@serra There is a need for a space that is welcoming to socially awkward people. And trying to make it welcoming to what are called "normies" isn't a good thing if that is done by ejecting the socially awkward people who built it in the first place. Newcomers would do well to understand that they are guests and the place they're visiting is the way it is for important reasons. The "anglerfish" article I also linked to covers this too, but from a more abstract perspective.
@serra The context is one of the comments making the rounds recently on the matter of RMS - that getting rid of him is good riddance, ding dong the witch is dead, etc., because he was too weird and scared the women away. I think - and this is elaborated in the article, which I don't think has much to do with soft skills being unimportant AT ALL - that sanctioning people for being weird also sends a message that scares people away.
@serra Yes, I've said in more than one way that who someone is doesn't have any bearing on whether their work is valuable, but if repetition is what it takes for it to sink in...
Also a good one here. It may well be too late for free software, because we didn't stop the cancer several stages before it metastatized to where we are now. Maybe all that's left is palliative care, and handing real innovation back to the megacorps - which will suck, but this is the world you demanded. http://benjaminrosshoffman.com/construction-beacons/
Time for this one again. You think ever weird dude you tolerate drives away ten women? A. you're an idiot; that is not negotiable; but more importantly B. every weird dude you ostracize loses you one thousand weird *people* of both sexes and all genders, and they're the ones you actually need. https://medium.com/@maradydd/when-nerds-collide-31895b01e68c
I wish I had words to describe how really bad and unacceptable ad hominem argumentation is. I've written thousands of them, but seemingly to no effect. Even persons who seem genuinely good in intention and most of their actions do this absolutely unacceptable thing and see nothing wrong with it - which is, right there, proof of *why* judging "this is a good person/this is a bad person" is not a good way to evaluate ideas or actions.
@progo The world is a very big place and it seems reasonable to guess that somebody, somewhere, once did something sort of lie it. Especially after the story started circulating - there'd be people who thought it sounded fun. But I don't think there was ever a verified or even credible report of a specific incident.
@Azurolu@Ocean The word before his name is "隙あり", which my dictionary says means "chink in the armour." I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean in relation to Bill Clinton.
I'm nostalgic for "rainbow parties." That was one of the best moral panics to emerge from the fevered imagination of North America's parents in the last few decades.