Tthis is a devastating loss for all involved. Nóirín was active in Open Source, but something lesser known is that she was a founding director of Digital Rights Ireland; who recently succeeded in a legal challenge against European Data retention.
Nóirín was also a life-long volunteer Medic with St. John's ambulance in Ireland: http://www.stjohn.ie . I'm certain her family would appreciate any condolences or donations in her name.
I spoke with Nóirín's mother and brother this morning, and they know that she had a huge impact on people, and "on the web" (to use her proud mother's words), but I think it's worth making concrete. If you have a story or testimonial about how Nóirín helped or inspired you (and I know there are many), please send it on to colm@allcosts.net and I'll make sure to pass it on.
A devastating loss indeed. Has cause of death been released? She was so young.
EDIT: Surprised by the downvotes. I'm leaving it, regardless. The question does not imply any lack of respect for the deceased. Those who think it does are wrong.
She looks pretty young in her social media photos. Please don't be yet another bright young techie suicide. We've had too many of those recently, and no one seems to understand why or how we can avoid them in the future.
Regarding suicides (separate to this article, where cause is unknown) - there is nothing particular to tech which means suicides. Suicides cut across all demographics, though it is particularly prevalent amongst young adults. People who work in mental health and related areas understand the reasons behind suicides pretty well.
When it comes to avoiding them, the answer involves lots of tax dollars thrown at a demographic with little political power. Suicides will never be eradicated, but they can be reduced with well-targeted mental health programs.
Understanding and solutions are available, it's just that it's a complex problem with no single solution, so the general public isn't really interested in understanding it... and as they don't understand it, they're also not really interested in funding it.
And there are many studies linking menial work to poor mental health, legal work to poor mental health, medical work to poor mental health, shift work to poor mental health, so on and so forth, right on down to linking unemployment with poor mental health. It's also a bit disingenuous to say 'no-one knows why' and then turn around and say 'there are many studies into these things'.
We have a reasonable understanding of the various causes of suicide, though not perfect. And if what you're saying is true, that IT is special and backed by many studies, then we have a reasonable understanding there, too. And a reasonable understanding of what can be done about it.
I guess my point is that while it's normal to express sympathy by using the "it's all a big sad mystery" response, it's not actually helpful beyond being a very short term salve. It's not a mystery when you actually look at it, and there are things that can be done - it's just not socially viable.
edit: some of the things we can do around suicide is promoting the idea of counselling and trying to remove the taboo. Encourage people to call helplines if they're not in a good way, and getting to counselling before they reach that stage helps. Reduce the taboo and let people know that while it's not pleasant talking about this stuff to loved ones, it's better than the alternative. Improve mental health clinical services and subsidise the cost of appropriate medication. Raise awareness of the issue itself without getting into hysteria, so people know that it's there and can look for markers in friends and family, but also that something can be done about it. That it's not unique to feel suicidal. Run outreach programs to demographics identified as at-risk, and do that in a manner that will be socially acceptable to those demographics. A lot of tax dollars need to be spent here, because a lot of people don't have loved ones in their private lives to look out for them, and some who do have loved ones don't have loved ones capable of looking out for them.
There's a lot that can be done, and a lot more that can be done if society is willing to throw in the dollars. It's a hard problem, but it's not an unsolvable ball of mystery.
This is sad for us all. Noirin was a lovely person, smart and motivated, dedicated to open source for many years, part of so many communities. I will miss them from geekfeminism and from all our open source and feminist activist circles.
I know nothing about her work with ASF, but I knew her briefly when she lived in Portland. She was one of the organizers who create those great tech events this city is known for. I used to attend the weekly brewpup hackathons she organized, and which are still going strong.
I seem to recall that her day job at the time was writing docs for Eucalyptus.
We weren't close, but I can say that she was an interesting, smart, talented, complicated person. Her loss saddens me deeply.
Sad news, RIP. Based on her community involvement it strikes me as almost appropriate for her name to be added to the X-Clacks-Overhead HTTP header [1]
Are you sure that doesn't just refer to a preference for using 'they/them' as opposed to 'him' when it's a generic singular pronoun? People who knew her are using "her":
It's unlikely that they meant "preferred pronoun" to be about a singular person generally, since it commonly refers to preferences about oneself.
