Oh, the evidence is clear. Poor people are very disadvantaged.
So are men, in the education system. But that's the joy of software development: If you can do it, you can do it. Very low barriers to entry, and being a meritocracy those that can do it are recognised and successful.
All other things are sufficiently equal that I've worked with competent men and women from every fucking continent on the planet (except Antarctica) comprising a very diverse range of races, cultures, education systems and religions.
The common thing about the competent people? They're good at their job. They thrive in a meritocracy because other competent people like working with them.
Any given person does not have an equal chance of demonstrating merit in software development because frankly some people just aren't suited to it.
That's fine. Just stop demanding they get fucking recognition and a share of the merit.
People are cunts, being nice to them often is seriously hard fucking work.
Slashdot is one of the places in which I just can't be arsed. I'll save that tiring emotional energy for people that matter.
That doesn't mean people should just accept assholes. It just means they should stop being so pitifully weak and letting an occasional swear word upset them.
meritocracy has consistently shown itself to mainly benefit those with privilege
Has it fuck. Utter bollocks and nonsense.
it seems to be a form of recognition, an acknowledgement that âoethis person is valuable insofar as they are like me.â
No, it does not. Nice straw man she's building.
It is time that we as an industry abandon the notion that merit is something that can be measured, can be pursued on equal terms by every individual, and can ever be distributed fairly
We can't abandon a notion we've never had. If merit could be distributed fairly then the very concept of a meritocracy would not be possible.
Merit is demonstrated. Not everybody can or will demonstrate it. You don't fucking distribute it, and you sure as fuck don't worry about it being distributed fairly. It's not a finite resource that has to be shared anyway.
an affirmation of belonging that applies to everyone who engages in the practice of software development
I don't want total fuckwits to belong in software development. I value the outputs of the process too much. Some people are fucking shit at software development and it would be better for everybody else if they found a job better suited to their skills and abilities.
We do not believe that our value as human beings is intrinsically tied to our value as knowledge workers.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. You can be a beautiful person and indeed you could be one I want to spend my life with, but if you can't do your job then get the fuck out of the way and let someone competent take it.
We believe that interpersonal skills are at least as important as technical skills.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. Has she even fucking read the agile manifesto?
We can add the most value as professionals by drawing on the diversity of our identities, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Homogeneity is an antipattern.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. Note though that the author of this piece actively rejects diversity of political views and created a forum that excludes half the population because of their gender; she can't even fucking live her own manifesto.
We can be successful while leading rich, full lives. Our success and value is not dependent on exerting all of our energy on contributing to software.
Nothing to do with meritocracy.
We have the obligation to use our positions of privilege, however tenuous, to improve the lives of others.
Nothing to do with meritocracy (and is also complete fucking bullshit. People I know work fucking hard for their positions, no fucking privilege involved)
We must make room for people who are not like us to enter our field and succeed there. This means not only inviting them in, but making sure that they are supported and empowered.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. But it does make you wonder why she supports single-sex networks.
We have an ethical responsibility to refuse to work on software that will negatively impact the well-being of other people.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. Also childishly naive, lacking any understanding of the complexities of actual ethics.
We acknowledge the value of non-technical contributors as equal to the value of technical contributors.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. But good fucking luck writing the Linux kernel with no developers.
Simple truth: technical contributors can do everything a non-technical contributor can. The inverse is not true.
People do however get recognised for their contribution and it's far fro
All of the people I know with aspergers are eerily polite
Hey fuckface, you can end that shit now.
He's been acting more like a socially retarded baby-man
He's been acting like a technically capable leader with occasional examples of losing his patience. You don't build and run a project the size of the Linux Kernel if you're "socially retarded".
I don't even know what the fuck a baby-man is. He wears nappies?
Torvalds is responsible for his disregard of empathy
Lets see, sexualised language, trolling, insulting/derogatory comment and conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting.
Yeah, you're fucked now if you want to contribute to the Linux kernel.
I mean, shit, you're pissed at people being 'assholes' to computer program code but merrily disparaging people with a neurodevelopmental impairment. Which term would you use for your behaviour?
I think the real issue is that he's too busy to take the time to rewrite those emails in a form that's so polite it's obnoxiously insulting in a way that's obvious to everybody ut at no point crosses any professional boundaries or could be quoted as demeaning or derogatory.
There's a joyful art to doing this, but it does take rather longer than being blunt with someone.
