Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
Hi Valorie, On Sun, Dec 7, 2014 at 1:08 AM, Valorie Zimmerman valorie.zimmer...@gmail.com wrote: Woah. I never thought I would hear such things here. On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 9:22 AM, Pau Garcia i Quiles pgqui...@elpauer.org wrote: John, ... There are many reasons women don't submit talk proposals. One of them is the perceived unfriendly, unwelcoming nature of the conf. I'm not saying that FOSDEM *is* unfriendly or unwelcoming to women. However, it certainly has that reputation. Really? I was absolutely not aware of that, and I have attended FOSDEM very often in the past. Is there any links to why you state that FOSDEM is unfriendly and unwelcoming? From my personal experience I certainly can't confirm that! Please everybody, can we not extrapolate from events where discrimination happened and which led to the elaboration of as CoC to that all events by default are unwelcoming and unfriendly? And as mentioned by other FOSDEM regulars: there is a social policy in place which answers pretty much all the objections I could have. I am very surprised at the assumption of FOSDEM being a bad event, really. Regards, Myriam -- Proud member of the Amarok and KDE Community Protect your freedom and join the Fellowship of FSFE: http://www.fsfe.org Please don't send me proprietary file formats, use ISO standard ODF instead (ISO/IEC 26300) ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On 7 December 2014 at 18:15, Carl Symons carlsym...@gmail.com wrote: * Get on with it. John's not attending and not bringing equipment that has been used in the expo space in past years. Who can pick up the slack? What would be needed? A WikiFM contributor is currently studying and living in Bruxelles (ERASMUS), maybe I can ask her for help if we have problems with logistics... I am also likely attending FOSDEM. -Riccardo -- Pace Peace Paix Paz Frieden Pax Pokój Friður Fred Béke 和平 Hasiti Lapé Hetep Malu Mир Wolakota Santiphap Irini Peoch שלום Shanti Vrede Baris Rój Mír Taika Rongo Sulh Mir Py'guapy 평화 ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On Saturday 06 December 2014 08:36:35 Carl Symons wrote: At least some of the FOSDEM organizers believe that it's important. They have a social conduct policy. It's published in the front of the program brochure. Apparently John doesn't think that it is proper (whatever that means): Social conduct policy The FOSDEM organisers were surprised to hear that harassment is a common problem at open source conferences around the world. While we have no evidence of antisocial behaviour ever having been a problem at FOSDEM, we would like to remind everyone that harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Please report any concerns to a FOSDEM staff member (yellow shirts), or contact our coordinator Wynke on (telephone number) from the 2014 conference in plain view (https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/assets/booklet-a1fec82960ed17ed7974bc2e9951 dfc898c83318f8634f7ee046d952ada8ecb7.pdf) That sounds pretty much exactly what at least I would be looking for in a code of conduct, I think it is quite well written and balanced. However, the important disadvantage of making your CoC available only to people who are already _at_ the conference is that people for whom the presence of a CoC is a criterion for joining the conference will never know there is one. So if they just put their social conduct policy on their website in addition to the brochure, I think it would be fine. Could you maybe ask your FOSDEM contact if they could do that, Carl? Thanks, Thomas ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On 12/08/2014 11:33 PM, Laszlo Papp wrote: On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 10:02 PM, Alex Merry alex.me...@kde.org wrote: As Valorie said, if you want more female talk submissions, I am afraid that I am personally not yet sure whether I wish that. I am not going to those places and events to see beautiful ladies, get dates later and the like. What I personally would like is the most qualified submissions. Whether that happens to be from a male, female, etc, that does not matter so much to me. When I visit these conferences I would like to have the best technical experience and then the socialization as the secondary trait. Even then, I do not mind what gender I am socializing with. I hope that this effort for fixing the gender ratio will not compromise the quality of the conferences. I personally believe more in meritocracy than genderocracy. Therefore, I would rather put the effort into attracting world-wide and recognized industry and community experts than ladies just for the sake of being females. I agree about the CoC, however, gender independently. This is not such a big concern for me, but I appreciate that if it is for some other people. I have personally never seen the QtCS, Qt dev days, etc, code of conducts either and they were amazing events. Qt dev days in Munich (2011?) had many ladies around, too. Either way, If the organizers can do something to make the attendants feel comfortable without too much extra work, I think they ought to try. A few thoughts on that: * The above diatribe is largely an example of yesterday's conflict. If you look at the gender ratio in CS courses at universities today, or the gender ratio in demographically younger work forces in companies, the gender ratio has already shifted. Ours hasn't by as much, though, which means we're starting to miss out on tapping into available talent, which we should definitely care about for open source to remain competitive. These kinds of efforts don't exist as let's-pat-ourselves-on-our-backs feel-good initiatives anymore. I recommend treating it as a PR and recruitment problem: We want to be more attractive to female contributors simply for the health of our contributor base. And I think we should be in- tentionally aggressive about pursuing that talent. * And that PR problem is real. I've been interacting with young, bright, female recent CS graduates a bunch of times this year, and especially the older FOSS communities tend have a rap of being stuffy, kind of off-putting boys' clubs. I recommend stepping outside the bubble now and then -- you might be surprised how others perceive you. It's not a nice experience. * In a broader industry context, one of the main things KDE cares about is making socially responsible software. Using open source licenses, or caring about lowering power usage - many things we do are about technology palatable for society, instead of being a burden on it. Technology is also a main driver of change in the job market right now, causing numerous professions to grow obsolete. Tech-related careers remain - for now - as one in a dwindling field of options that promise self-supporting employ- ment. I think there's an argument for caring about the industry- wide gender ratio in that context, because as we head into these future problems, a world in which unemployment is heavily corre- lated with gender would be Pretty Damn Bad. As I'd like open source to scale to industry-size, I think it'd be nice to work on these things on our turf. Cheers, Eike ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On 12/08/2014 12:27 PM, Rick Timmis wrote: Bless you Sebastian You expanded my think with clarity and intelligence, thank you. Same here. Thank you, Sebas I am sorry i SHOUTED, that was not necessary Thank you Rick. And I apologize for the harsh tone of my message. I agree re personal / organisational, I had not considered it from this point of view. Best wishes Rick Chastened and edified by sebas's message, it's clear that various parts of my message were ill-informed and wrong. When KDE participates in a conference as an organization, it's important to make sure that there's a good fit. This is not a slippery slope...we participate as an organization in only a few conferences. And our presence can be seen as approval of an event. We can evaluate our participation in those conferences. They are: FOSDEM KDE India Mobile World Congress Qt Contributors Summit Qt Developer Days (Europe, US) LinuxTag LAkademy Akademy-fr Akademy-es US grassroots events such as LinuxFest NW, SCaLE, Texas LF, etc. Others? It would be a simple matter to see whether or not any particular conference has a Code of Conduct. More problematical...John Layt mentions a proper Code of Conduct. It's not clear what that means. It's difficult to assess Codes of Conduct without agreed upon, objective criteria. If we're going to assess conferences in order to participate as an organization, someone needs to define proper code of conduct. Much more problematical...does the conference do enough to encourage diverse participation? Over my head. Carl On 8 Dec 2014, at 1:44pm, Sebastian Kügler se...@kde.org mailto:se...@kde.org wrote: Hi Rick, all, On Sunday, December 07, 2014 00:26:08 Rick Timmis wrote: STOP, That is Enough !! This conversation does not belong here, it is devisive, confrontational and can not be resolved here.. That may be true for some replies, but it's not true for the discussion itself. KDE considers taking part in FOSDEM as an organization. FOSDEM as a conference has different standards that what KDE considers, collectively, as good practice, the specific item we're talking about here is a Code of Conduct. I agree that the discussion should be held level-headed instead of in headless-chicken-mode. I also think KDE has a better chance of actually achieving something than individuals. In other words, it's well worth to think of this as an organization. And that's exactly what this thread should be about. WE - The KDE Community have a responsibility, and duty first and for most to protect the unity of our community our community, in the wider sense, yes. PLEASE Cease with this thread of conversation. IF YOU Feel strongly on either side of this argument then please make you feelings known directly to the organisers of FOSDEM It's an issue at organizational level, it should be handled at organizational level, not at individual level. KDE is organizing its participation, not just individuals who want to attend. PLEASE STOP.. Please keep the discussion level-headed and productive. While the topic might not be pleasant to discuss (or read its discussions), it's an important discussion to have, and this is the right place for it. Cheers, ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
