[clug] Being polite on the list - or: Geek Feminism 101

[Ben]

or, just read http://xkcd.com/322/ and if you are unable to extrapolate it
to the situation at hand and learn something useful about how to have
pleasant and valuable interactions with people then stfu :-)

2009/7/15 Paul Wayper <paulway at mabula.net>

> Hi all,
>
> I think I ought to step in here and make a public statement about what I
> (at least) expect from the CLUG list as far as treatment of women,
> minorities, majorities, religion, or other sensitive issues.
>
> I would like to see an attempt by everyone to be polite, especially to
> women, when posting on this list.
>
> The whole topic of sexist bias in technology has been going on for ages,
> and the myths that surround why women are under-represented in technology,
> and especially open source groups, would occupy several episodes of
> Mythbusters[1].  If you labour under the assumption that women making up
> only 20% of the IT industry and only 3% of the Free Open Source Software
> movement is for any other reason than because it is at times blatantly
> sexist, then please feel free to rid yourself of these illusions.
> http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Geek_Feminism_Wiki is a good place to
> start.
>
> The worst thing men can do is to pretend that their behaviour doesn't
> offend anyone.  The second-worst thing everyone do is to stand by while
> other people are being offensive and say "well, it's not really my place to
> speak out".  It doesn't matter how clever your justification is, or how
> erudite your reasoning, if someone's taken offence at what you've said then
> you should at least apologise for that.  It is not hard to write neutrally,
> and email gives us all time to edit and reflect on our response before
> sending it.
>
> Really, there is no topic on this list that needs to address people as men
> or women.  Any generalisation you can make about women applies equally to a
> group of men.  We aim to be a source of Linux help and collaboration to
> everybody.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Paul
>
> [1] No doubt there'd be a few explosions in there as well to keep Jamie
> happy.
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