Continued debate of Adria Richards.

So I read a posting from the Washington Post with regards to Adria Richards...

I have to say, this is NOT like the fact of a rape victim being blamed for her own attack.

Unlike a rape victim, where the most common ploy to detract the act of rape is to make it look like the victim wanted or acted like they wanted the act...  Adria's issue was that she made an event public that cause someone to get fired from their job, and made others react in a way that I would liken to the level of Lynch Mob retribution.

Let's put this in proper perspective here.  I will admit I am a guy.  I'm a tech to.  But I don't believe lashing out at Adria for her mistake.  I will say it was the worst idea she had, but threaten her?  Attack her company to show my dissatisfaction?  No.

She did something fatally bad that cost a person a job.  She deserves proper, constructive criticism on the fact that how she handled it was not the best or proper way of handling a situation.  She involved the internet in the situation without putting it in the proper, unbiased perspective and put it in such a way that the person she implicated got the short end of the stick.

Do I think she needed to be fired from Sendgrid for her mistake?  Honestly, no.  But it doesn't do the company any good either in her situation that she represents a company with her name and like how Paul Christoforo made it difficult for the Avenger Controller group with his bad behavior, it isn't really surprising how her situation was less than ideal either given the company was under fire from the irate people.

Now what all critics should agree with, the ultimate fault is with the internet itself.  The people who follow people like Adria Richards and other people, who take on the 'lynch mob' mentality to attack people or react to a situation without all the information or handling the situation on their own...  Create the problems that we should be 'better people' about, but like humanity has proven, time and time again, we do the wrong things for the 'right reasons'.

The sad story of Adria Richards...

So, I have to say something about this, again from a 20/20 hind sight in all this...  For those checking this out, this is the beginning of the whole thing, and I am now looking at this from the tail end and reading back about it all.
What started it all:
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/20/playhaven-developer-fired-for-making-sexual-jokes-after-sendgrids-developer-evangelist-outs-him-on-twitter/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/sendgrid-under-ddos-attack-after-its-developer-evangelist-complains-about-sexual-jokes-at-pycon/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/breaking-adria-richards-fired-by-sendgrid-for-outting-developers-on-twitter/


Adria Richards worked (past tense now) for Sendgrid, a company that recently got DDOS for her actions at a developer's convention earlier this week.  The actions that prompted this was her public condemning and outting someone for inappropriate and sexually harassment like behavior at the convention.

Now, obviously, being a guy, and one in tech...  I know there are not many women in the tech area...  I do see female developers.  I will admit there are times guys will not be the most 'couth' of things as well.  However, I feel that unfortunately Adria Richards did the wrong thing for the right reasons.
As much as there should be low tolerance for sexual harassment, over sensitivity and over reaction to such things without proper mediation can result in more extreme reactions.  And the internet is one of those places where people can take things to extreme, in this case, encourage hackers to do a Denial of Service attack against a company.

Now I won't say Adria deserves to be fired (As she was terminated most likely for what just happened), but much like Paul Christoforo...  Her public face affects the people she represents, and SendGrid's reputation has been mired to this situation because of how she decided to handle a situation that could have been handled properly.

Now, in regards to what she could have done...  The Pycon Convention superiors should have been told of this and those people should have been talked to by the people hosting the event.  While it is our duty to make such issues known, at the same time, those issues should be known through the proper channels.  Publically outting people like this only serves to make you a target and also create lynch mob effects as what happened here.

Mike Krahulik (Gabe of Penny Arcade) did out Paul Christoforo...  And more than likely, will probably be referenced for it.  But one thing to note for that situation, Gabe and the other person did try talking with the offending person before fully outing him and not only did he out him, he provided the proof straight out versus just a 'picture' and words of what he believed was said.
The sad thing of it all, for Adria's case...  She outed a person based on perception, no record of what was going on to properly put the situation in the proper, unbiased position and in the long run, created unnecessary grief for various people.  And to the credit to over-reactionism...  She has now gotten death and rape threats.

Again, I don't condone such things, even with my criticism about how she handled the situation.  And unfortunately, she lost her job much the same way Paul Christoforo did...  She did not handle the situation in the proper way and got not only one person fired from his job, and also poisoned his career in the process with questionable allegations...  She poisoned her own career for the position she was hired for... Developer relations.