(It may also just be a British thing. My American colleagues would always marvel and forward such emails around in wonder)
Complaints need to be sent to a board, who will investigate and then decide on what action should be taken.
History tells us those boards will be populated and run by people with shared political views, and used to remove conflicting views from the project.
the reasonable people on the board
Will over time be removed and replaced, leaving the board in control of fanatics.
asking the "alleged victim" to be less sensitive
There are no alleged victims. There are victims and "people abusing the process to harass others".
Obviously the board will categorise people according to their own politics and not through any objective criteria.
How this works out will depend mostly on how complaints are handled.
Badly.
It's dismaying to see how many people think it's a bad thing to have a policy that basically boils down to "don't be an asshole"
So have a policy that explicitly states "don't be an asshole". Don't wrap it up in politically correct langauge that introduces a fuckton of ambiguity that the malicious can use to impose their own politics on others.
Tell you what, lets see if the maintainers ban any fuckwit that uses the sexist derogatory term 'mansplain'.
Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include: [..]
* Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
If you really think it's not possible to be both talented and nice, then hopefully you will get a chance to look in a mirror like Linus has done and choose to make yourself a better person.
I know for a fact that it's not possible to be nice all of the time. I don't need a fucking code of conduct to behave professionally in the workplace or when engaged in creative endeavours with others. Shit, people genuinely fucking worry if they never hear you swear or say something bad about someone - I've had that feedback on multiple occasions.
No, it's not. I know many people that describe themselves as Aspie.
I don't use the term myself but I'm not insulted when others use it to describe me.
If you really want a laugh check the current debate about renaming Aspergers due to the eponymous doctor's involvement in euthanasia. Even among people diagnosed with the disorder there's disagreement about whether guilt by association should apply.
moved into trying to make tech a less asshole place. Sarah Sharp is the most famous.
Sage Sharp didn't move into trying to make tech a less asshole place. It* uses sexist terms like 'mansplainy' and bitches about oppression. Fuck that non-binary strange person.
Maybe being a good leader would've helped it avoid career issues. Maybe being tolerant of others would've helped it participate in Linux kernel development. Maybe losing the fucking chip on its shoulder would've made it happier.
Maybe we'll never know. Thank fuck it's started its own company and I'm never going to have to work with it.
*It describes itself as gender 'non-binary' and does not want female pronouns used to describe it. Since it's also not male, my choice out of him/her/it is quite easy.
You're wrong. Not least because if you perceive that as an insult, you're inherently a fuckwit.
I don't intend to insult you or call you a fuckwit, I'm just highlighting that your perception may prove you to be one, and blaming me for that would be incredibly fucking stupid.
Yes, perceptions matter. Yes, managing the responses of others to communications is a skill. But intent matters more.
I can cope with someone that's blunt and lacks the subtlety to massage my ego while telling me I'm wrong. Their intent is to help me understand that I'm wrong, and for that I'm potentially grateful. If I just go "Waah" because I've perceived it as an attack I lose out entirely on the opportunity to learn (or educate them why they're mistaken).
If someone has a repeated pattern of being blunt and using strong words then that's just all the more reason to understand that this is how they operate. Why the fuck are your feelings more important than their mode of expression? We can't all change everything we do for every interaction so that everybody we ever engage with perceives us as nice fluffy people. Fuck that.
There is a reason that collegial practices are ultimately to the long term health and evolution of a community.
Hmm. Ultimately what?
But anyway, which collegial practices? Pursuit of the ego, theft of students' work, malicious backstabbing and other political games, lying for funding, wilful misinterpretation of data, indoctrination of students in extremist views or are there other collegial practices too?
only caring about technical ability and nothing about social skills is a pretty common aspect of autism
That doesn't match my understanding. Failing to understand social niceties is pretty fucking far from not caring about social skills and people on the autism spectrum struggling and getting stress in (and after) social situations is pretty fucking clear evidence that they care.
The thing is, if I'm a complete cunt on here that has absolutely no bearing or relevance on the quality of code I submit to an open source project, or indeed the relationships I build and maintain with that project team.
What's worse is that I don't have to be a complete cunt to fall foul of most CoCs. I merely have to be rational, make evidence based arguments and refuse to accept responsibility for the assumed actions of people that are alleged to share sexual or racial characteristics with me.
I don't care how great your coding skills are, you can do far more damage to a project with assholery than buggery.
