
Nóirín Plunkett has died - daenney
https://www.apache.org/memorials/noirin.html
======
colmmacc
Tthis is a devastating loss for all involved. Nóirín was active in Open
Source, but something lesser known is that she was a founding director of
Digital Rights Ireland; who recently succeeded in a legal challenge against
European Data retention.

Nóirín was also a life-long volunteer Medic with St. John's ambulance in
Ireland: [http://www.stjohn.ie](http://www.stjohn.ie) . I'm certain her family
would appreciate any condolences or donations in her name.

I spoke with Nóirín's mother and brother this morning, and they know that she
had a huge impact on people, and "on the web" (to use her proud mother's
words), but I think it's worth making concrete. If you have a story or
testimonial about how Nóirín helped or inspired you (and I know there are
many), please send it on to colm@allcosts.net and I'll make sure to pass it
on.

~~~
fixxer
A devastating loss indeed. Has cause of death been released? She was so young.

EDIT: Surprised by the downvotes. I'm leaving it, regardless. The question
does not imply any lack of respect for the deceased. Those who think it does
are wrong.

~~~
yarrel
It doesn't but if they haven't been released then seeking them is untimely
morbid curiosity.

~~~
rbanffy
Wanting to learn more is a natural part of accepting an unexpected loss.

------
eryno
It was requested on Facebook that in lieu of flowers, people consider donating
to one of the following organizations in Nóirín's name:

Rape Abuse Incest National Network:
[https://donate.rainn.org/](https://donate.rainn.org/)

Center of Excellence for Transgender Health:
[http://transhealth.ucsf.edu/trans?page=ab-
donate](http://transhealth.ucsf.edu/trans?page=ab-donate) (please follow the
additional instructions underneath the “Donate” button)

Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
[http://anitaborg.org/donate/](http://anitaborg.org/donate/)

------
robinhowlett
Her first name is pronounced "No-reen" for those wondering.

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drzaiusapelord
She looks pretty young in her social media photos. Please don't be yet another
bright young techie suicide. We've had too many of those recently, and no one
seems to understand why or how we can avoid them in the future.

~~~
Udo
I agree, and although they're "just" a symptom they are a particularly
haunting one. The taboo surrounding these deaths doesn't help, either.

Edit: thank you, surapaneni, for correcting my mistake.

~~~
surapaneni
Got you covered.

------
lizzard
This is sad for us all. Noirin was a lovely person, smart and motivated,
dedicated to open source for many years, part of so many communities. I will
miss them from geekfeminism and from all our open source and feminist activist
circles.

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ranty
Oh shit, I met her. She was bloody hilarious.

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jMyles
Oh hell. :-(

We are losing a lot of good people.

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kozukumi
I do not know much about the ASF, could somebody share a little of who Nóirín
was, what she did, etc?

~~~
isaac32767
I know nothing about her work with ASF, but I knew her briefly when she lived
in Portland. She was one of the organizers who create those great tech events
this city is known for. I used to attend the weekly brewpup hackathons she
organized, and which are still going strong.

I seem to recall that her day job at the time was writing docs for Eucalyptus.

We weren't close, but I can say that she was an interesting, smart, talented,
complicated person. Her loss saddens me deeply.

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BuildTheRobots
Sad news, RIP. Based on her community involvement it strikes me as almost
appropriate for her name to be added to the X-Clacks-Overhead HTTP header [1]

[1] [http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/](http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/)

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mvtn
Godspeed, Nóirín! :(

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baseballmerpeak
RIP Nóirín

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sarciszewski
...by natural causes, I certainly hope.

My condolences to their family, either way.

------
caniszczyk
terrible :(

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CrackpotGonzo
Very sad. May they rest in peace.

------
butthackerz
According to their Twitter bio, Nóirín prefers to be referred to in the
singular "they".

Please respect their identity, HN.

~~~
davidw
Are you sure that doesn't just refer to a preference for using 'they/them' as
opposed to 'him' when it's a generic singular pronoun? People who knew her are
using "her":

[http://drbacchus.com/festina-lente/](http://drbacchus.com/festina-lente/)

~~~
lizdenys
It's unlikely that they meant "preferred pronoun" to be about a singular
person generally, since it commonly refers to preferences about oneself.

People often use pronouns other than the ones someone prefers for a variety of
reasons: sometimes the preferred pronoun is new, sometimes people forget,
sometimes people don't respect that person's preferred pronoun.

~~~
davidw
> It's unlikely that they meant "preferred pronoun" to be about a singular
> person generally, since it commonly refers to preferences about oneself.

Without more context, even in that case, it could be either 2nd or 3rd person.
Queen Elizabeth, for instance, might put her preferred pronoun as 'we', but
you'd still write about _her_.

In any event, very sad.

