I don't actually like getting into Twitter fights because in general I find them to be a waste of time but fuck it, my interactions with members of the community over the last 24h tells me clearly they need an example made of them.

In response to a criticism that the evil character in a videogame they created could be perceived as Jewish and hence that the videogame could be anti-semitic, the community went into full-on DARVO: https://twitter.com/UK_Daniel_Card/status/1263837986665398272

And like, they finally worked out what the correct response is! https://twitter.com/hacker_mouse/status/1264115201441488896 But many members of the community are still in full-on BuRN tHE wItCH mode, and the leader has very much _not_ shut that shit down.

A couple of basic errors here. First, everyone got super defensive that they were being accused of anti-semitism and racism. Nobody I have observed actually thinks that. They just didn't know that Eastern European names in the US are often considered Jewish for historical reasons

This could have been a nothingburger. But then they fucked it up by making it all about them instead of this simple response: "Oh, I didn't know that, I'll fix it!" Then, instead of taking time as a community to consider how they could do better, many are blaming the messenger.

These people are not the victims. This thread is toxic as fuck: https://twitter.com/UK_Daniel_Card/status/1263837986665398272. It displays a monumental lack of self-awareness that is extremely worrying and frankly deeply ironic coming from the infosec community.

And it's all to defend against anyone thinking they are not a good person. "Our intent was good!" Nobody doubted that. But they do now!

The thread is full of people saying stuff along the lines of "ugh, fucking SJWs." You know what that says? It says, you're not welcome in my community if you are going to bring up issues related to race, gender, ethnicity, disability. Fit in, or fuck off.

So of course the community is, like many in tech, overwhelmingly white dudes. And so you've got facepalm shit like white people reassuring each other they're not being racist.

And deeply ironic comments like the one here https://twitter.com/DerpLaughing_/status/1264267488113692672?s=20 - like, yes, dude is right. People aren't going to want to join the infosec community, at least as represented here. Because it's toxic as fuck!

I am ready for people from this community to come into my mentions and tell me they used to respect me or I've got it all wrong or they are the victims. I don't give a fuck what you think.

The fix is simple: on your personal twitter feeds explain why what you did is wrong & how you're going to do better next time and tell everyone else in no uncertain terms to STFU or they are out of the community and pin that shit to your feed. This is why we need codes of conduct

Make sure that discussion includes apologizing to @find_evil. The alternative is to get criticized for perpetuating racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism, because... you are! The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.