The last decades Computer Sciences have lost women across the board, from being a steadily rising curve it is now lower than it was in the 80's (1) Women in STEM sciences are low but in many other areas this is slowly getting better because the age old excuse of well women don't really want to doesn't hold muster when the natural question why? is asked. Earlier you asked about female dominated areas like child care for example - the same are true for them, the attempt is to find more men to enroll in educations for example (a drive that has worked rather well here for example). The reasoning isn't so the girls taking those classes could socialize or find dates (I am actually pretty certain not a one argued for that eventual benefit) - its because it enriches the area when there is 1) more people (adding women does not mean kicking out an equal amount of men of course. 2) people from different backgrounds behave differently in situations. More minds thinking about a problem from different angles = new ideas and solutions. For example there are female showers at hostels not because the owners think that women are better hostel guests than men or that they want to implement a genderocracy (a term I think is a rather apt description of what we're living under now) but because they want more guests and not having seperate showers tend to drive people away. Finally the Code of Conduct is not just about women, its about LGBT people, people of color etc. AND white straight men too of course. (1) From Wp http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-computer-programming-was-womens-work/2011/08/24/gIQAdixGgJ_story.html?hpid=z3 On Monday 08 December 2014 22.33.50 Laszlo Papp wrote: On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 10:02 PM, Alex Merry alex.me...@kde.org wrote: As Valorie said, if you want more female talk submissions, I am afraid that I am personally not yet sure whether I wish that. I am not going to those places and events to see beautiful ladies, get dates later and the like. What I personally would like is the most qualified submissions. Whether that happens to be from a male, female, etc, that does not matter so much to me. When I visit these conferences I would like to have the best technical experience and then the socialization as the secondary trait. Even then, I do not mind what gender I am socializing with. I hope that this effort for fixing the gender ratio will not compromise the quality of the conferences. I personally believe more in meritocracy than genderocracy. Therefore, I would rather put the effort into attracting world-wide and recognized industry and community experts than ladies just for the sake of being females. I agree about the CoC, however, gender independently. This is not such a big concern for me, but I appreciate that if it is for some other people. I have personally never seen the QtCS, Qt dev days, etc, code of conducts either and they were amazing events. Qt dev days in Munich (2011?) had many ladies around, too. Either way, If the organizers can do something to make the attendants feel comfortable without too much extra work, I think they ought to try. ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On 12/06/2014 04:26 PM, Rick Timmis wrote: STOP, That is Enough !! This conversation does not belong here, it is devisive, confrontational and can not be resolved here.. WE - The KDE Community have a responsibility, and duty first and for most to protect the unity of our community PLEASE Cease with this thread of conversation. IF YOU Feel strongly on either side of this argument then please make you feelings known directly to the organisers of FOSDEM PLEASE STOP.. Thanks RIck Timmis I debated with myself about this message and the thread subject matter...and decided to speak up about a couple of issues. The bossy tone of the Rick Timmis message is unusual for KDE. In the spirit of working together, assuming the best, uninhibited self-expression, I cannot see any conversation not belonging here if people want to express their opinions. I want to hear from others and encourage people not to stifle themselves. Anyone who doesn't like the subject matter is free to ignore the thread. I simply do not agree that our primary duty to protect the unity of our Community. I find that the KDE Code of Conduct and the Manifesto are clear about how we do things. In particular, the Code of Conduct addresses inevitable disagreements. It does not say anything about stopping uncomfortable or contentious conversations. Re: the thread subject John's