Why am I posting this? I’d collected it all as it happened, then never bothered to publish it. I’m reminded in another venue, however, that unless I remind people that harassment is continual, they assume it’s all better now. So here, this is what it’s like to run a conference as an open feminist in this movement.
You know, of course, that neither I nor Secular Woman could be involved in running a conference without a load of nonsense being passed around and the conference hashtag flooded. It started with the Kickstarter.
I support @szvan‘s kickstarter for her ice cream social, as the drama must flow #ftbullies #FTBCon
— uberfeminist (@uberfeminist) January 25, 2015
I won’t shed any tears if Zvan’s kickstarter fails. She maliciously harassed me in targeting my Twitter account. #FTBullies — Richard Sanderson (@RichSandersen) February 16, 2015
He means I reported him to Twitter for harassment and Twitter suspended his account after agreeing with me.
If you have donated to one of Stephanie Zvan’s kickstarter projects, you have funded a rape apologist (defender of Ogvorbis). #FTBullies
— Richard Sanderson (@RichSandersen) February 28, 2015
Yawn. Then they decided they needed to bother my co-organizers.
@MistressOfFrog shouldn’t u be working on SZvan’s vanity conference? — Brive1987 (@brive1987) April 9, 2015
@MistressOfFrog Umm no. Comes from vanity pub. Ie no publisher. Which org owns SWW?
— Brive1987 (@brive1987) April 9, 2015
@MistressOfFrog I was wondering where the 501(c) came from? — Brive1987 (@brive1987) April 9, 2015
@MistressOfFrog Will u put the MA and SW logos on the SWW site? Or is your involvement more a secondment? Will surplus go to MA and SW?
— Brive1987 (@brive1987) April 9, 2015
Information about the conference was, of course, on the front page of the Minnesota Atheists site the entire time. We haven’t closed the books on the conference yet, but for those who want transparency on funding: All the Kickstarter funds were sent to Minnesota Atheists, as were a handful of late t-shirt orders I facilitated. Subsequent registrations were directly paid to Minnesota Atheists. I’ve paid up-front conference expenses, including bigger-ticket items like travel, out of pocket then submitted receipts to Minnesota Atheists for reimbursement. I even paid for my own ticket to the conference. I have no means of making money off this conference. But this had to be a scam, because reasons. If I wouldn’t fess up, they’d go to the speakers.
@mandy0904 We are all excited to see what happens at Secular Women Work in August. You’re still confirmed, right? — Shermertron (@Shermertron) June 18, 2015
@mandy0904 @Shermertron @szvan accommodation for the amended event has been sorted already …. pic.twitter.com/GudTOUdMSm
— Brive1987 (@brive1987) June 18, 2015
@SecWomenWork how do you hold a conference without reserving the venue? I smell failure in the air. #FTBullies pic.twitter.com/5z2MeEdMm4 — The Yeti (@El_Cool_Arrow) June 17, 2015
#FTBullies announcement: the venue for the Secular Women Work. Conference has changed. Please pack your own lunch. pic.twitter.com/XPeu27tMOg
— The Yeti (@El_Cool_Arrow) June 18, 2015
@jeh704 apparently they haven’t even reserved the venue yet. Another kickstarter rip off. https://t.co/zychz1Tof3 — The Yeti (@El_Cool_Arrow) June 18, 2015
Congratulations, kids. You’ve discovered bureaucracy. No, the reservation didn’t go on the Humphrey School website until every form was submitted with all the related required forms and signatures and things like proof of insurance and approval for food vendors–and was then verified by the helpful folks we’d been working with all along.
That’s all much easier with a venue that is primarily for-profit, because their goal is to get you paying them as soon as possible. We wanted a school venue, however. Therefore failure and fraud.
The fact that we actually put on the conference we promised did nothing to stop all this, of course. Here’s what happened on the hashtag the weekend of. (You can read it here if the embed doesn’t work.)
Uberfeminist’s response to the OB tweet has the dubious distinction of using literally every word incorrectly.
If it helps, this shows just how important you are to the secular movement. Think about it: big names like Dawkins and Harris earn this level of scrutiny because they have so much influence over the movement. So if you’re getting the same treatment, it can only be because you have the same level of influence.
Well ok, an alternative theory is that these people are conspiracy nuts who’ve blown your influence all out of proportion, and are using an obsession over you to make their lives feel more fulfilled. But I doubt many of them believe that, and instead agree that you’re very influential.
…Why did it take me until Skepticon to block uberfeminist?
What an obsessive little shitheel.
This is a masterpiece.
You are just so damn good at this style of reportage and information-rich snark.
Thank you!
P.S. And good to know who the twitter fiends are. Some I of course knew, but others I’ve sparred with not knowing they were also pulling shit like this. Handy data that.
They seem to be obsessed with the size of SJW conferences. I don’t know, it seems like it’s alway the same tiny handful of harassing assholes who are pestering people on Twitter — every one of those names is familiar to me, and every one of them has been blocked for ages — so if even 6 people show up for SWW or Skepticon, we’ve outnumbered them.
How about if they shut up for a while and go off and organize Slymecon, the conference dedicated to spitting on social justice and feminism, and show us their superior skills and the vast numbers of their followers?
“show us the audience!”
*repost picture of seats during break* Lookit how few people showed up!
*repost picture of actual audience* Lookit all the seats in the back!
Just UGH. Why does it matter that much? Did they put any money or time into it? Why do they care? *yanks at hair*
Considering that this post mostly just quotes the same small handful of people over and over – what, maybe five or six? – it’s ironic how much jeering they did about the attendance at SWW. I’m guessing these few represent the dregs who are determined to keep harassing long after most others have grown tired.
The funny part of it all?
It’s not really about the conferences.
I pointed it out in my post-Skepticon blog thing that as long as certain FTBullies are doing ANYTHING AT ALL, GO TO ANY CON AT ALL, RUN ANY CON AT ALL, the same group of giggling chimps will try to fill any and all hashtags with poop.
It’s scary obsessive. I’m so sorry y’all have to deal with it.