At the same time...  It's time to re-review Sexual Harassment...  Ladies and Gentlemen...  While people should not tolerate unwanted or undesired sexual harassment.

The general protocol is this:

1. Politely inform said person that this is not wanted or desired.
2. If said person persists in such behavior, you inform the immediate superior of your concerns.
3. Do not take matters into your own hands, let the higher ups be responsible in dealing with it.
4. If, after trying to have the higher ups deal with it, have not dealt with the issue in a reasonable time or manner (such as said person continuing to keeps on doing it, even after being spoken too about it), you can take legal action.

In no sexual harassment section I have read or listen too, suggests making a public outting of said issues.  In fact, most of them state discretion is necessary.

There is a reason for this.  And Adria Richards has proven the case in point.  A man has now lost his job over something that has been publically announced but without proper proof or investigation.  She has lost her job because of outside retaliation that forced her company to distance itself from her in order to keep their potential clients happy.

And last thing is...  I am posting this here, not under my name for a good reason.  Some of the things I say are my opinions, and sometimes they are colorful...  But I do not want my opinions affecting my work life or my gaming life because there will always be questionable people out there who will do the death threats or make my life miserable simply because they can.

NRA Spokesman LaPierre - You are a fool.

Let me first start off by stating this...

Mr. LaPierre. You are a fool.

While I am 40 years old, single, and probably a recluse in the most common sense... Let me point out a few things that you should be aware of before you make another foolish statement with regards to 'who is to blame' for the shooting a week ago.

I spent most of my young life in trouble. In elementary school, I was teased, and I lashed out. I was sent to the Principal's office at least once or twice a year.

I grew up watching shows featuring violence, ranging from Batman Live Action, while it was fake, it was still violent. I watched cartoons like Looney Tunes which also featured violence, while it was slapstick, it was still violent.
When I went to Junior High School, I managed to almost avoid having to deal with a principal, out of my OWN wish to do so.

In High School, I never visited the Principal or got suspended to my recollection. But I will admit, during my years in High School, I did get in a scuffle at times, had desires to be violent, but kept it in. I also had my first time firing a weapon. It was also during that time, I was playing a lot of violent video games, such as Castle Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Wing Commander, Battle over Britain and the like.

The 80s and 90s, there were violent movies, like Highlander, Terminator, Terminator 2, horror movies, one of which I recall when I was younger, still had issues with... But in the times of my violent youth... I have NEVER entertained the idea of taking a gun and shooting people up. Even when I was in my twenties or even thirties... And even in the time when I was let go and had the ability to get a firearm on my own... I never, ever felt the need to get a gun and take my grievances with another human being with a gun.

Now I may only be one person... But I find that your statement that it is because of violent games, because of violent media that school shootings happen, by far, the most foolish, most irresponsible thing to come from the NRA.

I am not advocating Gun Control. I also find that your statement of putting an armed person at school is not necessarily going to solve the problem.
You want reasons?

Here is a few I can list off:

1) There is a likely chance you place the crazed person there that you want to prevent. No human is immune to going crazy, not even the person you put there to protect the innocent.
2) The chances that the person can stop the other person can be drastically dropped further by the fact that fore-knowledge of an armed person will also be the most likely to be taken down first.
3) One armed person cannot cover all the possible ways onto a school campus and reduce or stop the loss of life at any location.
4) An armed security person is as likely to cause a loss of innocent life as much as a crazed person by accident. Just note that we have had accidental shootings by police officers to civilians at times as well as to other officers due to situations that put said officers on the edge.
5) It puts one more weapon reachable to someone to misuse should said armed security person is rendered incapacitated by one means or another, which can happen.
6) Your likening of Israel to our situation... I find most foolish as well. Given that at this time, Israel is also in a situation where the country is at odds with several countries around it, such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan as well as the more extreme Muslims. While I may not know enough about Israel persay about their people, we know that they are, embroiled with conflicts that has put them on the defensive more than anything else, that it is no surprise they have the need for more stringent needs.