This is why everybody pushing for a CoC should be told to fuck off and start their own shitty project.
Hmm. I'm in a similar position to Dave. Multiple approaches, many of them appropriate.
Two in the last month, one of which was paying more than my previous job, the other of which was paying literally 25% more than that. Both under half an hour commute too.
It's one reason I'm happily booking a three month holiday instead of looking for work. The work will be out there, when I'm ready for it, and I now have a list of recruiters from LinkedIn that I already know will find me appropriate roles.
Do you have a horrible prison tattoo on your face?
That wouldn't stop me hiring someone. Hell, it might help.
Customer demands to see the data centre, wants assurance we'll protect their data. Invite them over, show them the physical security, the uniformed security guards, the biometric locks on the data halls, show them into one of the halls..
Jim steps out from behind a rack. His tattoo is hard to make out in the low light, but the scar is obvious, the two features blurring together just below his eye which he's using to glare unblinkingly at the strangers..
"It's ok Jim, these people are with me. Everyone, this is Jim, our lead hardware architect. He's _very_ protective of our systems."
But seriously, I'm more interested in the person than their body art.
Why aren't the fuckwits bleating about shit that happened 150 years ago showing some empathy for those of us that understand basic fucking language and logic?
No, fuck them and their sensitive feels. At least then they'll have something tangible to bitch about.
I actually respect people that can vote for someone they despise in order to get policies they support implemented.
Ultimately the personal ego and wish fulfilment of the president is irrelevant if he does what the people voting him in actually want him to do on the things that matter to them.
Slashdot Mirror
Writing "Confident programmers wanted. Must thrive on criticism. Expected to teambuild in daily FPS tournaments" and marking the ad "Only show to men"
Or maybe, "Boss, I found a great blockchain conference. We have any travel budget left this year?"
A computer tends to be helpful too. Luckily they're ubiquitous in most countries on the planet these days.
After that, yes. Most good programmers are self taught, do it because they find it interesting and/or have a problem they want to solve.
It's not exactly medicine is it.
Oh, the evidence is clear. Poor people are very disadvantaged.
So are men, in the education system. But that's the joy of software development: If you can do it, you can do it. Very low barriers to entry, and being a meritocracy those that can do it are recognised and successful.
All other things are sufficiently equal that I've worked with competent men and women from every fucking continent on the planet (except Antarctica) comprising a very diverse range of races, cultures, education systems and religions.
The common thing about the competent people? They're good at their job. They thrive in a meritocracy because other competent people like working with them.
Any given person does not have an equal chance of demonstrating merit in software development because frankly some people just aren't suited to it.
That's fine. Just stop demanding they get fucking recognition and a share of the merit.
Not everybody however has the disorder. Differentiate between shared behaviours and actual impairment.
If you want a clear delineation just take a look at relative suicide rates.
People are cunts, being nice to them often is seriously hard fucking work.
Slashdot is one of the places in which I just can't be arsed. I'll save that tiring emotional energy for people that matter.
That doesn't mean people should just accept assholes. It just means they should stop being so pitifully weak and letting an occasional swear word upset them.
having read the manifesto it seems reasonable
Holy fuck, even for you that's idiotic.
meritocracy has consistently shown itself to mainly benefit those with privilege
Has it fuck. Utter bollocks and nonsense.
it seems to be a form of recognition, an acknowledgement that âoethis person is valuable insofar as they are like me.â
No, it does not. Nice straw man she's building.
It is time that we as an industry abandon the notion that merit is something that can be measured, can be pursued on equal terms by every individual, and can ever be distributed fairly
We can't abandon a notion we've never had. If merit could be distributed fairly then the very concept of a meritocracy would not be possible.
Merit is demonstrated. Not everybody can or will demonstrate it. You don't fucking distribute it, and you sure as fuck don't worry about it being distributed fairly. It's not a finite resource that has to be shared anyway.
an affirmation of belonging that applies to everyone who engages in the practice of software development
I don't want total fuckwits to belong in software development. I value the outputs of the process too much. Some people are fucking shit at software development and it would be better for everybody else if they found a job better suited to their skills and abilities.
We do not believe that our value as human beings is intrinsically tied to our value as knowledge workers.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. You can be a beautiful person and indeed you could be one I want to spend my life with, but if you can't do your job then get the fuck out of the way and let someone competent take it.
We believe that interpersonal skills are at least as important as technical skills.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. Has she even fucking read the agile manifesto?
