Extra Thimian

This article has two parts: One is a bit analytical, the other is highly opinionated (so, probably more fun to read).

A bit of exposition first: Somebody did a technical presentation at a technical conference. Unfortunately, a few members took offence at the presentation. Not its contents, mind you, but the way the presentation was done. It contained imagery that, to my refined European tastes, is soft-core pornography. Apparently (and I can’t really tell, since I wasn’t there),the publicly availabel slides of the presentation don’t even contain all the oh-so-edgy material, but word has it that the technical oriented part of the presentation contained soft-core pornography, too. To mix things up, apparently. The Rails community is on the cutting edge, after all.

The presentation is a great example of how not to be edgy and how to waste an opportunity in marketing.

But let me define “edgy” first, so that we are on the same page.

Looking at the Urban Dictionary, the term has various meaning. The second one seems to fit the most:

1-pushing the envelope 2- to be way out there to be on the cutting edge or to be edgy

Dictionary.com seems to agree:

3. daringly innovative; on the cutting edge.

So, how was the presentation not edgy?

Well, “sex sells” is a truism. From car ads, to shampoo ads, to razor blade ads, to chewing gum. The advertisement industry thrives on that. you can find it in movies, too. Who doesn’t remember Dr. Manhattan’s schlong from the Watchmen movie? Or the trite sex scene of 90% of non-comedy, non-family values Hollywood movies?

So, tehre we have it: A community that sees itself as edgy, innovative, rule-breaking and “eschewing the rules” is using the most base, most commercially exploited, and least creative technique to gain attention there is. That isn’t edgy. That’s playing it safe. It’s relying on instincts of a (predominantly) male audience: “Look, tits. It must be awesome/cool/mine!” or “It gets me the chicks. I shall have it and get the chicks myself.”

Now, you can certainly play this instinct for irony. The Axe (Lynx in the UK) commercials do that. An old Toyota ad did that. The Rails community didn’t.

So, how is this a marketing failure as well?

This is two fold. For one, nobody is talking about what the technical presentation contained that was technological. Instead, it back-fired to the extreme. And deservedly, if I may say. If you play with fire, you can get burned.

Second, all the porn is actually distracting from the content. It  might have worked as a hook (since a lot of people saw the presentation, it actually did). But it doesn’t work as a theme for a whole presentation. Certainly not for me. A presentation themed around the Art of War was tedious for me, too (give it a try, though). And military history is something I have an interest in.

In short: The presentation is a failure. It is a disgrace to my gender, it is a disgrace to its topic (CouchDB seems to get a lot of buzz, but I doubt I’ll look at it any time soon, since it doesn’t fit my current requirements, and I want to wait until the storm has calmed down at least a bit. Which’ll take a while, I guess), and it is a disgrace to the edgy crowd.

Now, my personal opinion on this, and be warned, I won’t be looking for excuses for the behavior of people (like :

What was the author thinking? I have no idea. He thought it was a good idea, apparently, and ran with it. Unfortunately, he ran the thing to the ground. It’s obvious that we software developers need to work on our people skills. And it seems that Matt took a step back from the whole mess. He believed to be on the safe side, too. He ran it past the obvious candidates to check his presentation. Lesson learned, I hope, and this shouldn’t repeat itself. If it does, I’d take a long hard look at my life choices and values. Because then the problem is with me, not my audience.

So, I won’t dwell on this, especially if the author’s of the links I’ve posted said it better than I ever could.

_why, the lucky stiff, compiled a post with reactions by actual women. It is more than worth your time.

That being said:

What pisses me off most royal, is the attitude some people show (note, this is the general “you”, not the personal one. I have no beef with DHH himself, just with the attitude he and others have).

Quote David Heinemeier Hansson:

You’re bound to upset, offend, or annoy people when you’re not adding heavy layers of social sugarcoating.

Quoth he furthermore:

[Not adding heavy layers of social sugarcoating,I think. - The author] means that it leaks out that I love listening to Howard Stern, that Pulp Fiction is one of my favorite movies, that I laugh out loud at Louis CK’s Bag of Dicks joke, that I whole-fully accept my instinctual attraction to the female body, that I think drugs should be legal, that I really like the word fuck and other gems of profanity, and on and on.

I like Pulp Fiction, too. One of those days, I’ll even see it completely and in one sitting. I like to watch women on the streets as any other male sharing my taste in partners, I curse (sometimes heavily, especially if I am agitated or (feel that) I have been wronged). That doesn’t excuse me from being a human being. From showing respect, and seriousness.

That I curse has an impact on my language and use of language, but that doesn’t mean that I use the word “fuck”, “shit”, “goddamn” as filler.

The very point where you claim to be superior for being an asshole,

I won’t stand there, and say “You are a unique and beautiful snowflake. You have every right to be an ass.” No, sir. I won’t try to be apologetic for your behavior.

If you want to be taken serious, act like an adult.

It’s completely and utterly any one individual’s responsibility to make sure that they get along with a community and society at large. It’s not my problem if I get offended by what you do. It is your problem not to offend me. That doesn’t mean that you should make absolutely sure that what you say and do isn’t controversial. Far from it. But it does mean that you have to show others the respect you want them to show you.

Having invented a technology only goes so far. You gotta work if you want to keep it.

Communication and life are two-way streets.

The rails community some-what values that it is non-professional. That it is anti-enterprise. That’s fine. That shouldn’t mean that offending just for the sake of offending, and then not having the balls to apologize, are condoned, nay encouraged.

Me, I’ll draw my consequences out of this mess. Personal (Do I want to be involved in a community like this? Note, that I am not talking about the Ruby community!), and professional (Do I want to use a technology that the community doesn’t know how to sell except with tits?).

Until then, I stand up and be counted:

I want the Ruby, Rails, open source, and web development communities to be a dignified, respectful, inclusive, and welcoming place. Acts like putting questionable imagery in a conference talk are regrettable and harmful to those aims. We’ve all been witnesses to off-color jokes, misogynistic back channel chatter and unnecessary, trolling comments. I pledge to do better to stand up and call this behavior out when I see it in conferences, online and other public settings. I don’t expect it to go away but I’m not going to tacitly condone it any longer.

Without any shame stolen from Nick Sieger’s blog.

I’ll just add the following:

• This holds true for any community I am part of.
• This holds true for any offense I am witness to.
• Someday, I’ll have the backbone to speak up face to face, too.
• I’ll actively work towards this day.
• Respect, fairness, and openess are requirements to be successful.
• I’ll make mistakes. I want to be called on them.

Thanks for reading.

Filed under: Rails, Rantings, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Society & Culture, What were they thinking? by Phill