Or even there's just the one guy who's a dick to women, but there's the other 10 guys who just let him do it.

Who judges merit? How do they judge it? Is it a fair judgement? How do we know? What about all the biases that everyone has?

That's what conferences are for. Also, forcing someone to hide who they are just so they can contribute is incredibly demeaning. That is the definition of closeting.

Ah yes, the Ender Wiggin style of conflict resolution

So, when someone is being dismissive to me at the office, the correct thing to do is to bash their face in with a keyboard? What kind of passive-aggressive conflict resolution are you proposing here?

Ah, yes, the MAD style of conflict resolution. They send one of your guys to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue! That's the free software way!

If you'd bother to read the article, she addresses this point. Technical excellence does not require uncaring aggressiveness.

It has been frequently a topic of Slashdot posts. Even a modicum of Google research will come up with some gems. https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/12/... - here's one

Welcome to the game of power dynamics! If you call them out, will they make your life difficult? If you call them out, will they physically attack you? If you call them out, will they use their authority to subtly destroy your life or career? The answer to all these questions is "I don't know!"

You're also no mathematician

Yes, because they should be learning to do original research by reading the sources Wikipedia cites, and then also finding their own sources. Since Slashdot is not (yet) a university, we don't have to be experts in the field (FSM forbid)

It says "Romans go home!"

Searching for stolen property without knowing the person who stole the property shouldn't require a warrant.

Wrong. The police do not get to violate civil liberties because some piece of property got stolen and they don't know whodunit. That's the entire point.

Except those wiretaps were lawfully obtained with a search warrant approved by a judge.

There is a stark difference between what consenting adults do in a private place and what consenting adults discuss doing to other, non-consenting adults. Some of those discussions are even illegal (not many in the US though, and I hope it stays that way).