Lastly... I call for you to realize something. You want people to look at violent games and violent media to be the reason for the shootings. I want you to look at something. I want you to look up the reason why the ESRB was needed. It came about when Mortal Kombat, a violent video game, was released to the public. The public outcry was about how graphic the violence was being sold. The public, being parents, who bought the game for their kids, ignoring the simple, most effective parenting method out there... Looking and seeing what the game was about. Movies are rated PG-13 and R for their content, which again, should be due to Parental Guidance.

Do you see a 'theme' here, Mr. LaPierre. The issue is not about the violence in games and media, it is how the generations of parenting is slowly eroding in handling children. Again, I am 40 years old, and yes, I am no parent. But I had parents, one I hate, one I love dearly, but they helped guide me not to be a sociopath or a murderer... And I still play violent games, I still watch violent movies... Hell, I have a knife on me at almost all times, but I never entertained the idea of killing a human being with it unless my life was in danger. I never entertained the idea of getting any sort of gun to kill another human being or a lot of them. But god help us all if you still want to play the violent video games and violent media is the reason for school shootings... Cause I should definitely be locked up, since I technically fit that profile, yet... Here I am, one of the more SANER people with regards to that.

It's Been a While...

Busy life does that when you have little time and playing other things.

But today, I put some time on the side to point out something that I think is important to know about... Especially the tragedy that has happened in Connetitcut that involved a number of children being killed.

A few too many times people claim that the rash of killings come from the fact that our society is desensitized to Violence because of violent video games, violent movies and the like.

That people are becoming deranged by supporting such things.

The sad thing about it all, it isn't JUST the media in question that sets people off.

People have such short term memories. They assume the 'here and now', forgetting history of the world, that people have been killing people in masses and it has nothing to do with violent media.

Mankind, through out the centuries, have been killing each other and committing atrocities since we first learned how to use tools. Our history is rife with man killing man for food, for love, for revenge, for land, for everything. And we have done it far longer than 100 years, we have done it for thousands of years.

We like to believe we are above it all, but to be honest, we are still animals, creatures with base desires and needs.

People say, what kind of monster would shoot children... Innocent beings.

I am afraid to say, "Look in the mirror."

I know the statement is insulting, unbelieveable and simply impossible.

But again... Mankind is a sort of monster in and of itself.

We pollute the air and water we need to breath and drink.

We spread across the land, consuming resources and making large wastes.

We pass our problems to the next generation, demanding to keep things the same despite the knowledge that to do so is still creating the problem.

We ignore that we are responsible for things, passing it on to someone else to bear it.

To be fair... We are monsters... Every one of us. We have no excuse for what is happening now. Our only explanation is simply that WE need to actually accept the fact that we are monsters in our own world. We have to help each other and accept the fact that we all need help and we should help others. We create the problems in this world that affect us, in one way or another. The blame is never to point it at "It's the media's fault." or "It's the system's fault..." In the end, it is OUR fault.

The Dark Knight Rises and the Shooting in Colorado.

I will be the first to admit... I am a violence type person. I enjoy movies with guns, explosions and violence.

What happen in Colorado is a tragedy. But there is one thing I found a bit galling.

On facebook, someone posted an image that makes me question how 'smart' it is

The image suggests that the 'Response' time of a handgun is the speed of the round. Problem with this:

1) Speed of a round is not the response time of a weapon.
2) Anyone with a gun will not react any faster than their own natural ability to react.
3) We have learned from the bank robbery in LA, a man wearing body armor meant to resist bullets, will be difficult to stop with most hand guns.
4) People armed with guns are not any better than people without guns in a situation that happened.
5) Not everyone armed with a gun would be as effective in the situation.
6) Not everyone is harden to react to the situation save the military, mercenaries or cops who have been under fire.

I don't believe in banning guns, nor am I an advocate. But I do find people who think that this is a license to own a gun for protection, is doing it for the wrong reasons. I find that unless you actually know how to use a gun properly, it will not be any better than waiting for the cops. I feel that a gun can provide protection under the right circumstances, but you will never prevent the shooting in Aurora, Colorado, or in Viginia Tech just being armed.

Seeing it on TV or in a Movie, yes, guns are easy to use, but at the same time, when you use a gun, your life is not in danger. A person who has seen combat will tell you that shooting another person, while your life is in danger, is not the same as just firing a gun at a target or firing a gun in a game.

