Donglegate was an online shaming incident. A double entendre on the word "dongle" was overheard at a Python Conference (PyCon) programmers' convention on March 17, 2013, which led to two people being fired and a denial-of-service attack.

History

In March 2013, at the nearly all-male PyCon technology conference, a female participant heard two men seated nearby using the words "dongle" and "forking" in reference to the male presenter, which she perceived as a sexual joke (see sexual innuendo).[1] She photographed the attendees with their faces visible, then published the photograph on Twitter including a shaming statement in her tweet. The following day, the employer of one of the photographed individuals, a software developer, terminated his employment because of the joke.[2][3][4][5]

In response to the public shaming of the developers, Internet users who were uninvolved launched a DDoS attack on the woman's employer, SendGrid, and according to an article by Jon Ronson in The New York Times Magazine, demanded her firing.[6] SendGrid subsequently terminated her employment later the same day. Following the incident, PyCon updated its attendee rules stating, "Public shaming can be counter-productive to building a strong community. PyCon does not condone nor participate in such actions out of respect."[5][6][7]

In a 2014 interview, the woman—still unemployed—speculated whether the developer was responsible for instigating the Internet backlash against her.[2] The developer, who was offered a new job "right away", said he had not engaged with those who sent him messages of support, and had posted a short statement on Hacker News the same night after he was fired saying in part that the woman had "every right to report me to staff, and I defend her position".[2][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ronson, Jon (2015-02-21). "'Overnight, everything I loved was gone': the internet shaming of Lindsey Stone". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-04.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Internet Shaming of Lindsey Stone". The Guardian. February 21, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Techie Adria Richards fired after tweeting about men's comments". CBS News.
  4. ↑ Zandt, Deanna. "Why Asking What Adria Richards Could Have Done Differently Is The Wrong Question". Forbes.
  5. 1 2 Vuong, Andy (March 25, 2013). "SendGrid employee's tweet sets off firestorm". The Denver Post. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ronson, Jon (February 12, 2015). "How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco's Life". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  7. ↑ "How "dongle" jokes got two people fired—and led to DDoS attacks". Ars Technica. 21 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "Hi, I'm the guy who made a comment about big dongles". news.ycombinator.com.
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