We can add the most value as professionals by drawing on the diversity of our identities, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. Homogeneity is an antipattern.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. Note though that the author of this piece actively rejects diversity of political views and created a forum that excludes half the population because of their gender; she can't even fucking live her own manifesto.
We can be successful while leading rich, full lives. Our success and value is not dependent on exerting all of our energy on contributing to software.
Nothing to do with meritocracy.
We have the obligation to use our positions of privilege, however tenuous, to improve the lives of others.
Nothing to do with meritocracy (and is also complete fucking bullshit. People I know work fucking hard for their positions, no fucking privilege involved)
We must make room for people who are not like us to enter our field and succeed there. This means not only inviting them in, but making sure that they are supported and empowered.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. But it does make you wonder why she supports single-sex networks.
We have an ethical responsibility to refuse to work on software that will negatively impact the well-being of other people.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. Also childishly naive, lacking any understanding of the complexities of actual ethics.
We acknowledge the value of non-technical contributors as equal to the value of technical contributors.
Nothing to do with meritocracy. But good fucking luck writing the Linux kernel with no developers.
Simple truth: technical contributors can do everything a non-technical contributor can. The inverse is not true.
People do however get recognised for their contribution and it's far fro
All of the people I know with aspergers are eerily polite
Hey fuckface, you can end that shit now.
He's been acting more like a socially retarded baby-man
He's been acting like a technically capable leader with occasional examples of losing his patience. You don't build and run a project the size of the Linux Kernel if you're "socially retarded".
I don't even know what the fuck a baby-man is. He wears nappies?
Torvalds is responsible for his disregard of empathy
Maybe he's just human after all.
dickish aspie
Lets see, sexualised language, trolling, insulting/derogatory comment and conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting.
Yeah, you're fucked now if you want to contribute to the Linux kernel.
I mean, shit, you're pissed at people being 'assholes' to computer program code but merrily disparaging people with a neurodevelopmental impairment. Which term would you use for your behaviour?
sometimes he can be kind of a dick
I think the real issue is that he's too busy to take the time to rewrite those emails in a form that's so polite it's obnoxiously insulting in a way that's obvious to everybody ut at no point crosses any professional boundaries or could be quoted as demeaning or derogatory.
There's a joyful art to doing this, but it does take rather longer than being blunt with someone.
(It may also just be a British thing. My American colleagues would always marvel and forward such emails around in wonder)
Complaints need to be sent to a board, who will investigate and then decide on what action should be taken.
History tells us those boards will be populated and run by people with shared political views, and used to remove conflicting views from the project.
the reasonable people on the board
Will over time be removed and replaced, leaving the board in control of fanatics.
asking the "alleged victim" to be less sensitive
There are no alleged victims. There are victims and "people abusing the process to harass others".
Obviously the board will categorise people according to their own politics and not through any objective criteria.
How this works out will depend mostly on how complaints are handled.
Badly.
It's dismaying to see how many people think it's a bad thing to have a policy that basically boils down to "don't be an asshole"
So have a policy that explicitly states "don't be an asshole". Don't wrap it up in politically correct langauge that introduces a fuckton of ambiguity that the malicious can use to impose their own politics on others.
Tell you what, lets see if the maintainers ban any fuckwit that uses the sexist derogatory term 'mansplain'.
Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
[..]
* Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
If you really think it's not possible to be both talented and nice, then hopefully you will get a chance to look in a mirror like Linus has done and choose to make yourself a better person.
I know for a fact that it's not possible to be nice all of the time. I don't need a fucking code of conduct to behave professionally in the workplace or when engaged in creative endeavours with others. Shit, people genuinely fucking worry if they never hear you swear or say something bad about someone - I've had that feedback on multiple occasions.
No, it's not. I know many people that describe themselves as Aspie.
I don't use the term myself but I'm not insulted when others use it to describe me.
If you really want a laugh check the current debate about renaming Aspergers due to the eponymous doctor's involvement in euthanasia. Even among people diagnosed with the disorder there's disagreement about whether guilt by association should apply.
moved into trying to make tech a less asshole place. Sarah Sharp is the most famous.
Sage Sharp didn't move into trying to make tech a less asshole place. It* uses sexist terms like 'mansplainy' and bitches about oppression. Fuck that non-binary strange person.
Maybe being a good leader would've helped it avoid career issues. Maybe being tolerant of others would've helped it participate in Linux kernel development. Maybe losing the fucking chip on its shoulder would've made it happier.