original message laid down a pivot point for the thread. It raises a hot topic, one that generally is not dealt with effectively, so that there continue to be oppressive, harassing environments around tech conferences. The question for me about FOSDEM is So what? KDE people have interacted with the FOSDEM organizers. Some are dissatisfied, although not much specific information was shared about why they feel that way. I've now heard from 4 people who are closely involved with FOSDEM organizing. My sense is that Pau is well-qualified to speak to the issues...he has been closely involved with KDE's participation for several years. As one of the Desktop DevRoom organizers, he almost certainly has recruited and selected speakers. His views on the welcoming atmosphere and the speaker/attendee gender ratio carry weight with me. Likewise John Layt, who has been one of the primary organizers of the KDE exhibit space. IMO, he is clearly speaking from a solid position, although I don't know the basis for his opinions. I've worked closely over some months with one of the organizers on a non-KDE open source project, which involves mostly men. She is a savvy techie, hardworking, insightful, cooperative, collaborative and more. I emailed her about these issues. Her views on the subject under discussion mean a lot to me. She doesn't see anything to be alarmed about. Based on my own work on a Code of Conduct for linuxfestnorthwest.org [1], the FOSDEM Social Conduct Policy seems to be what the conference needs. The FOSDEM organizers are aware of potential problems and have a way to address them. So what? * There is not likely to be any KDE policy regarding the policies, recruiting and selection criteria of other organizations. Any effort in this direction won't end well. For example, KDE adopts a policy that encourages people to boycott FOSDEM. Do we then have policies about other tech conferences? Who decides what is a proper code of conduct? * It is helpful to me to hear various views on conference Codes of Conduct, people's opinions, what makes people feel oppressed, harassed, unwanted and unfree. I don't see the kinds of offensive behaviors that others report, but I'm certain that it happens. There is a long history of man's inhumanity to man. * There are efforts [2],[3] to deal with unacceptable conference behavior. People who feel strongly about the issues can support those efforts. * Regarding FOSDEM specifically...24 members of the organizing team are listed at the FOSDEM website. Presumably someone who advocates stronger stances on the subjects at hand could join the team. * Don't participate if a conference has a reputation for being unfriendly or unwelcoming to women that one finds offensive. * Get on with it. John's not attending and not bringing equipment that has been used in the expo space in past years. Who can pick up the slack? Carl [1] http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/code-of-conduct. I wrote the original, lifting as appropriate from similar documents from other organizations. [2] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy [3] http://www.ashedryden.com/blog/codes-of-conduct-101-faq Sent from Blue Mail http://r.bluemailapp.com On 7 Dec 2014, at 12:08am, Valorie Zimmerman valorie.zimmer...@gmail.com mailto:valorie.zimmer...@gmail.com wrote: Woah. I never thought I would hear such things here. On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 9:22 AM, Pau Garcia i Quiles John, You couldn't be more wrong. I have been organizing the Desktops DevRoom for the last 4-5
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
o.O Can I ask you, do you represent Fosdem at all? On Saturday 06 December 2014 18.22.45 Pau Garcia i Quiles wrote: John, You couldn't be more wrong. I have been organizing the Desktops DevRoom for the last 4-5 years (cannot really remember), so I can speak from reality. There is no discrimination against women in FOSDEM. It's just they do not submit talk proposals. Simple as that. E. g. this year we have only had one talk proposal from a woman and I had to chase her! In the very few cases where they do submit talks, more often than not when you tell them you've got your slot the answer will be oh, I won't be attending, I need more time to plan. Well, sorry but everybody is notified of acceptance/rejection with exactly the same amount of time (4-6 weeks) due to the timeframe FOSDEM manages. If men can come, why can't women? (we do also have some rejections from men due to too-late notice but it's less frequent). People are overreacting with these CoC's (or lack of). For some reason, and it's not discrimination of any kind, women are by far not interested in technology and engineering. In the same way they are by far more interested in Nursery, Medicine, Psychology, Marketing Advertising, etc than men. Is there a CoC about men for Nursery or Midwife conventions? I don't think so. On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 2:21 AM, John Layt jl...@kde.org wrote: Hi, Just a heads-up that I will not be attending FOSDEM next year and will not be assisting in any way with preparations for FOSDEM or providing any hardware. This is the result of the FOSDEM organisers refusing to institute a proper Code of Conduct for attendees or to take any other steps in addressing the dreadful gender ratio of speakers on their program or attending the conference itself. I have attempted to discuss these issues with them and found their attitude and beliefs completely unacceptable to me. As such I cannot give them any form of support, and sadly that means not helping the KDE community at this event anymore. John. ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