Have I ever fired a gun under fire? No. But to be honest, neither has most of us who have played games.

Another thing I heard, someone is boycotting this movie because of the shooting. I must say, how is boycotting a movie going to stop violence? Human history is full of violence. We have been here for well over 8000 years. Even Batman does not like using guns, yet he has an arsenal that can be used in that way. While he does not follow the law 100% in how to handle criminals, he tries not to cross the line with trying to kill the criminals. But like all human beings, he is also not perfect.

What people should carry with them is that the title is aptly named. The Dark Knight Rises. A man who is considered a pariah to the people, but still tries to do what is right in general. Our heroes have never been perfect, even in our oldest stories, our heroes are fallible, imperfect. Our real heroes, from 9/11, being Firemen and Cops... Are fallible. We have to remember everyone is human, even the people we consider to be monsters for heinous acts... Are human.

There is no black and white situations, or pure good and pure evil. I do not excuse or pity the man who has caused the death of 12 people, some who are kids. Or thousands of people like in 9/11. But we must all realize that in the end, people will do both good and evil things.

Damn Gold Spammers.

So my new rant is about gold spammers. For those of you who have never played an MMORPG or the more recent issue, Diablo 3... Gold spammers are basically companies that offer to sell you in-Game gold for $xx.xx. Now some of you are going to go, "Why the hell would you want pay money to get virtual money?" Well, for gamers, money == better gear. Better gear means 'more fun'. Which, I think, is a bad idea. These companies also are not necessarily... Honest. Some of them will want account information, which means, access to your game account, which can lead to you losing your in game work because some of that gold is generated by... Hacking accounts and selling off stuff the character as and transfering the virtual money to another account. In the past, it has been discouraged, but doesn't stop the companies from getting a bunch of the free accounts, creating characters and then spamming various channels to sell their illgotten gains. Personally, I've gotten annoyed with it in Diablo 3, mostly cause I am trying to just have fun in the game and then watching several lines of "Buy gold from ...... Safe, honest..." And what makes it worse, is that Diablo 3 does have a 'real currency exchange' auction house, which means, people can, literally make money off of playing the game and selling virtual stuff to other players. While Blizzard gets a small percentage of the sale, the thing I just don't like is the simple fact that it just encourages these gold spammers to constantly make the damn spamming bots to the point that playing for an hour, I send at least 15 minutes blocking the spam bots and reporting them cause I want a chat channel that isn't full of crap. While some of the people in the channel might not be mature... To be honest, it is EASIER to deal with immature idiots than watching like 5 to 10 lines of selling crap on a game I already paid a right to play in. Even in-game 'ads' like those used in Planetside, I can tune out, but when I do want to read a chat section, and all I see is ad crap I can't tune out without block and reporting it several times, it becomes a real nuisance.

So the FBI thinks they have Anon/Lulzsec by the balls...

I will flat out state, I am no hacker... Not even a part of either group... But to be honest, if the FBI thinks they got Anonymous/Lulzsec by the balls because of Sadu outting several people, I think they are sadly mistaken. While Anonymous is by no means a solidarity group, they are much like a 'cell' group over time. Thinktank wise on my part, the smarter hackers would not be so readily sharing some of their information with others. From what was mentioned also is that one of the Anon types was approached by Sadu to do something with a bounty attached. While I am sure there are many hackers who would love to do it for the money, the fact that some of the tactics have been announced and even more so, this information is leaked out, it will further make said groups to do the following: 1) Distrust people - less collaboration, which would be a plus in making it harder for cooperative efforts of hackers. 2) Make it harder to locate dangerous hackers - With any 'hunt', you have people going to ground or finding more illicit ways to make sure that they are harder to find. This news will encourage smarter ones to dig in and wait it out. During that time, find better ways to return their style of justice in another way, most likely a more destructive way. 3) The old Hydra Motto, 'Cut one head, 2 more grow in its place' - The concept of cutting the 'head' off any organization is an old one, but it seems people also forget that while it would be ideal, some groups and organizations do create 'fallback' plans. And while Anon or Lulzsec is not a defined 'organization'... The typical power vacuum has always been filled with others.