulted even more. So many victims don't report crimes against them because they don't want to relive the experience, or because they are afraid of people like you. What victims (should) want is for their life to go on as if nothing happened, while also making sure the same thing can never happen to anybody else. What you can do is direct your attention toward the problem instead of the victim. Attack the crime, even if you don't believe it happened. You might say, "Harassment is wrong, and I am appalled to think this kind of thing even happens." You might say, "I actually have trouble believing the story because it's so unthinkable that someone could be this much of a sociopath." You might say, "I though this sort of thing never happened, and it certainly never sh

    --
    I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
  87. Re:weev by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If someone killed weev, the world would be a better place.

    If your purpose was to demonstrate how this cancer infects even Slashdot, then congratulations. +4 Insightful my ass.

    Also, you're wrong. When weev dies, another will simply take his place. A hierarchy is basically institutionalized bullying, and we are still indoctrinated into hierarchies. Weev is operating from the axioms thought to him by the Pointy-Haired Boss from Dilbert, only the Internet has stripped away the facade of civility and revealed the dynamic as it really is: "Put up with my bullshit or get the choice between starving to death or going to pound-me-in-the-ass prison."

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  88. Re:More feminist bullshit by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    cast it all the way back to the start of the industry

    Here you go. Most computers were women.

    In 1943, the United States Army authorized a secret project at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering to develop an electronic computer to compute artillery firing tables for the Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. The project, which came to be known as ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was completed in 1946.

    Previous to the development of the ENIAC, the U.S. Army had employed women trained in mathematics to calculate artillery trajectories, at first using mechanical desk calculators and later the differential analyzer developed by Vannevar Bush, at the Moore School. In 1945, one of these "computers", Kathleen McNulty (1921–2006), was selected to be one of the original programmers of the ENIAC, together with Frances Spence (1922– ), Betty Holberton (1917–2001), Marlyn Wescoff, Ruth Lichterman (1924–1986), and Betty Jean Jennings (1924–2011). McNulty, Holberton, and Jennings would later work on the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer developed by the Remington Rand Corporation in the early 1950s.

    Men originally saw computing as a "woman's job."

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  89. free speech doesn't mean consequence-free speech by silfen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you put your name to something unpopular in public, people may hate you for it. That's never been any different. That's why we have had anonymous pamphleteering and pseudonyms for as long as we have had free speech, and we protect them. This is not a women's issue or a feminist issue. And it's not a "civil rights" issue either. People like Sierra and Citron are not fighting for civil rights, they are a privileged and entitled elite who think that if they speak, the masses should listen in awed silence, no matter how offensive their speech may be. They want the same status that Catholic priests used to have: unquestioned respect and authority.

    Fortunately, it's not going to happen. Use your head before you speak in public. And if your entire life is based on publicity and notoriety, realize that that the benefits you received from that can quickly turn into a liability when you fall from favor.

  90. Re: weev by Layzej · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is the leaders of the contrarian community who are repeatedly publishing contact info of targeted climate scientists and encouraging the crazies to get in touch directly.

  91. Re:More feminist bullshit by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

    My dad was part of the Civilian Engineers working state side during WWII (Radiological research aka RADAR at MIT) There simply wasn't that many men stateside, especially during the latter parts of the war. I would suggest to you, that women in IT back then was done partly out of necessity, rather than gender based roles.

    He told stories of walking down the streets of Boston and having people look at him funny, as he wasn't in uniform, as if to ask "Why aren't you fighting son?" I can only imagine what it was like seeing very few young men on the streets of America because every one else was off to war.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  92. Re:not false accusation, bad interpretation of sur by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

    Do you not know what "facilitated" means? No.

    Getting someone drunk to get them to have sex with you isn't okay.

    Actual fucking question for disingenuous jerks:

    When you were drunk, high, drugged, or passed out and unable to consent, how many people have ever

    had vaginal sex with you? By vaginal sex, we mean that {if female: a man or boy put his penis in your vagina} {if male: a woman or girl made you put your penis in her vagina}.
      {if male} made you perform anal sex, meaning they made you put your penis into their anus?
      made you receive anal sex, meaning they put their penis into your anus?
      put their mouth on your {if male: penis} {if female: vagina}?1
      put their mouth on your anus?1
      made you put your mouth on their vagina or anus?1
      made you put your mouth on their penis?1
      put their fingers or an object in your [if female: vagina or} anus?1

    Clearly fucking rape. The question includes the phrase "unable to consent". You have zero legs to stand on. Making shit up about the methodology to invent a narrative where it's "not rape" is basically utterly shitty.

  93. Re:weev by jedidiah · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's stupid.

    People are vile and self-centered. They will take advantage of you given the chance. Even if they don't have any ill will, chances are that they will be careless and cause you trouble just out of ignorance and stupidity.

    Then you've got entire industries filled with professional trolls.

    You also have the possibility of people that are just annoying. That may be intentional or not. This was a well known problem back in the days when you had to troll someone personally. People (including the law) understood that a backlash could be triggered under various conditions.

    Although once things get out of hand it really doesn't matter who the victim is. Anyone that's looking at this issue and fixating only on the female victims is probably an annoying trollish git.

    If harassment and stalking are real problems then they should be treated as such and gender should not even be part of the discussion.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  94. That's one question. "Showing they were unhappy" by raymorris · · Score: 2

    > Do you not know what "facilitated" means? No.

    I'm not sure that you, so if you think that's in question here you might want to look it up, along with vaginismus and stress/tension.

    That one question covers things that are rape, assuming there's neither PRIOR consent nor implied consent. I clearly and carefully explained to you two actual instances of PRIOR and implied consent, in which the "victim" didn't see themselves as a victim. One one case I told you about, the prior consent was explicit, expressed. Don't you think it's a little odd for the researchers to claim someone was raped when the person themselves feels that they had a romantic evening with their spouse? Do you think you can convince my friend she was raped, because she thinks she had a good partying with her husband.

    Aside from that one question, which isn't bad, did you notice the questions I copied and pasted for you?
    This study calls it sexual violence if you choose to cheer your mate up because they were "showing they were unhappy".
    I come home stressed out, irritated that the damn database admin keeps screwing things up. My wife knows what will cheer me up, and she decides to do so. That's categorized as sexual violence in this survey.

    You seriously trivialize rape when you pretend that consensual activity between adults in a loving relationship is the same as an assault. It's not. It's actually okay for your wife to cheer you up with a BJ. It's okay for you to reciprocate.

    Just like it's okay for you to not use bittorrent - wtf what was wrong with that AC is the other thread? :)

  95. Re:We really need a different word for this behavi by russotto · · Score: 2

    I used to troll slashdot under another account. It was great fun. I'd see a good target story and write a well-structure comment. The first paragraph would be something on topic and sensible. The second would introduce minor logical flaws, which in the third paragraph would explode into completely ridiculous conclusions that would incense slashdotters, like that the only way to ensure privacy is for the government to monitor all communications at all times or something.

    Ah, classic Adequecy-style trolling. Great stuff... and Poe's law means it's almost impossible to tell from the real thing.

    Doxxing? That's not a troll thing. Fake doxxing, where one sockpuppet doxxes another -- that's a troll thing since before the term "doxxing". Not real doxxing.

  96. Re:More feminist bullshit by Knuckles · · Score: 2

    No mod points but AC needs to be visible:

    Here's your statistics.

    The study found that female bots received on average 100 malicious private messages a day while the male bots received an average of 3.7.

    --
    "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns