What ever happened to Adria Richards?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5632667

by pain_perdu • 13 years ago

33 30 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Looks like her website is dead and she has not really tweeted since the incident. Does anyone know where she landed or what she is doing now?

katherineparker6• 13 years ago

I was wondering the same thing the other day. I think she's hiding out and probably not sure about her next move. I don't know her at all but I emailed her to tell her that she has done lots of good and will be forgiven if she explains where she screwed up. Nobody deserves to be told they should be raped etc. and I think the only way for some of the public overreaction to stop is for her to admit her own overreaction. I don't think she's a bad person, but this was a bad mistake to make and stay silent after and she might be remembered as only this is if she doesn't speak up. I also worry this has made women in tech appear fragile and oversensitive. I don't like how she's trying to speak for me, a women in tech, because she doesn't handle herself like a woman, she handles herself like a child. Have a tantrum and run away. The longer she waits, the harder it will be for the public to forgive her. Come on Adria, you must be better than this. You seem so smart, please just step up to the plate. Women in tech need you now to return our reputation to what it was before your outburst.

ahoyhere4• 13 years ago

I agree with you on all counts… especially that she acted like a child. It sounds like her behavior is motivated by building up her own self-image. In her blog post, she portrayed herself as a hero (actually called herself a hero), and later she referred to herself as Joan of Arc. Unfortunately that kind of thinking about ones' self rarely gets better. Challenges to the self-image just cause the person to dig in deeper to defend it. Unfortunate.

mtrimpe4• 13 years ago

I really can't figure out why are women in tech so hard on themselves...

From what I can tell Adria was a woman who misjudged the level of public support for her 'cause' and what was appropriate in 'defending it.' She crossed a line she didn't expect to be there and when she did, the support she thought would be there evaporated before her eyes and she was very publicly thrown to the lions.

Yes, she may not have been the smartest cookie for not having that figured out but many men have crossed a similar invisible line known as sexual harassment, yet when was the last time you saw a man's career publicly shot to pieces because they 'misread the signals?'

workbench• 13 years ago

> don't think she's a bad person

I find racists usually are, so I'd disagree

rada4• 13 years ago

Women in tech need you now to return our reputation to what it was before your outburst.

I disagree. She needs to attend to her physical safety, first and foremost, and her mental health, a close second. The overreaction to her tiny tweet was about a million to one and her very public flogging was so out of proportion and so misogynistic and racist that if I were her, I'd be scarred for life. It reminded me of those 3rd world stories that pop up every once in a while where some poor woman gets raped by an entire village as punishment for adultery. Let's not pile up on an already unfortunate situation by suggesting that the perpetrator of a tiny crime (if a rather temperate tweet that called a joke "not cool" can even be called a crime) has to apologize in the wake of other people's much, much larger crimes (from the firing of one of the jokers to rape threats to death threats).

On a larger note, it's never a minority group's responsibility to keep the majority prejudice-free. We really need to dispose of the silly notion that it's our responsibility as women in tech to be 100% perfect lest some men decide to withdraw their respect. We do not deserve to be held to a higher standard than men who engage in irrational, drama llama or otherwise childish behavior all the time (case in point, the dongle joke that started the whole thing).

Our reputation does not need to be "returned" because it was never "lost". Adria Richards, take care of yourself.

P.S. You said, I don't like how she's trying to speak for me and want her to apologize. Do you not see that she was not trying to speak for you any more than you tried to speak for me just now? That being born a woman does not make you the speaker for, or responsible for the reputation of, your entire gender? Otherwise you have exact same thing to apologize for.

katherineparker6• 13 years ago

Thanks for the input and keeping the conversation going. I respect you have your opinion but I want to address some points (just to specify, and you're of course entitled to your opinion either way):

I'm not putting her at a higher standard than a man and I don't think anyone else is. If a guy did this, I honestly think even more people would freak out.

I am speaking for women in tech and I absolutely do not have anything similar to apologize for, simply because of this fact: She said she is speaking for women in tech and she did something stupid. I'm speaking for women in tech saying Adria don't represent women and say you're doing something for women (you're a "hero") when you're actually doing something very wrong. If you want to represent us, apologize then. So yes, that does tarnish us to some degree. She needs to take responsibility for that. If she didn't proclaim to represent us then it wouldn't be a problem to me. I really don't see how that can be argued and why you're as offended as if I ruined someone's career/life at pycon. But it is your opinion.

caoimhin• 13 years ago

At some point you should reread what you wrote and decide where in that message you became patronising/bullying.

dreadsword• 13 years ago

Given the caustic nature of the fallout, she's doing the only smart thing and minimizing any streisand effect by keeping a low profile. Note that I'm not suggesting that she was in the right or wrong, but that she's identified that there's no percentage in trying to "win" this, and that the spillover will have a detrimental effect on causes that she cares about (women in tech, for example).

HarryHirsch• 13 years ago

Just one week ago the proper way how to deal with bad publicity was mentioned on this very site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5593326

flootch• 13 years ago

What ever happened to the developer who lost his job?

Ziomislaw• 13 years ago

.. is much better question. Who would care about her? Stop feeding this particular troll please

DataJunkie• 13 years ago

He found a job about 2-3 weeks after this whole fiasco happened. It was on his LinkedIn.

joshguthrie• 13 years ago

Maybe she's gonna update her github in a few year with cryptic messages in cryptic outdated format.

Anyone knows if she ever did any Ruby?

medecau• 13 years ago

First true laugh of the day, thanks.

vampirechicken• 13 years ago

why would anybody do that?

What ever happened to Adria Richards?

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