
Toward an inclusive hackathon culture - seraphimserapis
http://timmesserschmidt.com/blog/2014/09/10/hackathon-culture/
======
kelukelugames
This contains a list of links as opposed to content.

Anyway, here are the first two links:

[https://medium.com/@superandomness/hackathons-are-for-
hackin...](https://medium.com/@superandomness/hackathons-are-for-
hacking-2bba198ffebd)

[http://rubinovitz.com/post/97138278847/the-future-of-
hackath...](http://rubinovitz.com/post/97138278847/the-future-of-hackathons)

------
tedks
It's depressing that in 2014 this is something being discussed at all.

It's equally depressing that otherwise intelligent people will try to argue
against codes of conduct, not realizing that as white men, they have literally
no say in the matter (or at least shouldn't, even though many throw around
their weight and privilege in order to disrupt things). I'd think that in a
community so forward-looking and forward-thinking, people would have enough
sense to be on the right side of history, instead of going down with the ship
clutching their confederate dollars.

~~~
tbrownaw
_not realizing that as white men, they have literally no say in the matter_

...Wait, we're excluding people from discussions on the basis of race and
gender now? And calling that "forward-thinking"?

~~~
tedks
Uh, yes, when it comes to women's safety and women's rights, men have
literally nothing to add to the discussion. It isn't the 1800s. Men do not own
women's bodies or spaces.

Thinking that your opinion is universally relevant is simple entitlement.

------
jey
What is the exact problem with someone saying "One of the reasons I attend
hackathons is to hit on chicks"? Is it the phrasing or the concept itself?
Would it be more acceptable to say "One of the reasons I attend hackathons is
to meet interesting and attractive women", or is the idea itself the problem?

I can definitely imagine someone objecting to being described as "a chick"
instead of "a woman". However, I don't mind being described as "a dude", and I
don't really understand the difference between the two.

~~~
tedks
It's the concept. It objectifies women. A hackfest is not a nightclub or a
dating site. Having to constantly turn down sexual advances is awkward, and
many times physically dangerous, and it has an effect of excluding women from
spaces.

It's basic male entitlement to think that women should be receptive to their
advances, at any time and in any place. Having to fend off creepy, socially
awkward men makes conferences and the tech field as a whole incredibly hard to
be in as a woman, and as a result, computer science is dragging literally all
of STEM down with its grossly imbalanced gender ratio.

~~~
jey
It seems an overgeneralization to claim that a heterosexual man flirting at a
hackathon is by definition "objectifying" her or that it implies that he
thinks "that women should be receptive to their advances at any time and in
any place". It is equally plausible that he's interested in her as a person
(and not as a mere object), and that he respects her right to reject his
advances. I acknowledge that it's certainly possible that a man (or woman)
could make advances in ways that are disrespectful and that shouldn't be
tolerated, but I don't see how expressing romantic or sexual interest in this
context is intrinsically evil.

I agree that disrespectful behavior should not be tolerated, but I don't
believe that all expressions of romantic interest outside of dating websites
and nightclubs are intrinsically disrespectful.

~~~
tedks
I don't recall stating anything about definitions; however, if you're a man
approaching someone at a hackathon, you probably don't know the person
otherwise (or you'd do so at a more appropriate place and time) and you're
probably doing so on the basis of appearance (i.e., objectifying women).
You're probably doing so because you think she'll be receptive (I have no idea
what logic constructs these thoughts but men have them nonetheless).

I would say that your comment is a perfect example of male entitlement. Is it
really so impossible to restrain yourself for the few hours a hackathon lasts?

Regardless of whether you actually are the one "nice guy" who would be
respectful of a declined proposition, women have no such luxury. Because of
our cultural focus on blaming women victims of sexual assault, women are
taught (and rightly so) to be cautious of men, and a man becoming violent or
threatening because of rejection is incredibly common. Forcing a woman to go
through an incredibly stressful and frankly frightening experience, because
you feel _entitled_ to do so, is simply chauvinist. It demonstrates that you
think your right to hit on women is primary compared to women's safety and
mental well-being.

If you don't think that's intrinsically evil, I guess you just don't think
women are human to the same degree you are, which is pretty common sentiment
in tech circles.

------
gfosco
Consider it during judging.

I was recently at MHacks as a sponsor, and our 3 top hack choices were half or
more than half female. We gave shout-outs to 2 of them, and our sponsor prize
to our top choice.

At final presentations, the top 14 apps were seated separately from the
rest... People started to notice it was an all male group. It looked and felt
wrong. There's just no way that all 14 of those teams were more worthy of
stage demos, and it's not encouraging for future participation.

~~~
kelukelugames
Can you link the 14 + 3 apps and let us evaluate them?

I do believe discrimination exists in our industry and have written about it,
but I don't like to automatically assume its the default reason.

~~~
gfosco
This is the full list: [http://mhacks-
iv.challengepost.com/submissions](http://mhacks-
iv.challengepost.com/submissions)

I can't seem to find a list of the top 14. Here's an article than mentions a
few of them: [http://t.co/DdOmmQiaLY](http://t.co/DdOmmQiaLY)

The ones we liked: Leaftagger (a very useful developer tool for iOS
developers) [http://mhacks-
iv.challengepost.com/submissions/26195-leaftag...](http://mhacks-
iv.challengepost.com/submissions/26195-leaftagger)

Comfort App (not my favorite idea, but the entire process worked flawlessly,
and it was very polished.) [http://mhacks-
iv.challengepost.com/submissions/26197-comfort](http://mhacks-
iv.challengepost.com/submissions/26197-comfort)

FB Crypt - I normally super-hate any sort of browser extensions at hackathons,
but seamlessly PGP encrypting/decrypting Facebook Chat was a great challenge.
[http://mhacks-iv.challengepost.com/submissions/26314-fb-
cryp...](http://mhacks-iv.challengepost.com/submissions/26314-fb-crypt)

Another trend I see is that if the hack appears sexy or innovative, even if it
is not, it will go far. Android for iPhone took 2nd place... It was pitched as
if an AOSP copy of Android was running on the phone, but quickly became clear
it is just screen sharing like VNC. I've become a serious hackathon judging
critic. YC Hacks finalist group was mostly embarrassing.

~~~
kelukelugames
Thanks for sharing the links. To be honest, I am not well-informed enough to
judge them.

As for: "Another trend I see is that if the hack appears sexy or
innovative...it will go far." I hate that too, but now accept it as reality. I
am actively working on my showmanship.

------
tbrownaw
1\. Don't be a dick. (Seriously it's a bit disturbing how much work goes in to
using lots of words to try to define this explicitly, only to end up with key
parts being subjective anyway ("offensive" is in the eye of the beholder,
etc).)

2\. Don't forget that drowsy driving (say, after staying up hacking all night)
is at least as dangerous as drunk driving. (And of course drowsy _hacking_ is
just silly, for much the same reason.)

