Inform: Discontinuation of DerbyCon Conference Series

[DragonflyStats]

DerbyCon is a information security conference that takes place in the USA.
Recently It was beset by controversy arising from a code-of-conduct incident.

On January 14, 2019, organizers announced that DerbyCon 9.0, to be held in September 2019, would be the last of the series, citing the increasing difficulty of holding conferences in the face of "a small, yet vocal group of people creating negativity, polarization, and disruption".

The organizers made a public statement outlining their reasons for not continuing the conference series: Click here

The conference scene in general changed drastically and small pocket groups focus on outrage and disruption where there is no right answer (regardless of how you respond, it’s wrong), instead of coming together, or making the industry better. There is a small, yet vocal group of people creating negativity, polarization, and disruption, with the primary intent of self-promotion to advance a career, for personal gain, or for more social media followers. Individuals that would have us be judge, jury, and executioner for people they have had issues with outside of the conference that has nothing to do with the conference itself.

Interpretation:

I am not sympathetic to the organizers. The refusal to address the issue quickly was what specifically exacerbated the controversy.

1. Immediate removal of the remarks, as soon as it was reported.
2. An statement from the chair at the start of the next session with a direction to ALL attendees not to engage in such behaviour.
3. An apology posted on social media. If dealt with promptly, this incident would have been effectively forgotten about in an hour or so.

[DragonflyStats]

An similar incident took place at JuliaCon 2019. However the reaction of the organizers was prompt and decisive.
The organizers removed the offending material (redacting part of a youtube livestream) and made a public apology, and an appeal
to the entire community to consider the harm such incidents can cause.
People who raised the issue expressed satisfaction with the measures taken by the organizers.
There has been no further discussion about the incident since that day, other than a clarification of what the remarks were.