...I'm assuming there's something subtler and importanter to it, because it seems Michele/Mz has a damned decent brain going on. I mean seriously, how often do you find someone with this nuance of opinion:
"I loathe the expression "The Patriarchy" and I think it mostly does not fit the issues of gender disparity seen on HN. I can think of one or two men there who strike me as staunch supporters of "The Patriarchy," but I think most men there are not actively trying to keep "little women" in "their place." They are mostly just human beings, who happen to be male, who don't know a better answer than the crappy situation we currently have. But, then, most women don't have better answers either and have much more vested interest in finding such answers. I see no reason to vilify men for such a prosaic shortcoming of happenstance." [1]
That was very well said. Statements like this attempt to find common cause and allow us to come together for a solution. Calling someone a member of "The Patriarchy" is dismissive and removes men from the conversation.
> This article reads as "Don't take his advice. I don't like him therefore his advice is bad."
It also misrepresents his actual advice, which was not "fire the guy immediately", but "consult with an attorney (and, parenthetically, my guess is that the attorney will say to fire the guy.)"
The difference is important, because Patio11's actual advice leaves open the possibility that the attorney might recommend something else, including, presumably, not firing the guy and instead using internal counseling managed by HR to try to resolve the situation and ensure it isn't repeated. Patio11 isn't pretending to be an authority here, he's recommending consulting with someone who actually is an authority on the issue.
You know how some people don't like other people who have found success? If your success is defined "lots of karma on HN" (as Mz's seems to be based on her profile) you're probably not going to be fond of those who are popular and generally well liked.
Outside of YC employees and maybe tptacek, Patrick is one of the most prolific commentesr on HN, consistently provides a lot of objectively correct information, and is a pretty nice guy to boot.
Nothing in her profile text allows you to make the inference that her grudge is based on jealousy of his karma and popularity. Even if you think that's likely, it's a pretty lousy thing to post publicly.
He's got a lot of karma (#2 according to her blog post). She makes a big deal of the date when she reached 10k. I think it's a safe assumption that's an important metric to her.
I didn't mean to imply that I know it, I thought it was clear that it was just a hypothesis on my part (assumption is probably a better word). I apologize.
I've reached out to him personally with a question about something he wrote. He was quite polite and gave me far more time than I could expect as a random person from the internet.
Obviously I don't have any details about this interaction (and he's declined to share), but I'm not especially persuaded by the dark allusions here.