In summary: is a cofounder. Tinder brings in a new CMO (after company was founded), name him a cofounder, rewrite history so she is no longer a cofounder, ignore her complaints about harassment, proceed to fire her. Then when this story breaks talk about suspending the "cofounder" that was doing the harassing - acting as though it is new information.
It's pretty shocking that founders of a company the size and success of Tinder could be as cavalier with their social media streams and professional attitude. Regardless of the facts of the case, these will dramatically impact their public perception, as they should. There is no instance in which these behaviors are acceptable.
As a sidenote, I'm surprised pitching Tinder to chapters of her sorority around the country worked. The way it was written gave me a very "Amway" make-your-friends-buy-stuff vibe.
I don't see why the author included details about the defendant writing "muslim pig" in a text message and saying that another executive looked like a penis. These details have nothing to do with the case. The only purpose they serve is to defame the defendant.
It's unethical to write such an opinionated piece covering a case like this, in which the facts are just starting to emerge. Let's keep it objective until the evidence is clear. Otherwise we risk perpetuating a witch hunt (of both the defendant and the plaintiff).
Not sure why you're being downvoted - I was just about to write the same thing. People write stupid things on social media. I expect tabloids to call them out on it. But I expect Bloomberg BusinessWeek's reporting to understand the distinction between psychological context to an accusation, and unrelated character assassination.
As awkward as it is to say, stories like this make me averse to hiring or working with unknown women in the tech world and I suspect the same is true of other male developers. If I'm ever in a position to do so, if I were to hire a woman I would have to know for a fact that she is very cool and wouldn't cause a shit-storm over some trumped up sexual harassment allegations.
I don't have any a priori objections to working with women, but the potential ability of a 'sexism' lawsuit to sap a startup of its two most valuable assets (time and money) lowers their desirability as prospective employees.
I'm also baffled as to how this brogrammer meme came about. Developers/males in the tech world are some of the nerdiest and nicest people I know. They're the diametric opposite of 'bros' who wear backwards baseball caps and act obnoxious in public.
"8. In late November 2013, plaintiff “gave the relationship a second chance.” [i.e., when she found that she had been demoted for breaking up with him, she decided to try to make up]"
You say:
"If I'm ever in a position to do so, if I were to hire a woman I would have to know for a fact that she is very cool and wouldn't cause a shit-storm over some trumped up sexual harassment allegations."
If she was really demoted for breaking up with her boss, that's a pretty strong case for sexual harassment, not a "trumped up" allegation.
In most companies, women and men work with each other every day, and sexual harassment cases are rare.
