[LeonM]

In case of Marcan/Lina I got the impression that he created Lina just for fun. It started as an April fools joke (Lina 'took over' Marcan's live stream), but Marcan seems to enjoy it a lot, even going so far as contributing to the Inochi2D software (used to render Lina) to improve all sorts of facial features.

I don't have the impression that in Marcan's case it was ever about anonymity, it is more about a creative expression.

Up until Lina's introduction on April 1st, I had never seen a vTuber stream, and I must say it is quite fun to watch. Though personally I wish Lina's voice is tweaked a bit, because it can be hard to understand what she is saying.

[leidenfrost]

What I like about Lina and Alyssa is the increase of visibility of LGBT+ people in the more "hardware" part of software development.

As your get more low level, less visual and more niche, there's less and less diversity of software developers. And everyone should feel welcomed into hacking the kernel.

[okeuro49]

Everyone being welcomed into contributing to the kernel can result in a natural lack of diversity, as it selects for people interested in technical programming.

It is the ham-fisted attempts to increase diversity for its own sake have ended up being discriminatory. [1]

If there are barriers stopping people contributing, these should be removed. I expect these to be economic barriers, rather than those based on particular characteristics.

[1] https://www.theregister.com/2018/05/03/llvm_contributor_resi...

[leidenfrost]

Why is it that whenever gender and identity is mentioned in a technical community suddenly people start talking about "ham-fisted" and forced inclusions?

There's nothing forced about people getting into programming and becoming relevant for it, that just by chance it turns out they are not cis+heterosexual.

Nobody in the Asahi crew was "a ham fisted attempt to increase diversity".

The only forced thing here is the "forced inclusion" topic. That, for whatever kind of reason, people stubbornly keep trying to bring to the front.

[epolanski]

I think the point is about many engineering orgs adding "minorities" for the sake of PR rather because these "minorities" are great resources.

It is obvious that there's terrific engineers and professionals regardless of sexual orientation and we have countless proofs behind it, last but not least the linked article and many of the other asahi contributors.

But when the likes or Google or Facebook are obviously hiring because you are a minority it's when the solution to gender or sexual discrimination is simply...reversed.

[catiopatio]

> Why is it that whenever gender and identity is mentioned in a technical community suddenly people start talking about "ham-fisted" and forced inclusions?

You answered your own question; it’s a technical community. Centering political activism is counterproductive to the fundamental telos of being a technical community.

Existing members, unsurprisingly, push back against colonization of their community by those more interested in gender ideology or identity politics than technology.

[okeuro49]

My point was criticising your underlying assumption that the lack of diversity is due to an unwelcoming environment, presumably as a result of intolerance to certain characteristics.

[glandium]

Isn't it the opposite, though? https://twitter.com/marcan42/status/1582930401118806016

[LeonM]

I might be wrong here, but I have always been under the impression that they are the same person. I didn't even realise that is was supposed to be a secret.

Simple things like Lina en Marcan using the same hostname for the development machine (Raider), using the same IDE (Kate), using the same bash aliases (the one I like most if 'stfu' that appears to suppress terminal output), and a huge overlap of knowledge. Then there is also the same fast-paced speaking style that Marcan has.

I did notice Lina always (rather jokingly) denying being Marcan, especially during the April 1 debut, but I always assumed that that was just part of the joke.

Again, I might be wrong here, maybe they are not the same person after all, but as far as I can tell it's just Hector Martin having fun.

> Isn't it the opposite, though?

You mean Lina being first, and Marcan being an alter-ego? Marcan (Hector Martin) is a real person, he has done quite a few interviews on camera. https://youtu.be/dF2YQ92WKpM?t=496

[novok]

Oh I didn't realize that is what was happening. This makes all the HN commentary around it even funnier.