I don't know anything about him. Why do you say that he's an unreliable narrator? The story was emotive, but no more emotive than I'd expect for someone in his position.
Edit: This guy has some pretty toxic politics, and I wouldn't want him in my workplace.
That being said, it looks like Reddit might be confused about Jewish holidays: SUSECON 2017 appears to have run between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, like he said. That is indeed a holy week, and scheduling a conference during it is roughly analogous to scheduling a conference between Christmas and New Years'. But I don't think they did that intentionally; it's just unfortunate timing.
in germany most multi-day grassroots events are scheduled between christmas and newyear, most famously the CCC. because that is the time when people are most likely free even if they have a job, and those days expressly do not have any religious significance. but any weekend that is extended with a mostly religious holiday is used as opportunity for many groups.
As an outsider, I wouldn't have considered SUSECon to be a "grassroots event." It seems like a corporate conference to me, and it's historically been hosted outside of Germany (including in places like the US).
(This doesn't mean I buy this guy's story; I don't.)
i didn't mean to include SUSEs choice here, just for comparison, that in germany the days been christmans and newyear are generally not respected, but also that they need not be because they are not religious holidays, in contrast to the jewish holidays which are.
Edit: This guy has some pretty toxic politics, and I wouldn't want him in my workplace.
That being said, it looks like Reddit might be confused about Jewish holidays: SUSECON 2017 appears to have run between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, like he said. That is indeed a holy week, and scheduling a conference during it is roughly analogous to scheduling a conference between Christmas and New Years'. But I don't think they did that intentionally; it's just unfortunate timing.