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During Hack Club's IRL Hackathons, teens can get their parents to sign a "freedom waiver" to allow them to leave the hackathon venue and explore the city (they

by Charmunk 10mo ago

During Hack Club's IRL Hackathons, teens can get their parents to sign a "freedom waiver" to allow them to leave the hackathon venue and explore the city (they usually happen in high profile cities like NYC or Boston) without supervision. I assume what happened to them was they got lost during this optional exploration period

linsomniac 10mo ago
No, that was not the situation, it happened at the event.
- Diaphragmwp 10mo ago
  [dead]
- embedding-shape 10mo ago
  You don't have to share any specifics or details, but could you at least share how they could end up in a life threatening situation while attending a programming event?
  - linsomniac 10mo ago
    https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:text=A%2032%2Dyear%2Dold%20man%20was%20found%20dead%20in,binge%2C%20the%20island's%20second%20death%20of%20an https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:t...
    - embedding-shape 10mo ago
      Do they let children sit and program for 3 days (without breaks?) at these events without a single person checking in on them?! That's absolutely bananas if true, how could something like that even happen, is it a sweatshop of programmers or what's going on? Truly, if they're forcing children to sit and code for 3 days straight someone should call the police this moment.
      - linsomniac 10mo ago
        There was no forcing involved. Since there seems to be a lot of interest in this, I'll go into more details. As I said, this was discussed with organizers at the time, largely it was largely a matter of "the kids'll figure it out" failure. Some specifics will be vague due to time. This event was a camp out. They had tents for the campers, but it was, in my kids view, a free-for-all. Like a "go figure out the tent situation", and my child couldn't figure out the tent situation, so decided to sleep outside. And woke up with a bunch of bugs (I don't remember exactly what, leaches sticks in my mind). So they decided they'd caffeinate the rest of the event and not sleep. (edit: Typo fix)
      - Charmunk 10mo ago
        No one is forced to code, they have sleeping areas, and plenty of time for breaks, and no one will care if someone decides to take a break for a bit
        embedding-shape 10mo ago
        The previous commentator said "could have very easily turned into life threatening" and when asked what that was about, they sent the link about that person dying after sitting playing games for 3 days. Are you saying they're lying or are wrong about this? They seemed to have personal experience about it, and I'm assuming they're not outright lying, but I do think it sounds strange they would let children sit and code for 3 days straight.
        sadeshmukh 10mo ago
        That article has no relation to Hack Club whatsoever. But that's beside the point - they provide rooms, plenty of food and snacks, workshops, and activities to do during breaks. Organizers are on-site at all times, and there is a live hotline for parents or kids to call at any time. "sit and code for 3 days straight" is a gross mischaracterization. Here's an example of an event hosted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA

linsomniac 10mo ago

No, that was not the situation, it happened at the event.

Diaphragmwp 10mo ago
[dead]
embedding-shape 10mo ago
You don't have to share any specifics or details, but could you at least share how they could end up in a life threatening situation while attending a programming event?
- linsomniac 10mo ago
  https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:text=A%2032%2Dyear%2Dold%20man%20was%20found%20dead%20in,binge%2C%20the%20island's%20second%20death%20of%20an https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-death#:~:t...
  - embedding-shape 10mo ago
    Do they let children sit and program for 3 days (without breaks?) at these events without a single person checking in on them?! That's absolutely bananas if true, how could something like that even happen, is it a sweatshop of programmers or what's going on? Truly, if they're forcing children to sit and code for 3 days straight someone should call the police this moment.
    - linsomniac 10mo ago
      There was no forcing involved. Since there seems to be a lot of interest in this, I'll go into more details. As I said, this was discussed with organizers at the time, largely it was largely a matter of "the kids'll figure it out" failure. Some specifics will be vague due to time. This event was a camp out. They had tents for the campers, but it was, in my kids view, a free-for-all. Like a "go figure out the tent situation", and my child couldn't figure out the tent situation, so decided to sleep outside. And woke up with a bunch of bugs (I don't remember exactly what, leaches sticks in my mind). So they decided they'd caffeinate the rest of the event and not sleep. (edit: Typo fix)
    - Charmunk 10mo ago
      No one is forced to code, they have sleeping areas, and plenty of time for breaks, and no one will care if someone decides to take a break for a bit
      - embedding-shape 10mo ago
        The previous commentator said "could have very easily turned into life threatening" and when asked what that was about, they sent the link about that person dying after sitting playing games for 3 days. Are you saying they're lying or are wrong about this? They seemed to have personal experience about it, and I'm assuming they're not outright lying, but I do think it sounds strange they would let children sit and code for 3 days straight.
        sadeshmukh 10mo ago
        That article has no relation to Hack Club whatsoever. But that's beside the point - they provide rooms, plenty of food and snacks, workshops, and activities to do during breaks. Organizers are on-site at all times, and there is a live hotline for parents or kids to call at any time. "sit and code for 3 days straight" is a gross mischaracterization. Here's an example of an event hosted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXWMr0gdLJA