Creation, Attribution, and Misogyny

One of the hidden, insidious, morally bankrupt things that repeatedly peeks its head above the slime in open source development is plagiarism - specifically, the lack of attribution.

We can have all the arguments you want about 'pirating' code and the like - this is not about patent trolls - and pirating code is stealing, but it's also not really the subject of this post. This post, instead, is about intentionally writing creators out of history - whether it's through intentionally omitting an author or reference link or by actively deleting it. Of course, it happens all the time and it's dishonest...and not in a cute "I'm a smuggler for the Rebel Alliance" kind of way, but in a .

Oooh, what's that? Open source is different - it shouldn't recognize any individual authors/creators/innovators? No, that is absolutely not the case, and writing them out of history is not only dishonest, it's misogynistic as well. That's right, I went there. If you are writing authors, creators, or innovators out of history, you're a sexist pig - and frankly, there's no other way to see it.

We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Elie Wiesel

I hear people all over the world crying out in terror "I'm not a sexist pig, I delete (or omit) all creators, not just women". Here's the thing, though, in removing creators you are, at the least, maintaining the illusion and bias that many people have that women are not creators, and at the worst, actively promoting a hostile environment that dismisses and negates the contribution of women. Neither option is something which should invoke pride in our work.

Women are profoundly underrepresented in STEM. That's a simple fact. We can debate whether it's a pipeline problem (it both is and isn't) or whether STEM fields are hostile environments for women (they are), but ultimately none of those causes affects the outcome that women are underrepresented in STEM, and it isn't getting much better, folks.

Read this Twitter thread

Let's take a case in point, Nicole Sullivan started something nine years ago that is used almost universally today in user-interface engineering today, and not only is she not "Twitter Verified", many people don't even know her name, and Wikipedia even deletes entries about OOCSS.

I appreciate Nicole's contributions to the industry I have made my career. When I use her work - whether it's CSSLint or OOCSS - I point out that it doesn't come from me, and given my experience working directly with her while she was consulting for PayPal, I know she would act in a similarly ethical manner.

Attribution is important, and as my career has progressed, I've seen it growing in importance. As anyone who suffers from Imposter Syndrome can tell you, love/hate relationships with ownership and attribution of accomplishments is a very real thing, but it's something the entire tech industry needs to get a grip on...and it's something that very definitely eludes us.

One final thought - as someone who has led teams of engineers, including those working on projects that resemble Frodo and Sam's journey through the Dead Marshes, morale is something rather fragile. One of the easiest ways to boost morale is to give everyone on the team the sense that their contribution matters - to, as we used to say at PayPal (and eBay), keep it human. One of the easiest ways to keep it human is to afford each other the dignity of recognizing the creator in them. Of course, the opposite is also true - take that dignity away and morale will soon follow.

Related posts: Visibility and Obscurity, My Pen Is My Tongue