Graeme (@mathie) Matthieson is one of the good guys. He’s also one of the people behind the Scottish Ruby Conference (né Scotland on Rails).

I spent my own money to go to the first one they ran, and it was a great conference. To judge from the tweets around this year’s conference, they’re not slacking off at all. Even though I’m back to being a Perl programmer nowadays, I wish I’d been in Edinburgh last week.

However it seems that some contemptible fuck at this year’s conference took the opportunity to walk off with Graeme’s iPhone. Way to go asshole.

So, Joe O’Brien set up a pledgie and, in slightly more than 24 hours, the pledge has raised the 500 notes required to cover the cost of replacing the phone. The pledge is still open with the suggestion that any excess will be, at Graeme’s discretion, used to buy the conference organizers a slap up feed, or donated to the Children’s Hospice Association.

So, pledge away. It’s a good cause.

2 historic comments »

By Dave Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:07:19 GMT

Your phrasing makes it seem like a fellow attendee took the phone rather than just an opportunist thief attracted by the likely large number of laptops and sundry gadgets. I’m guessing that’s unintended.

By Piers Cawley Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:07:12 GMT

Well, that’s roughly the conclusion drawn by Graeme himself. Any community has bad apples – but, as Graeme says, what matters is how the bulk of the community reacts.

In my last post, I talked about how I felt I didn’t fit in the ruby community, but it’s good to see it confirmed that, whether I belong there or not, ruby people are generous and supportive.