[ashleyblackmore]

A "poem" with typos, a dearth of wit and worst of of all, questionable content: why is the terrible programmer a woman? A woman doesn't normally spring to mind when discussing programming, but oh, when we're discussing something where someone is missing a rudimentary, fundamental lack of understanding (all variables have the same name), a woman is chosen.

[svs]

I'm apologising, sincerely, to anyone who took offense to the fact that the programmer was a female. It wasn't my intention to cause hurt and I've updated the parody with a hopefully less controversial male protagonist. For context, the original poem has a female as the main character which is why the female sprung to mind in my poem.

As for the lack of wit, well, I'd suggest that's a more subjective thing....

[herghost]

possibly related to the source/inspiration that OP referenced in the link? http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171612

[glomph]

Wait so because women don't 'typically spring to mind' as programmers they should have changed it from the original?

[ashleyblackmore]

I don't want to get into a flame war, but no, that isn't what I meant. In general, in the mainstream, people will typically think of men when they think of programmers. Something like 'Neckbeard Hacker' on twitter being just one obvious stereotype, however outmoded that particular one may be. I don't need to argue that point, but in light of it, it came across as a rather odd choice of protagonist, considering the normative view, and the subject being a 'bad programmer'.

I don't really think svs meant any offence, especially having now seen the original poem. I also don't think we can live in a society where everybody has perfectly-formed liberal views. At the same time, I'm not down with this "why are people so easily offended"/"turn down your offence-o-meter" argument that one hears when this comes up, mainly because it is a trivially easy card to play when you aren't the target of the stereotyping

[svs]

Ashley, I find your objections to be valid. If we're bemoaning the state of gender equality in tech then it is everyone's duty to provide a space where stereotypes are not indulged in, people are not judged based on extrinsic factors and the discomforts of the minority are taken seriously. Thank you for making the effort to point out my mistake and for accepting my apology gracefully.

[ashleyblackmore]

You yourself have also been gracious. Thank you.

[underyx]

I enjoyed it still.