So apparently, she is a web designer (or a web design agency owner), but it takes an effort to find a link to an actual portfolio. There is the Resources page but it's full of her own photos from every angle. The About page is too full of important aspects of her professional background including how she takes her coffee (apparently 3rd most frequently asked question).
I understand that she is the brand and she's probably doing more public speaking than HTML coding, but I find this sort of "I am the only girl in web design, totally braving it" blatant self-promotion to be very off-putting. It feels calculated and manipulative.
IMO that's exactly how it should work. Comment is downvoted, gets grayed out, and then hopefully people don't reply to it.
The graying out is a way of expressing "don't feed this troll". If people start replying and get into a prolonged discussion, what is the point of the graying out in the first place?
So you are looking at a personal blog (at least, that is what it looks like me), that is also used as a personal site for speaking gigs (press images, bio, et al).
You are not willing to follow the link to her agency, to look for a portfolio there, but you have the "right", quite passive-aggressively, to criticize her in a way, that makes her look not like the victim, she is in the told story, but that it is all her own fault?
cynism on
You feel manipulated, so you are the victim now. If a woman describes her experience with something like this, somehow you become the victim?
OK, sorry, but I really do not get this. I really try to understand it - but maybe I am not intelligent enough. Please try to explain. I really would love to understand your worldview...
Jeez. If I am a victim now, then you are no lesser of a victim for being hurt by not being able to fully understand my comment of me not being a victim. Let's not go the soap opera way.
She is a professional public speaker, not a web designer. Whatever she's gotta say, it serves to promote her brand. This is factored into her decision to post. It doesn't make what she has to say any less true, but it does make it far less interesting and it also makes it look far more calculated.
OK, the passive-aggressive accusation of your part, just pushed me over the edge (Your edit).
To you, sir, I have nothing more to say, but:
"Don't feed the trolls"
For everybody else, that should have been my answer:
Well, first, I am not hurt. I was cynically trying to expose your style of thinking to be exactly aligned with the mindset, that (imho) is the underlying reason, so many (or even just some) women feel treated like shit in this industry.
As I believe, real reasoning might be lost on people expressing their attitude the way you do, I was trying another route, employed by the medieval jesters, called irony. As your mindset really fits the dark ages better than the 21st century, that just seemed fitting.
I know, that, with going that route, I did nothing less then assuming a lot on your position - and maybe I really did wrong you, by assuming, that your passive-aggressive tone of writing was exactly that. Maybe I did you wrong, by totally misunderstanding your point (that I am not able to see, even after your reaction to my comment).
Soap-opera-way? I have really not idea, what you might mean by that.
If I understand you right, everybody, that ever had a professional gig in speaking, is not allowed to post a very terrible personal experience on her/his own blog, telling a story of how someone tried to destroy her reputation? Sorry, but that I really don't get.
That's because it's her personal site, a place people often promote their own personal brand/speaking/photos/achievements/etc. Click on her company name to be taken to http://www.youknowwhodesign.com/ which is a more typical portfolio/agency site.
It's not hard at all. You go to the about page (http://www.sazzy.co.uk/about/), look at the text where it says "Sarah is the owner of design studio You Know Who", you then click through to the company page (http://www.youknowwhodesign.com/) and click on Portfolio.
I am not convinced that her motives for posting this are genuine. This sort of deeply personal story has no business of being attached to the Resources and the FAQ pages on how to get her speak at your event.
The "deeply personal story" is about shit that went down in public. Things you might have seen happening because you saw her speak at a conference. It is perfectly reasonable to "attach" it to any "speaking on conferences"-stuff.
This comment is wrong, but it can be a good starting point for what I want to say: it's very likely that in life people will pick on you for what you are. I've been tormented at various degrees because I'm short, or because I'm shy and introvert, or because I sort of like math. I mean I have been called a "pain in the ass" because I said that I don't like dubbed movies (I live in a country were dubbed movies are the norm). And all this in important settings like school and work. And not only by my peers, but also by teachers, boss and managers. But I'm not here to complain. What I want to say is that if you post photos of yourself and you are a nice lady, someone will pick on you for that. That's very sad, but it's the status quo. The hell if I know what are their reasons. But I know why they do it: because it's easy and it hurts. They don't pick on you for your work. It doesn't hurt that much and they could end helping you, pointing out one of your errors. But if it is your body, your beliefs, your personality they will do it. That's an easy bet.
So do I think that ladies shouldn't post beautiful photos? No of course, go on, you are hacking the system. You are getting a lot of good attention for that. But as always there are trade offs. A couple of weeks ago, here on HN someone complained because a young user posted something like: "I'm 14 and I developed an iPhone game". What's wrong with that? You did something and you want to advertise it. Saying that you are a young developer is a very catchy. And posting your photos is very eye-grabbing. Sort of refreshing after the n-th post about "beautiful typography" or whatever. Now, about the state of the industry. The only way to change things is for women to stick out and speak-up. Please don't hide. Soon or later things will change. I can imagine that 150 years ago, female teachers weren't as respected as men. Now, at least in my school experience, men were often the less respected one. While women were feared by students. Thing's will change, hopefully sooner than later.
I understand that she is the brand and she's probably doing more public speaking than HTML coding, but I find this sort of "I am the only girl in web design, totally braving it" blatant self-promotion to be very off-putting. It feels calculated and manipulative.