I am one of the three women who went on the record: Niniane Wang. I'm one of the "she-said"s.
I have nothing to gain from this. I am not suing. I'm founder & CEO of a Greylock-funded startup. Thankfully Greylock has come out in full support, but I didn't know that beforehand and was very nervous when I decided to do the article. The only way that any reporter would agree to publish was if I used my real name. I knew Justin was continuing to harass women, and this was the only way to stop him.
sillysaurus3, you may be thinking of cases where women go to accuse a "rich or powerful" person and are trying to get something out of it. I had nothing to gain and a lot to lose.
As a fellow lady who has bootstrapped her business, and knows nothing about the VC world - I just want to say thank you. You coming out in the open has made the environment better for all of us. Seriously, thanks.
"The unfortunate truth is that I simply could not write this until Albergotti published, as I didn't have anyone on the record, which is virtually essential from a journalistic perspective. "
Victims report incidents, an their info is not shared at the time of report. Victims can elect to have their reports unsealed if subsequent accusations are made against the same individual. This mirrors the current status quo, where it's less common for victims to speak out if there are no other cases to corroborate, but makes discovery of other cases more feasible.
It's being rolled out specifically in the context of college sexual assault, but I imagine the approach could work elsewhere too.
Write an anonymous blog about it on Medium or whatever and submit it to HN, you'll get views. You'll persuade or not persuade some people in the blog's truth no matter what you say from confirmation bias alone (e.g. rise in sexism in tech vs. rise in hoax charges). Some people will be more persuaded if you use your real name, for others it doesn't matter. Some people will be more persuaded if you give actual specifics about what was said and done (I'm one of those -- "harassment" is very broad, "groping" might be too, you need to either define your terms or state physically what happened, because you'd think we would all agree on what "grope" means but there are videos you can find of women screaming "help, he's raping me!" when it's just a cop using force to arrest her), but on the other hand too specific and people might find it literally incredible that someone actually grabbed you by the pussy without a tape of the person admitting as much.
There isn't really, because the moment you reveal enough actual details that it's possible to identify you, you also open yourself up for subtle forms of retaliation.
Thank you for your courage. You almost certainly saved others from harassment directly and your bravery also will have saved hundreds of others since those in powerful positions will be more vary and those being harassed will be more vocal. This story is one more stepping stone towards progress.
Sorry, I didn't mean to cast doubts. All I meant was that we should reserve judgement. In this case, it sounds pretty clear-cut, but the point was about future cases that may not be so straightforward.
I can only imagine how stressful a situation like this can be, so I certainly didn't mean to increase it. Best of luck.
Come on, you totally meant to cast doubt. Still, it takes some degree of huevos to stand up in a semi-anonymous forum and admit your mistake (instead of deleting your comment or other dumb stuff). Kudos for that at least.
For what it's worth, I didn't mean to cast doubt on her character. It was more along the lines of "Maybe we should wait to see how this plays out." I'm also rather upset that my comment indirectly made HN a less welcoming place for founders. I've written extensively about the fact that HN has become less founder-friendly and they've had to flee to places like Bookface just to get some support. The idea that I contributed to that isn't a happy thought.
I am one of the three women who went on the record with my name: Niniane Wang. I initially asked to be anonymous, but no reporter would publish unless they had named sources. I knew that Justin was continuing to harass women. Using my name was the only way to stop him. In other words, yes, it was necessary to be publicly on the record.
Niniane, I can only imagine the mental anguish you must have gone through. I applaud you and the other women for taking a stance, a public stance and standing up to these perverts. You are an inspiration.
@niniane - Thanks for being open with something so personal.
I know it must have been a hard decision to make because you were probably worried about how you & your company would be treated afterwards but this is going to help open so many people's eyes.
Thank you for your courage, I'm sure putting yourself out there has spared other women the plight of enduring the same experience you were subjected to. That's real altruism.
Evertoon - San Francisco - Engineer with 3D Games Experience - $100k-$150k with founding-team level of equity
Hiring an engineer with games-engineering experience. Bonus if you worked on a mobile game or with Unity3D.
Evertoon lets users create 3D animated videos by taking regular text and automatically turning it into a movie with avatars acting it out, in just a few minutes. YouTube has proven the vast demand (and money-making power) of online video, but most uploads are still webcam monologues. Evertoon takes it further by allowing users to create a visual world with interesting avatars, animations, and personalized photo backgrounds.
You will be part of a small team with experience from Disney, Moonbot, and Google.
Evertoon - San Francisco - Engineer with 3D Games Experience - $100k-$150k with founding-team level of equity
Hiring an engineer with games-engineering experience. Bonus if you worked on a mobile game or with Unity3D.
Evertoon lets users create 3D animated videos by taking regular text and automatically turning it into a movie with avatars acting it out, in just a few minutes. YouTube has proven the vast demand (and money-making power) of online video, but most uploads are still webcam monologues. Evertoon takes it further by allowing users to create a visual world with interesting avatars, animations, and personalized photo backgrounds.
You will be part of a small team with experience from Disney, Moonbot, Microsoft Games, and Google.
Founding Engineer - San Francisco - Evertoon.com (Greylock-funded startup). $100k-$150k with founding-team level of equity
Evertoon lets users create mini-Pixar movies by taking regular text and automatically turning it into a movie with avatars acting it out. We're building a mobile platform to bring animated moviemaking to the masses, and then a marketplace for artists to sell 3D content for use in movies.
Looking for an engineer with experience in games or realtime-graphics technologies.
I have nothing to gain from this. I am not suing. I'm founder & CEO of a Greylock-funded startup. Thankfully Greylock has come out in full support, but I didn't know that beforehand and was very nervous when I decided to do the article. The only way that any reporter would agree to publish was if I used my real name. I knew Justin was continuing to harass women, and this was the only way to stop him.
sillysaurus3, you may be thinking of cases where women go to accuse a "rich or powerful" person and are trying to get something out of it. I had nothing to gain and a lot to lose.