Update: To be clear, I am not under personal attack right now although I’ve been under attack in previous years. I’ve been catching general comments about suspicions over PASS finances online, and I wanted to get out in front of it before accusations are seen as evidence. They weren’t aimed at me personally, but I wanted people to see that Board Members are people. Based on previous experiences, I’ve experienced this before, and my first ‘feathers’ blog was in 2015. I saw a need to stop it before rumours got hold. I’m not playing victim here and the comments were general not personally at me, but I’m doing what I wish I’d done last time. Where there is an information vacuum, people will fill it with guesses, fake news, suspicions, anxieties, speculation. This can hurt individuals. I’m not a personal attack but I’m answering general suspicions. However, suspicions, surmises, and general accusations can become ‘fact’ very easily in a vacuum. I’m doing what I wish I’d one previously, getting out in front of it in a very febrile online atmosphere, answering back and stopping rumours before they get a grip
There have been insinuations over PASS finances. I have blogged previously about PASS Finances and I also wrote a number of blogs while I was on the Board, which were not well read at the time by the community. The demands for transparency were not matched by readership of the blogs posts themselves, which was always strange to me. Over time, I came to understand that, often, when someone accuses me not being transparent, what they really mean is ‘you don’t agree with me’ since I’m easy to find on social media, they didn’t ask me directly, and they didn’t read my blogs either.
Rumours spread like feathers; really hard to catch and pin down once they are loose. So, I wrote the blog post to answer insinuations. I’ve just put the spreadsheets here for now, but I can try to dig out the actual images of the receipts if you want it. The point is here: this solves nothing, but simply adds more fuel but I’d like to demonstrate what damage ‘sqlfamily’ can do to you as an individual. Instead of working on something for a paid customer today, I’ve had to answer these accusations instead so my reputation and integrity, built on over 23 years as a female in the technology industry, is not besmirched. For the purposes of transparency, I feel I have to answer this before it takes a life of its own.
So, to ‘name names’ and ‘show receipts’, here you are. I am right here.
Note that if there are any further insinuations or accusations made publicly about me, I reserve the right to take a snapshot of your post and send it to your employer. This strategy works wonderfully when I get harassment over LinkedIn, and rumours and insinuations are very bit as damaging and insulting. Instead of trying to report abuse and harassment on LinkedIn, I simply take screenshots and send them to the CEO of the company, requesting an explanation of their employee’s behaviour. I now have a stock LinkedIn message for the situation, along with personal apologies from CEOs all over the world regarding the abuse I’ve received from their employees, and it certainly seems to help to solve the problem. As an INTJ unicorn, I kick really hard if someone upsets my moral compass. Plus, I’ve had enough.
Since comments are being made publicly on social media, you should not have a problem with that since the insinuations are being made publicly. That might make you think twice about what reputational damage you are doing to someone before you hit post. I’ve had to write about this issue before, and here we are again. Oh, and here, too. Do you see a pattern now? People attack me publicly, I answer back here where it sits and is not going to be deleted as easily as you might take down social media posts like this guy did.
The snips of my expense claims are below. Note that, on occasion, PASS would pay for my flights directly, pay for my accommodation, and I’d take a lift with another Board Member to the airport in order to save PASS funds. You’ll note that I flew economy rather than premium economy despite it being an international flight, so I didn’t take what I was entitled to, under the PASS expense regulations. I didn’t attend the last PASS Board meetings due to family commitments so there are no expenses here; instead, I stayed up through the night to participate in the PST timezone, which is -8 hours from the GMT timezone from where I actually live. I hope you get the sense now of the sort of Board Member that I was for PASS.
I also believe that the other Board Members behaved impeccably regarding their expenses and I’d like to nail any whispers or unfounded insinuations right now.
So here you go. Fill your boots. Transparent enough? Let me know if you want to see the actual images. I’ve blanked out my personal and bank details here, and I have got better things to do than go through all the receipts and blank out all the details unless someone really wants to see it.
