My Forward to Eric Raymond's Blog Post from 2015

I want to re-post a blog post that I came across a few years ago. It was posted Eric S. Raymond, an author and major linux/android contributor.

The tl;dr if you are an open-source developer (or crypto investor), don't date or meet with anyone who randomly contacts you without a verifiable reason. Also be extremely cautious at developer meetups and conferences.

I think it's especially relevant in the crypto-currency community. Not only for the political reasons outlined by Eric but also for financial and physical protection. That goes for crypto investors as well, not just developers anymore. Women as well, who are often targetted by criminals for financial gain.

Imagine meeting someone you thought you knew from online. Everything is going great, until next thing you know you're in a private space with a gun to your head. Someone is yelling in your face telling you to open your laptop and make a transfer. What would you do?

It's not far-fetched. I've had a knife to my throat over a measly $500, it was one of the most chilling moments of my life.

As for honey-pots specifically related to Meetups and development conferences. I believe I have experienced this. I attended a few Meetups, there was a man I had met previously but only briefly. The strange thing was he had a ton of background information on me. He knew cities I'd lived in, things I'd worked on, and people I knew. I actually heard him whispering about me into the ear of a women who would later approach me. He was talking me up in a sense but the amount he knew was a bit startling to me.

He tried to get me to "network" with multiple women. This is in a community and at events where the attendance is 98%+ men. I found it strange.

Clearly I was the target of some sort of "influence campaign", it doesn't have to be super nefarious. It could be that they just wanted me to work on some project they had an idea for but not the skills required to build. It doesn't matter the reason. The fact was they had an alternative motive to try to influence me.

The best policy when it comes to dating, approach women you're interested in. Don't be someone to be approached unless you'd rather be the hunted than the hunter. Trust me there are a lot of people who'd love to hunt you down and take you for everything your worth. The sad reality of our world. Stay safe.

I leave you with the original article.

From kafkatrap to honeytrap

The short version is: if you are any kind of open-source leader or senior figure who is male, do not be alone with any female, ever, at a technical conference. Try to avoid even being alone, ever, because there is a chance that a “women in tech” advocacy group is going to try to collect your scalp.

IRC conversation, portions redacted to protect my informant, follows.

15:17:58 XXXXXXXXXXXX | I'm super careful about honey traps.  For a 
                      | while, that's how the Ada Initiative was    
                      | trying to pre-generate outrage and collect  
                      | scalps.                                     
15:18:12          esr | REALLY?                                    
15:18:22          esr | That's perverse.                           
15:18:42 XXXXXXXXXXXX | Yeah, because the upshot is, I no longer   
                      | can afford to mentor women who are already 
                      | in tech.                                    
15:18:54          esr | Right.                                     
15:19:01 XXXXXXXXXXXX | I can and do mentor ones who are not in    
                      | it, but are interested and able            
15:19:21 XXXXXXXXXXXX | but once one is already in...  nope        
15:20:08 XXXXXXXXXXXX | The MO was to get alone with the target,   
                      | and then immediately after cry "attempted  
                      | sexual assault".                            
15:23:27          esr | When the backlash comes it's going to be   
                      | vicious.  And women who were not part of   
                      | this bullshit will suffer for it.          
15:23:41 XXXXXXXXXXXX | I can only hope.                            
15:25:21          esr | Ah. On the "Pour encourager les autres"    
                      | principle?  I hadn't thought of that.      
                      | Still damned unfortunate, though.          
15:26:40 XXXXXXXXXXXX | Linus is never alone at any conference.    
                      | This is not because he lets fame go to his
                      | head and likes having a posse around.      
15:26:54 XXXXXXXXXXXX | They have made multiple runs at him.       
15:27:29          esr | Implied warning noted.                      
15:27:34            * | XXXXXXXXXXXX nods

An A&D regular who is not myself was present for this conversation, but I’ll let him choose whether to confirm his presence and the content.

“They have made multiple runs at him.” Just let the implications of that sink in for a bit. If my source is to be believed (and I have found him both well-informed and completely trustworthy in the past) this was not a series of misunderstandings, it was a deliberately planned and persistent campaign to frame Linus and feed him to an outrage mob.

I have to see it as an an attempt to smear and de-legitimize the Linux community (and, by extension, the entire open-source community) in order to render it politically pliable.

Linus hasn’t spoken out about this; I can think of several plausible and good reasons for that. And the Ada Initiative shut down earlier this year. Nevertheless, this report is consistent with reports of SJW dezinformatsiya tactics from elsewhere and I think it would be safest to assume that they are being replicated by other women-in-tech groups.

(Don’t like that, ladies? Tough. You were just fine with collective guilt when the shoe was on the other foot. Enjoy your turn!)

I’m going to take my source’s implied advice. And view “sexual assault” claims fitting this MO with extreme skepticism in the future.