cc Jim Zemlin and Mike Dolan from the Linux Foundation
I wish to formally file a series of Code of Conduct (CoC) violations by Ashley Williams (ag_dubs on twitter) who currently holds a position on the Node.js foundation's Board of Directors underneath the Linux Foundation umbrella. Given the evidence I'll present below, it is clear this individual has violated the CoC on multiple occasions in public forum and appears to harbor racist and sexist views and beliefs making her unfit for participation in the Node.js Foundation's projects, let alone leadership positions. This behavior has been observed since the conception of the Node.js foundation and it is unfortunate it has been allowed to persist for so long.
Additionally, it is likely Ashley will be participating in an override vote on August 28, 2017 regarding the complaints filed against Rod Vagg despite clearly being involved in their orchestration, and has been a vocal member and rallying point of the twitter mobs with little to no evidence of wrongdoing. With the combination of the Code of Conduct violations and her active hand in creating the now highly publicized controversy, I would suggest the existence of a conflict of interest, which should prevent her participation in the override vote. I also believe she will not abscond from voting when made aware of these issues, essentially making her a malicious actor towards the foundation and the its governance process.
An excerpt from the Node.js Code of Conduct:
In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
Below are tweets which constitute a violation of the CoC:
"never underestimate the wrath of a mildly inconvenienced white dude (and yes it is all dudes complaining)"
https://archive.is/dm4dn - hateful speech towards 'white dudes' (promoting sex based prejudice and stereotypes)
omg last RT. when they have the audacity to ask you to apologize. FUCK YOU MEN FUCK YOU I'M NOT SORRY
https://archive.is/gmzrP - stereotypes and sex based prejudice towards men
the white rich tech dude version of "thoughts and prayers" quoting "My fondest wish for the many communists of Twitter is that you get to live under the system you espouse"
https://archive.is/aY07D - promoting stereotypes and sex and race based prejudice. Openly supporting divisive and bigoted radical politics which do not facilitate diverse and welcoming environments where dialectic can happen.
remember how you thought that white dudes conflating their opportunity with merit in tech was awful? literally the same thing in capitalism
https://archive.is/kmYdS - promoting sex and race based prejudice and stereotypes and highly polarizing socio-political viewpoints
"I lol'd" in response to a photo of a "soft white" light bulb
https://web.archive.org/web/20170516234032/https:/twitter.com/ag_dubs/status/769315029804089345?lang=en Promoting dog whistle innuendo of harmful sex and race based stereotypes and prejudice
"Kill all men"
https://web.archive.org/web/20160807212533/https:/twitter.com/ag_dubs/status/761962956431187968 - Promoting violence (homicide) towards men.
"dat crock just slut shamed the web"
https://web.archive.org/web/20170516214104/https:/twitter.com/ag_dubs/status/666026590774673408 - Participating in other smear campaigns with questionable grounds towards high profile community members that don't align ideologically.
"depending on who you are, sexism or misandry"
https://web.archive.org/web/20151116102717/https:/twitter.com/ag_dubs/status/658374168283631616 - (See thread) Openly bragging about antagonizing people, 'hating', and joking about misandry.
"OH: chill all men"
https://web.archive.org/web/20151116102859/https:/twitter.com/ag_dubs/status/629371600194916353 - Sex based prejudice and stereotypes indicating all men are no chill.
"@jessicard @tkellen … when i told all of @bocoup to buy misandry shirts lol"
https://web.archive.org/web/20151116102839/https:/twitter.com/ag_dubs/status/520628625956417536 - Promoting the purchase of 'misandry' shirts. Ashley has publicly bragged about owning the 'misandry' npm package. https://archive.is/Eyqpx
"i get mad almost every day about how we sterilize male animals in the wild, but insist that human women take birth control not human men"
https://archive.is/NzsjT - A juvenile/nefarious fantasy of forced sterilization of an identity group, a belief commonly held by racists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization
“In fact, if you were a white dude and you wanted to talk at the conference, your chances were basically nil.”
https://youtu.be/H6cxY5zhFIA?t=1221 - Bragging and laughing about intentional race and sex discrimination practices at npm camp that she was responsible for organizing. Ashley was instrumental to the publicity around the Rod Vagg vote and generating controversy:
"there are a lot of good takes re this tweet, but i have one that's a bit more personal."
http://archive.is/OCc1D - (see thread) A tweet dated July 19, 2017 responding to Rod's tweet linking to an article about the issues surrounding CoCs.
"i've been pushing on these issues for a long time. i'm sorry it took what it did to get things moving in the right direction."
http://archive.is/DrEYm - (see thread) Admission of animosity towards Rod much longer than the exaggerated evidence has.
"i am tired of and angry with @nodejs leadership. inclusive spaces are within your reach. at this point, it is clear you dont want them."
https://archive.is/KKh3d - (see thread) Targeted harassment and stirring up the twitter mobs. This statement is outright malicious towards the governance of the Node.js foundation and serves to undermine it. It also happens to be totally unfounded as the foundation has done far more than most projects to increase access, inclusion and transparency.
"60% of the current @nodejs TSC voted to keep a known hostile on the TSC"
https://archive.is/B6gTj - This is a personal attack and unfounded/unproven smear. The evidence of CoC violations perpetrated by Rodd are weak, opaque and misleading at best. A board member publicly smearing someone involved in an issue that hasn't been resolve is absolutely intolerable.
"for the record: i want a community where everyone is held accountable to the same standard. that includes me."
We ought to heed Ashley's wishes and apply the rules defined in the CoC against her own actions as evenly as every other member of the foundation and community. Ashley shouldn't be allowed participation in any upcoming votes or governing decisions until these issues are dealt with and should be immediately ejected from leadership for repeated failure to fulfill her fiduciary responsibility to the foundation and inability to adhere to CoC rules that she advocated for.
I want the best for the longterm success of the Node.js foundation, and that can't happen when you have members and leadership actively sabotaging it for extreme ideological motivations. Stop letting these people perpetuate lies! Start telling the truth! Do the right thing. I expect the Node Foundation board to explicitly answer to these issues.
Your's truly, Ralph Wiggum
(Unfortunately, this is submitted anonymously due to the risk of becoming the target of dishonest slander, mis-characterization and harassment when trying to have a dialectic about difficult and nuanced issues in the Node.js community. This will be posted publicly to the Node Reddit in order to collect sentiment feedback from the wider Node.js community, and to provide transparency to the foundation's CoC enforcement process).