AgathaTheWitch's comments

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone, I feel a little less overwhelmed now.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to hold off on actually making a service and consider doing something like Kickstarter. I want to see if I can get some funds to put together a better product and get a sense of the market / interest level.

Are there any protective steps I should take before doing that? I mean stuff like licenses / patents / trademarks / company formation etc.

Really cool stuff. My mother's church would benefit from using this kind of software. They are a pretty disorganized.

I like seeing labor of love side projects actually turn into something cool and useful.

Linus Torvalds says something thread on HN.

Prediction before clicking: Half of the thread, or more, will not be about what he says, but about his tone and "professionalism."

Never change HN. Never change.

If I made known my views on a number of issues to my coworkers, I would quickly be looking for a new job and may even be shunned in the greater tech community.

I've made peace with that knowledge.

My skin color and gender both connote a number of invalid assumptions. This probably applies to most people at some point in their lives. It just doesn't bother me. I'm sorry if it bothers you and I sympathize with others who are annoyed. I just don't relate.

In 1st world countries too most likely. Small companies bring their own political challenges certainly, and for some people a large company where they can just blend into the noise might be better. I just think I'd have an easier time navigating political issues with a small group where everyone knows each other well.

I'm not the first to mention it but for me the big issue is the wife having access to private company information. That type of thing really does make me start thinking about Bitbucket (any other good alternatives dudes?).

I don't see a ton of sexism here though. A developer removing her code because she didn't want to date him isn't sexism. It's unprofessional as hell and possibly a fireable offense depending on the circumstances, but it's not about a generalized animosity toward women.

The hula hoop thing too seems dumb. Maybe you had to be there? Were the male developers' tongues out? Were they making obscene comments? Two ladies hula hooping in the middle of an office is likely to attract attention. Are men supposed to immediately duck and cover and avert their eyes? Seems like she's over-reacting.

Still, assuming everything stated in the article is true, it does raise questions about the founders' judgment. I really like Github and this situation certainly is disappointing.

I bet that rug really tied together the room too...

</Lebowski>

All joking aside, that rug thing is pretty silly. "Meritocracy" is not code for "Straight White Males only." Nevertheless Horvath being feminist does not invalidate any unfair treatment she may have experienced should her claims be substantiated.

Wow, I didn't know this. I was so annoyed when the slim got rid of backwards compatibility but it makes more sense now. It's easy to underestimate the complexity of emulating older systems I guess.

Pretty sensible article. I think political problems in a company become more likely as companies grow and add more people. A dozen close-knit people who trust each other will have less trouble than a 200+ person company with layers of management and numerous colliding ambitions.

If possibly perhaps the best thing is to keep your company small? We don't all have to try to be Facebook. I like to dream about starting a small company that offers a simple product that just does one thing well so that me a handful of others can just run the thing.

I will be glad to move out of Jersey (likely next year). I live in Fort Lee and was trapped in "Bridgegate" traffic last fall. My cautious optimism over Christie has faded over the years as he has so transparently started focusing on positioning for 2016. This cave-in to the dealership lobby is just another reason to take my talents and tax dollars elsewhere.

Absolutely brilliant. Love the name.

"We are an international mentorship group with a focus on helping more women become active participants and leaders in the Python open-source community."

"PyLadies also aims to provide a friendly support network for women"

"Anyone with an interest in Python is encouraged to participate," toward the goals described above. The goals described above are discriminatory in a way with which I do not agree, hence my lack of support.

I respect their intentions and I am sure they are doing good work. Regardless as a matter of principle I do not donate to organizations that discriminate on the basis of sex.

Panels should include speakers with the most relevant input in regard to the topic under discussion.

Ok, fair enough. I still don't think it necessitates changing the character's gender. I lived vicariously through a number of fictional heroes of the opposite sex. How this father approached this issue just isn't how I would approach it.

What's interesting is that both of those characters have evolved considerably beyond their beginnings. I think it is oversimplifying to say that they represent men dictating "how women should be", but both Marston's Wonderwoman and Masamune's Kusanagi have been interpreted in drastically different ways by other writers.

If you believe that a character who's gender is the opposite of its creator is somehow invalid or cannot be a role model then I don't know what to say other than I don't agree. It's a subjective point and not particularly interesting to debate in my opinion.

I'm not concerned about her not encountering male role models. I wrote "girls can learn leadership and toughness from male protagonists and heroes." That's what I would try to do with Link, not make him into a female.

I'm speaking very generally when I say "political purpose". I don't mean that he is advancing an ideology, but rather he is addressing a gripe he has with society, specifically the lack of female heroes. He is addressing this issue by changing a text. I don't agree with this, though I assume the father's intent was purely to help his daughter and not to push his politics on anyone.

This is a very cool hack, and I support the intention behind it. Still, it is something I would never do for two reasons:

For one, as an author, I disagree with altering a text for a political purpose. To be sure, this instance is fairly innocuous, and parents frequently change bedtime stories on the fly to suit their kids. Nevertheless I consider the Legend of Zelda to be a text with its own mythology and themes, and just as I wouldn't rewrite Hamlet as a girl for my daughter, I wouldn't do it to Link.

Secondly I think it is important to teach kids to have role-models of BOTH genders. Two of my brother's biggest fictional role-models growing up were Wonderwoman and Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. In the same way, girls can learn leadership and toughness from male protagonists and heroes. I'm not accusing this father of not knowing this, but it would be my approach were I playing Zelda with my daughter.