Hmm... where to start. At least BSD side, a lot of people *are* LGBT. Most people are quiet about their personal life so I won't advertise that fact, but at least Kirk McKusick (author of BSD FFS, FreeBSD) is very open about his relationship with Eric Allman (author of sendmail). Is it surprising that they get upset if you spew hatred against LGBT people?
Eric S. Raymond has to ask himself why he hasn't needed to know that contributors are women. My own name is unambigiously female. If you've seen a single commit or reply by me, you already know that I'm probably a woman. In a tight-knit community, it's really hard to miss big aspects about a person. I know my friends are gay because they mentioned their partners names which were unambigiously gendered. They also go together to conferences. I know my friend is trans because she discussed the travel difficulties following changing her legal documents. What happened is that Linus Torvalds finally realized that when he sends an email to the Linux mailing lists, there's at least a few hundred readers. It would be far more beneficial to the project if he toned it down with the abuse. Seeing another person abused is like hearing your dad scream at your mom. Yes, you're not the one taking the abuse, but it makes your home life miserable. I've been rude to others as well and it has occurred to me that as one of the loudest people in NetBSD, I make a big difference in the overall tone in discussions. I'm replying to hundreds of bugs made by people who otherwise see little interaction with developers. If their experience is positive and they are treated with respect, they are more likely to make an effort in the future. It's my obligation to the project to leave and calm down when I get upset. _______________________________________________ Discussions mailing list Discussions@hamakor.org.il http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discussions
