The CEO of Gab used a transphobic slur while describing the hack in question.

To be clear, the words were: "Mentally ill tr**ny demon hackers (I’m very serious) are attacking Gab right now."

The article then quotes the rest of the tweet.

How is it irrelevant to briefly talk about the introduction paragraph of the tweet before discussing its more technical content?

> It feels like yet another injection of politics into what was previously a tech-focused website.

So, I've had an an account here since 2012, and was a reader before; this kind of comment is older than my presence here, and, if it ever existed, so is the time that HN was a politics-free tech-focussed website. [0]

Political issues, especially tech-adjacent ones or ones that aren't inherently so but which are raised directly in the context of tech issues, have been a major subject here for a very long time.

You are free, of course, to start your own tech discussion site with a firm no-politics (by whatever standard you want to delineate “politics”) rule, if you like.

[0] EDIT: except for a planned-as-brief-and-still-abandoned-early experiment.

The CEO literally used a trans-phobic slur when describing the hack. Plus, it speaks to the purpose of Gab, to allow the voicing of the types of bigoted views held by the far right. It's the reason for its creation. Communities that were removed from reddit, Twitter, etc for expressing such views.

So what he used a transphobic slur?

> I don't think the author would defend the idea that being transphobic makes it okay to hack a person's website

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

> It feels like yet another injection of politics into what was previously a tech-focused website.

Technology itself may be politically neutral but its use and creation is inherently political.

> I’m not a liberal or anything, just a rational person.

As a rational person, it must have occurred to you that if what you say is true, abortion and gay rights would have stopped being election issues many moons ago.

The reason they haven't is because it works, it gets people to the polls. That's politics. People don't vote for 'rational', 'objective' technocrats who are 'policy wonks'. They will vote for whoever they think will deliver on the pie-in-the-sky promises they agree with.

>Human rights are not political.

I thought that statement would make it clear I am in support for all the stuff you mentioned, guess not

My point is that there are no agreed upon limits on what 'politics' cannot include. Human rights are frequently brought into play as a result.

> Human rights are not political.

Amnesty International and the oppressive governments of Burma, Saudi Arabia, etc. would both find such a sentiment laughably naive.

"Tranny" is certainly a transphobic slur.

I think you mean "is certainly a slur." It's not "transphobic" - the word "tranny" is not irrationally afraid of transgendered people.

:-D

"-phobic: having an intolerance or aversion for"

It is a slur that carry the transphobic intent of the writer.

In the same way that ethnic slurs are not themselves ethnic and religious slurs are not themselves religious but convey pejorative, derogatory and insulting messages towards the targeted populations.

He did not write the word alone. The quote itself is: "Mentally ill tr**ny demon hackers (I’m very serious) are attacking Gab right now."

You're distracting from the fact that you, probably intentionally since the full comment is either not mentioned on most websites, or in full on others, removed part of a quote. Why you did this, I cannot say for certain, but I feel like, with your repitition of "Clearly he is a stable and happy person with no insecurities." that you have a have a particular viewpoint, and after seeing your other comments, transphobic, ugly and a troll.

There are people on this forum that will disagree with me on transgenderism, but comments like yours will not allow us to have a fruitful and meaningful conversation.

Why would I change my behavior for a stranger with a one year old account that has less than 15 karma? You clearly do not understand the tone that is used on HN.

If you don't think it's a transphobic slur I highly suggest you talk to some trans folks about what is or is not a transphobic slur, because I can almost guarantee that they'll tell you it's a transphobic slur

(yes the politics of the Rocky Horror Picture Show have gotten a bit weird in the last ten-fifteen years)

We are under no obligation to play along with those who pretend that their mental illness is normal.

i agree! you are not. and the rest of us are not obligated to spend time and energy on you even though you're actively rude to people because of what you think is a mental illness.

Nice try, Donald G. McNeil, Jr. :)

All words are made up and no one is going to fine you or jail you for being a jerk.

Canada, The UK, & New York City among others have considered legislation making misgendering illegal.

You aren't a jerk if you refuse to call someone a made up pronoun. If a she wants to be called a he, fine. If you want to be a benegender xyzbbq xe/xir, no.

All pronouns are made up.

It seems people didn't really understand what I am saying. Calling human rights a political issue makes it seem as if there are two opposing yet equally valid sides... as that is what political means.

Human rights are not political. There is not opposing view to human rights, you just give them to people. Every has the right to respect, equality, etc. Thought that would be pretty obvious.

Making this stuff "political" just devalues the message and progress.