I think this is on topic. Conferences and tech communities like to go on about inclusivity and human rights, but then get all embarrassed when it’s not a feel good topic within the broad English speaking left, like a war.
(Which is not to say reducing discrimination is bad - but this is in a way a form of discrimination).
Honestly, I anticipated any kind of reaction, but not “it is off-topic” votes (because the article as a whole is about “thinking about code from my weird perspective”—but to get to it, one needs to read it further than the middle :))
But it is what it is, I understand now why people cosidered it as such.
I think usually conferences just want to boost minority voices, not take on active humans rights issues. Maybe I’m wrong.
I found this to be a compelling and interesting blog post but I don’t see why it would be a conference talk. I mean, the post even pokes fun at itself a bit:
Remember, it was intended as a talk for a Ruby conference, right?
Like, yeah, one might have forgotten given that a huge portion of this post is not about programming at all, and none of this is about Ruby.
The part that starts to get technical is also not about Ruby at all but more about the experience of a human being who is also a software developer - interesting, to be sure, and I enjoyed reading it, but I struggle to see how this is going to appeal to someone who is interested in Ruby.
Something like this is a great blog post but I would have rejected this for a Ruby conference, or at minimum if I wanted a keynote that was broad and not Ruby-specific it would have needed a lot of work.
I found this to be a compelling and interesting blog post but I don’t see why it would be a conference talk.
Well, I see where you are coming from, but two things should be considered:
Ruby conferenes in general and RubyConf in particular are usually OK with “humane” talks (though yes, you are right, frequently as keynotes, but I think not always)
When I understood it would be just a text (and not even “slides+text”, as I wanted for some time after abandoning the “full video” idea), I made some adjustments for the narrative to stay coherent/readable without the support of showing stuff in slides. The technical part initially was intended to be much more technical/Ruby specific, with support of particular code/architecture examples and an accent on the language changes in the latest years (which is kinda “my thing”) to support clearer expression. (And the “war” part was intended to be shorter yet more intense, like a very loud intro, supported by photos (not “war porn”, but something expressive enough), maps and dates/places/numbers.) The proposal explained that.
I am not really sure it would’ve been a great talk, but I think it would’ve been passable :)
In any case, like I said on Reddit, the entire “rejected from RubyConf” intro is not “about them” (though it is true that I would’ve appreciated more personalized rejection, but who wouldn’t?..). Rather it is about me and how the idea of the text was born and why I wanted to publish it.
Yeah I hope it’s clear that I still found the post quite interesting, and it actually really hits on some fundamental components of software dev. I only meant to comment about the rejection within this context (on lobste.rs, where it’s being discussed in the context of its rejection).
I’m not entirely sure if this is the right place to mention it, but there isn’t a whole lot I can do as a currently-unemployed US citizen, other than screaming at my elected officials to get off their collective rears and fund aid to Ukraine. (Which I have done, more than once.)
So I have taken to Duolingo and am learning Ukrainian. I am listening to Ukrainian pop music – presently enjoying Автомагістралі by Lely45. I am immersing myself in the culture that the invaders wish to destroy. I can even somewhat read Українська правда! Though my understanding is closer to a grade school student than anything useful.
I am genuinely starting to see things I never did. The different cases actually make the Ukrainian language a bit more expressive in some ways compared to English. The writings, the music, the culture, have been a joy to experience just at this obviously low-fidelity rate. It’s been eye-opening, and sometimes sad to think that this could all be destroyed.
Like I said, I don’t know if it means anything, it certainly isn’t holding feet to the fire about contracts with .ru companies or anything, but it feels like something to me.
❤️
It means a lot!
Taking an interest in our culture is an important way of supporting and being together with us. It makes us feel seen and understood.
(As for the music, BTW, there is a recently released project “warнякання” — the name is a pun on “war” + «варняканя», a Ukrainian word meaning “to babble”. It is kind of war diary with minimalistic music, not sure it would be easy to understand for the language learner, but if you can make it, those tracks do an awesome job sharing a lot of “how it felt”.)
I think this is on topic. Conferences and tech communities like to go on about inclusivity and human rights, but then get all embarrassed when it’s not a feel good topic within the broad English speaking left, like a war.
(Which is not to say reducing discrimination is bad - but this is in a way a form of discrimination).
Honestly, I anticipated any kind of reaction, but not “it is off-topic” votes (because the article as a whole is about “thinking about code from my weird perspective”—but to get to it, one needs to read it further than the middle :))
But it is what it is, I understand now why people cosidered it as such.
I think usually conferences just want to boost minority voices, not take on active humans rights issues. Maybe I’m wrong.
I found this to be a compelling and interesting blog post but I don’t see why it would be a conference talk. I mean, the post even pokes fun at itself a bit:
Like, yeah, one might have forgotten given that a huge portion of this post is not about programming at all, and none of this is about Ruby.
The part that starts to get technical is also not about Ruby at all but more about the experience of a human being who is also a software developer - interesting, to be sure, and I enjoyed reading it, but I struggle to see how this is going to appeal to someone who is interested in Ruby.
Something like this is a great blog post but I would have rejected this for a Ruby conference, or at minimum if I wanted a keynote that was broad and not Ruby-specific it would have needed a lot of work.
It’s not off-topic at all, to me.
Thanks!
Well, I see where you are coming from, but two things should be considered:
I am not really sure it would’ve been a great talk, but I think it would’ve been passable :)
In any case, like I said on Reddit, the entire “rejected from RubyConf” intro is not “about them” (though it is true that I would’ve appreciated more personalized rejection, but who wouldn’t?..). Rather it is about me and how the idea of the text was born and why I wanted to publish it.
Yeah I hope it’s clear that I still found the post quite interesting, and it actually really hits on some fundamental components of software dev. I only meant to comment about the rejection within this context (on lobste.rs, where it’s being discussed in the context of its rejection).
(2) is definitely meaningful context as well.
Regardless, I did enjoy the read.
Yeah, totally! Thank you.
[Comment removed by moderator pushcx: Big off-topic political stuff.]
I’m not entirely sure if this is the right place to mention it, but there isn’t a whole lot I can do as a currently-unemployed US citizen, other than screaming at my elected officials to get off their collective rears and fund aid to Ukraine. (Which I have done, more than once.)
So I have taken to Duolingo and am learning Ukrainian. I am listening to Ukrainian pop music – presently enjoying Автомагістралі by Lely45. I am immersing myself in the culture that the invaders wish to destroy. I can even somewhat read Українська правда! Though my understanding is closer to a grade school student than anything useful.
I am genuinely starting to see things I never did. The different cases actually make the Ukrainian language a bit more expressive in some ways compared to English. The writings, the music, the culture, have been a joy to experience just at this obviously low-fidelity rate. It’s been eye-opening, and sometimes sad to think that this could all be destroyed.
Like I said, I don’t know if it means anything, it certainly isn’t holding feet to the fire about contracts with .ru companies or anything, but it feels like something to me.
❤️ It means a lot! Taking an interest in our culture is an important way of supporting and being together with us. It makes us feel seen and understood.
(As for the music, BTW, there is a recently released project “warнякання” — the name is a pun on “war” + «варняканя», a Ukrainian word meaning “to babble”. It is kind of war diary with minimalistic music, not sure it would be easy to understand for the language learner, but if you can make it, those tracks do an awesome job sharing a lot of “how it felt”.)
[Comment removed by author]
[Comment removed by moderator pushcx: Bigger and less-topical political problem than Lobsters can handle.]