Dries' Keynote for Drupalcon CPH - Kerfuffle

Posted Tue, 2010-08-24 09:30 by matthew

Some loved it. Some hated the sex-tape comments. Some were not sure what to make of the Tupperware analogy. All this caused a kerfuffle on Twitter, but the keynote was interesting as ever.

I was amazed by the varied tweets that came across the twitterverse that included:

"I always love the Driesnote. @Dries is a fantastic speaker. #drupalcon"

"It was good that @dries mentioned the need for more women in Drupal but unfortunate he linked it to welcoming non-engineers. #drupalcon"

"interesting view on the future of Drupal by Dries buytaert himself #drupalcon"

"Very good keynote of @Dries at #drupalcon. Especially liked the part about "community culture" - could be a blueprint for talks of CEOs #km"

"#drupalcon If you want the group to become younger in 10 years, you need to start working on that sex-video! #drupallersneedtomakebabies!"

"not comfortable with "mom" being characterized as the low end... "

"I do love Drupal. But @dries's keynote made me feel unwelcome as a woman, a designer AND a person-who-doesn't-think-of-myself-as-hacker-1st"

"Women *are* engineers, as are moms. And women who aren't still kick ass in the #drupal community. (cont) http://tl.gd/3adldu"

"Everyone note this: Drupal never tolerated sexism on any communication channel and a drunk keynote does not change this."

Did you see the keynote (if not I've posted it below) and what did you think?

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Comments

by Anonymous - 2010-08-27 16:44

Me who's writing this is a female, european, middle-aged. I'm a mother of two young males. I'm not a coder, but I'm good at plenty of other things. I use to tell my sons that if they want to get female attention they should relate themselves to girls/women/ladies/whatever first and foremost as human beings.

With all this said, believe me, I know what "sexism" is. Dries speech was definitely not sexist. I was there and heard it. Those who want to feel offended will always find a reason to get offended. Get confidence in yourselves, girls, it will definitely make you feel better.

by Anonymous - 2010-08-25 05:10

I think the example with sex in the colored balls is a nice metaphore to show the wish of having more women envolved in drupal. And I think it´ll be nice if the people than are not so far away from native sozialising not to like each other in that more bodyly way. Although girls, we (men) are not willing to have sex with you, too. But it´s nice to think about the future time where are a lot lesser frustrated and more relaxed people, and where the fights between m and w is over and all of us humans (and you women are just human beings too!) are growing and developing together.

And to the real topic:
I think Dries does not think in such a big way as it might be necessary. The technical world is growing too, the machines are getting faster. The produkts are more interconnect. So, in the future I think Drupal far more than he thought it would be, and it´ll be much more different from that form he mentioned.
Everything in the world is merging into another, bringing the substancial to the light, growing in efficancy.

And I think there will be some new kind of machine/software/human-interaction "thing", in such an art that it would scare us to death if we would see it nowadays.

Arne
Growth is not a demand, it is happening allday, so do it consciously

by Anonymous - 2010-08-24 23:28

Thanks for putting these up. I listened to them expecting scandal only to hear sound common sense and clear forward-thinking. It was a good speech and chx really should get over his rampant hypersensitivity. It's difficult to respect shrill, hectoring personalities like that. Man I hope Dries isn't cowed into an apology.

The drupal community I know and love isn't sexist - but it also isn't hysterical or ready to take offence.

The insinuation that Dries is a drunk is the only remark I've heard today that was authentically nasty.

Nigel

by Anonymous - 2010-08-25 06:51

Legally, at least in the US, the severity of sexual harassment is partly determined by the experience of the woman or man enduring the abuse, and if a lot of women and men complained--because really sexual harassment of women is also debasing to men--then it helps show you the level of abuse.

I think possibly the biggest problem is perhaps some men in the Drupal community mistakenly believe their success must be partly due to sexist competition, and in order to continue to be successful they have to be sexist, when in fact the success of Drupal has nothing to do with sexism. I think everyone here should just continue to accept the success without feeling guilt or shame about it, because it is totally legit!

by Anonymous - 2010-08-25 02:07

After about a dozen women tweeting them being uncomfortable and me being the only guy who have called out, you call me hectoring? Gee, thanks.

And, I thought Dries had too much Awesomesauce putting together that keynote even before that slide.

by matthew - 2010-08-25 01:38

Happy to have posted the video snippets. There will be more today with any luck.

by Anonymous - 2010-08-24 22:16

I think the sexism comments are a overblown. The 2 mentions are that the sites will be easy for your mother and your brother. The other one was the tupperware comment. I think in this case it was a simple comment on the most likely people on the low end. My mom is on the low end. All my friends mom's would be considered to be on the low end. I think people should try to not look too much into it.