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Comment by xenishiet | Hacker News Reader

Cory Doctorow just needs to STFU and go away.

Lets be clear here, CD is primarily a science fiction writer (feel free to look at info up yourself), not a programmer/engineer (like Richard Stallman), not a researcher (like Michael Geist), not an activist (many many examples we all know) or quite frankly anyone of any relevance. He's the new breed of self-aggrandizing web whore that gets himself shoe horned in "tech" sites or simply via his dumpster blog Boingboing. To stay relevant he takes popular internet news (say gamergate) and takes the most hardlined politically-correct stance on it. A great example of this would be how he recently co-authored a fictional book about a "female gamer". I mean... comon...

For the sake of the internet please ignore this person and support people who make a real difference. (I fully expect to be voted down for this by not brainlessly applauding these hipster heroes)

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Cory Doctorow's writing influenced me in an important and personal way, so I can't agree with your assessment. Your tone is hostile and your examples are not specific enough to refute, so there's no point engaging on them. I hope this will serve as reasonable explanation for why I've downvoted your comment.

Cory Doctorow founded Opencola, a P2P free software. (programmer)

He was also European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation for four years. (activist)

Anybody who uses computers is relevant to talk about how they are made and legislated. Being a researcher, or any of the other roles you mention, doesn't give you relevance. What gives you relevance is what you say, and saying isn't limited to authority figures. If he needs to STFU, then do you not also need to similarly STFU? Coz what authority or relevance do you have to speak about CD that CD doesn't have to speak about computers? As for refusing to brainlessly applaud, what you're actually doing is brainlessly shouting him down, which is basically the same thing in the opposite direction and not intellectually superior in any way.

You're being downvoted because of your tone and because you dismiss him by comparing him to authority figures.

I tend to agree with you, I find the guy pretty much a pretentious, unpleasant person. I may have written what you said in a different manner though.

> A great example of this would be how he recently co-authored a fictional book about a "female gamer". I mean... comon...

This is so misleading that it could simply be called "wrong." The recently released graphic novel In Real Life is an adaptation of "Anda's Game", which Doctorow wrote in 2004. This far, far predates the issue you claim he co-opted.

✓ STEM master race

✗ "mangina"

✓ GamerGate

✓ "female"

✗ Ethics in gaming journalism

✗ Literally Who

✓ "politically correct"

Meh. You can do better.

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