Donglegate was an

online shaming Online shaming is a form of public shaming in which targets are publicly humiliated on the internet, via social media platforms (e.g. Twitter or Facebook), or more localized media (e.g. email groups). As online shaming frequently involves expos ...

incident. A

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

on the word "

dongle A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality. In computing, the term was initially synonym ...

" was overheard at a

Python Conference The Python Conference (also called PyCon) is the largestpage 10 annual convention for the discussion and promotion of the Python programming language. It originated in the United States but is also held in more than 40 other countries. It was one ...

(PyCon) programmers' convention on March 17, 2013, which led to two people being fired and a

denial-of-service attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connect ...

History

In March 2013, at the nearly all-male PyCon technology conference, a female participant heard two men seated nearby using the words "

" and " forking" in reference to the male presenter, which she perceived as a sexual joke (see

sexual innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

). 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. In response to the public shaming of the developers, Internet users who were uninvolved launched a

DDoS attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a p ...

on the woman's employer,

SendGrid SendGrid (also known as Twilio SendGrid) is a Denver, Colorado-based customer communication platform for transactional and marketing email. The company was founded by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez, and Tim Jenkins in 2009, and incubated through the ...

, and according to an article by Jon Ronson in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'', demanded her firing. 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." In a 2014 interview, the woman—still unemployed—speculated whether the developer was responsible for instigating the Internet backlash against her. 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 Hacker News (sometimes abbreviated as HN) is a social news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship. It is run by the investment fund and startup incubator Y Combinator. In general, content that can be submitted is defined as "any ...

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".{{Cite web, url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5398681, title=Hi, I'm the guy who made a comment about big dongles., website=news.ycombinator.com

References

Scandals in the United States 2013 scandals 2013 controversies in the United States Sexism

History

See also

References