People often use pronouns other than the ones someone prefers for a variety of reasons: sometimes the preferred pronoun is new, sometimes people forget, sometimes people don't respect that person's preferred pronoun.
> It's unlikely that they meant "preferred pronoun" to be about a singular person generally, since it commonly refers to preferences about oneself.
Without more context, even in that case, it could be either 2nd or 3rd person. Queen Elizabeth, for instance, might put her preferred pronoun as 'we', but you'd still write about her.
So ... I wrote that, and it's worth mentioning that I knew Noirin before the preference for different pronouns was stated. That is, I knew Noirin, as mentioned in my blog post, during the ASF days, before they moved away from ASF activity into other areas of activism. Thus, I used the pronoun which was preferred at the time of our acquaintance. Much like people that knew me as a kid call me "Richard" and people that knew me in college call me "Rich", likewise, people that knew Noirin earlier and later will likely use different pronouns, based on the norms at the time. No disrespect is meant, just fond memories of a too-short friendship.
For the lazy, the introduction of the complaint (at the bottom of the page):
(Jan. 2014) "This is a civil action for damages brought by plaintiff Michael G. Schwern against his exwife, defendant Nóirín Plunkett. Plaintiff and defendant are both nternationally renowned open source computer software experts and ctivists for women’s rights in the open source software development community. Defendant intentionally, falsely, and without privilege claimed to third parties that plaintiff had sexually assaulted her and subjected her to intimate partner violence. Plaintiff has suffered immediate, severe, and lasting damage to his professional, volunteer, and social lives and to his reputation, together with profound emotional harm. Plaintiff states claims for defamation, intentional infliction of severe emotional distress, and intentional interference with prospective economic relations."
As of the most recent filings it looks like they were still fighting it out.
As of the most recent filings it looks like they were still fighting it out.
Not just fighting, but fighting very dirty. Not many cases get to the point of "he anonymously sent me flowers in an attempt to intimidate me" / "I didn't send any flowers, and moreover I have evidence that she sent the flowers to herself in an attempt to fabricate evidence".
Yes. The appeal (Court of Appeals Docket #: 14-35576) and the district court case (Docket #:3:14-cv-00146) are both accurately categorized as huge messes.
The allegation that Plunkett actually sent the "threat" flowers to herself (allegedly backed up by the credit card data and order history from the merchant) is noteworthy for the utter wildness involved.
But it looks like nothing has happened recently in the cases (since June 25th) while waiting on part of the appeal. So GGP's line of inquiry seems to be answered with a probably not?
It hardly matters now. The details of these cases and the private lives of the people involved are really none of our business, and scrutinizing them will not fix anything for anybody. Let us please mourn the loss of a person beloved by many.
I think it still matters, sadly. The whole sordid affair has taken from a language community a developer who did much good, and who is as of yet unable to return because the question of his guilt, if any, is unresolved. The end of this case, if it ever has one, might possibly see her claims validated, or it might possibly enable the return of a valued talent.
I do not assume to know which it might be, but the chance that it might be the latter makes me think that the question still matters, since as of yet, that developer is still assumed guilty without there ever having been a trial.
This does not mean that i do not have nothing but the utmost sympathy for all those hurt by her passing. I merely think it does not merit ignoring the possibly undeserved pain of another.
Even if you don't mean this comment to be insensitive, it is pretty insensitive to people mourning the permanent loss of a talented and loved person who contributed much to their communities and friends.
I know emotions are raw when something like this happens--I don't think the comment was intended to be, or is, insensitive, just part of a discussion around events in their lives.
Everybody mourns in a different way, and not everyone knows them in the same way. I don't think we can (or should) really dictate how people will treat the death of another.
Nóirín was also a life-long volunteer Medic with St. John's ambulance in Ireland: http://www.stjohn.ie . I'm certain her family would appreciate any condolences or donations in her name.
I spoke with Nóirín's mother and brother this morning, and they know that she had a huge impact on people, and "on the web" (to use her proud mother's words), but I think it's worth making concrete. If you have a story or testimonial about how Nóirín helped or inspired you (and I know there are many), please send it on to colm@allcosts.net and I'll make sure to pass it on.