Maybe we'll never know. Thank fuck it's started its own company and I'm never going to have to work with it.
*It describes itself as gender 'non-binary' and does not want female pronouns used to describe it. Since it's also not male, my choice out of him/her/it is quite easy.
Intentions don't matter, perceptions do
You're wrong. Not least because if you perceive that as an insult, you're inherently a fuckwit.
I don't intend to insult you or call you a fuckwit, I'm just highlighting that your perception may prove you to be one, and blaming me for that would be incredibly fucking stupid.
Yes, perceptions matter. Yes, managing the responses of others to communications is a skill. But intent matters more.
I can cope with someone that's blunt and lacks the subtlety to massage my ego while telling me I'm wrong. Their intent is to help me understand that I'm wrong, and for that I'm potentially grateful. If I just go "Waah" because I've perceived it as an attack I lose out entirely on the opportunity to learn (or educate them why they're mistaken).
If someone has a repeated pattern of being blunt and using strong words then that's just all the more reason to understand that this is how they operate. Why the fuck are your feelings more important than their mode of expression? We can't all change everything we do for every interaction so that everybody we ever engage with perceives us as nice fluffy people. Fuck that.
There is a reason that collegial practices are ultimately to the long term health and evolution of a community.
Hmm. Ultimately what?
But anyway, which collegial practices? Pursuit of the ego, theft of students' work, malicious backstabbing and other political games, lying for funding, wilful misinterpretation of data, indoctrination of students in extremist views or are there other collegial practices too?
only caring about technical ability and nothing about social skills is a pretty common aspect of autism
That doesn't match my understanding. Failing to understand social niceties is pretty fucking far from not caring about social skills and people on the autism spectrum struggling and getting stress in (and after) social situations is pretty fucking clear evidence that they care.
Thus demonstrating how silly a suggestion it was. Linus being honest and frank isn't a medical issue.
The thing is, if I'm a complete cunt on here that has absolutely no bearing or relevance on the quality of code I submit to an open source project, or indeed the relationships I build and maintain with that project team.
What's worse is that I don't have to be a complete cunt to fall foul of most CoCs. I merely have to be rational, make evidence based arguments and refuse to accept responsibility for the assumed actions of people that are alleged to share sexual or racial characteristics with me.
I don't care how great your coding skills are, you can do far more damage to a project with assholery than buggery.
This is why everybody pushing for a CoC should be told to fuck off and start their own shitty project.
Hmm. I'm in a similar position to Dave. Multiple approaches, many of them appropriate.
Two in the last month, one of which was paying more than my previous job, the other of which was paying literally 25% more than that. Both under half an hour commute too.
It's one reason I'm happily booking a three month holiday instead of looking for work. The work will be out there, when I'm ready for it, and I now have a list of recruiters from LinkedIn that I already know will find me appropriate roles.
Do you have a horrible prison tattoo on your face?
That wouldn't stop me hiring someone. Hell, it might help.
Customer demands to see the data centre, wants assurance we'll protect their data. Invite them over, show them the physical security, the uniformed security guards, the biometric locks on the data halls, show them into one of the halls..
Jim steps out from behind a rack. His tattoo is hard to make out in the low light, but the scar is obvious, the two features blurring together just below his eye which he's using to glare unblinkingly at the strangers..
"It's ok Jim, these people are with me. Everyone, this is Jim, our lead hardware architect. He's _very_ protective of our systems."
But seriously, I'm more interested in the person than their body art.
I'm looking to finish TE Lawrence's 'Sever Pillars of Wisdom' then I'll finally get around to reading some Austen.
A friend's suggested Lady Susan as a start point, so I'll give that one a go and see how I get on.
Why aren't the fuckwits bleating about shit that happened 150 years ago showing some empathy for those of us that understand basic fucking language and logic?
No, fuck them and their sensitive feels. At least then they'll have something tangible to bitch about.
anti-truth perspective
At risk of defending Trump I think the entire US media and absolutely the social media companies have an anti-truth perspective.
Trust me, the truth may not be shared via Trump's twitter account but it sure as fuck isn't coming from his loudest opponents either.
I actually respect people that can vote for someone they despise in order to get policies they support implemented.
Ultimately the personal ego and wish fulfilment of the president is irrelevant if he does what the people voting him in actually want him to do on the things that matter to them.