IANAW, but this almost seems sexist in and of itself. Is Github shielding the delicate female programmers from the merciless wrath of internet trolls? I guess the assumption is that big strong male programmers don't need this kind of coddling.
HN often takes the collective position that businesses should be able to discriminate as they see fit, to do business with whom they see fit, and to set prices (e.g. other threads about "price gouging") as they see fit.
Perhaps Github is merely a business doing as they see fit?
There's a difference between HN believing that businesses should legally be allowed to do all of the above, and HN believing that it's socially / morally wrong to do any of the above.
(Note that this is merely a reply to your comment in a vacuum, and shouldn't be construed as me supporting either "side" in this thread.)
My statement isn't actually supporting either side of this thread either, just pointing out that their behaviour seems quite consistent with the things HN has vocally defended with all the zeal of a college freshman who has just discovered "Atlas Shrugged."
And again, there's the belief that someone should have the legal right to perform an action, regardless of whether or not that action is reprehensible.
Ex: You should have the legal right to believe that all green-skinned humans are inferior to blue-skinned humans. But that belief makes you a jerk and I will judge you for it.
"You must do what you think is right, of course"--Obi-Wan Kenobi
But we should confuse how you or I feel with the aggregate behaviour of HN in toto. My observation is that as a herd, HN approves of the legality, morality, and sanity of businesses, especially tech startups, making unconstrained choices that may appear "discriminatory" to others.
I'm not sure HN has ever agreed on anything enough to be described collectively as defending it. I suspect the members of the HN community that defended that viewpoint may be college freshman who just discovered "Atlas Shrugged". I don't see much ground to say, "People on HN sometimes say this, so isn't that the ethos now?"
1. You could also say that Alphabetus law says that in any discussion the likelihood of using all letters of alphabet approaches 1. So what? Godwin's law doesn't say anything about validity or invalidity of mentioning Nazis or Hitler.
2. I meant neither Nazis nor Hitler. I merely pointed out that if they were giving free accounts to a group that is not (considered to be) discriminated then suddenly it wouldn't be so cool.
And just in case: there are many white males with blond hair around, I know quite a few personally and I've never suspected them to be Nazis. If you have any proof that some of them are give me a shout so that I can unfriend them!
And one more thing - I'm not against Ada Initiative or Github giving them free accounts. Good for them & cheers!
What I'm sayin is that justifications like this one:
"This reluctance has good reasons behind it: fear of being told they are bad programmers, fear of being publicly mocked or harassed, and even fear of losing job opportunities. All of these are greater risks for women on average than men."
are IMO simply not cool. You discriminate one group of people, favor another group and all that in the name of equality.
This makes it easier for people to clean up their code before letting the world see it. I wouldn't be surprised if it made some people more willing to contribute.
I expect that if a significant portion of work was done to an existing fork, or a significant bug found, it would be celebrated and immediately pushed back to the community. It would be exactly the same as if I downloaded Linux, made some awesome changes then sat on it and just shared it with my friends. A ridiculous thought.
Ada accepts all those who identify as female. Any trans-gender or female-identifying person should feel safe applying here. (I'm not in anyway affiliated with Ada, just checked their website).