Woah. I never thought I would hear such things here. On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 9:22 AM, Pau Garcia i Quiles pgqui...@elpauer.org wrote: John, You couldn't be more wrong. I have been organizing the Desktops DevRoom for the last 4-5 years (cannot really remember), so I can speak from reality. There is no discrimination against women in FOSDEM. It's just they do not submit talk proposals. Simple as that. E. g. this year we have only had one talk proposal from a woman and I had to chase her! In the very few cases where they do submit talks, more often than not when you tell them you've got your slot the answer will be oh, I won't be attending, I need more time to plan. Well, sorry but everybody is notified of acceptance/rejection with exactly the same amount of time (4-6 weeks) due to the timeframe FOSDEM manages. If men can come, why can't women? (we do also have some rejections from men due to too-late notice but it's less frequent). There are many reasons women don't submit talk proposals. One of them is the perceived unfriendly, unwelcoming nature of the conf. I'm not saying that FOSDEM *is* unfriendly or unwelcoming to women. However, it certainly has that reputation. Some women are pioneers enough to attend, or even speak. That can require a great deal of courage, which is not always on-tap. Those who are experienced speakers of course often come up with a talk on short notice -- I know of many good female speakers. Why are they not speaking at FOSDEM? Seriously, if the steering committee wants more diversity, it should be talking to these experienced speakers and find out why they choose not to come. People are overreacting with these CoC's (or lack of). For some reason, and it's not discrimination of any kind, women are by far not interested in technology and engineering. In the same way they are by far more interested in Nursery, Medicine, Psychology, Marketing Advertising, etc than men. Is there a CoC about men for Nursery or Midwife conventions? I don't think so. This paragraph here leaves me shocked and speechless. Say what? Valorie On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 2:21 AM, John Layt jl...@kde.org wrote: Hi, Just a heads-up that I will not be attending FOSDEM next year and will not be assisting in any way with preparations for FOSDEM or providing any hardware. This is the result of the FOSDEM organisers refusing to institute a proper Code of Conduct for attendees or to take any other steps in addressing the dreadful gender ratio of speakers on their program or attending the conference itself. I have attempted to discuss these issues with them and found their attitude and beliefs completely unacceptable to me. As such I cannot give them any form of support, and sadly that means not helping the KDE community at this event anymore. John. -- http://about.me/valoriez ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 7:08 PM, Valorie Zimmerman valorie.zimmer...@gmail.com wrote: Woah. I never thought I would hear such things here. On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 9:22 AM, Pau Garcia i Quiles pgqui...@elpauer.org wrote: John, You couldn't be more wrong. Can everybody just take a step back and relax? John is not calling for a KDE UPRISING (in capital letters), he's just saying he's not collaborating for this and that reason, and someone else needs to step in. None of you posting here have posted scientific proof of your claims, so let's just talk about who's taking on John's missing contributions. We can discuss FOSDEM's policy in a separate thread/meeting. David E. Narvaez ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On Sat, Dec 6, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Carl Symons carlsym...@gmail.com wrote: On 12/05/2014 09:11 PM, Valorie Zimmerman wrote: On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 5:21 PM, John Layt jl...@kde.org wrote: Hi, Just a heads-up that I will not be attending FOSDEM next year and will not be assisting in any way with preparations for FOSDEM or providing any hardware. This is the result of the FOSDEM organisers refusing to institute a proper Code of Conduct for attendees or to take any other steps in addressing the dreadful gender ratio of speakers on their program or attending the conference itself. I have attempted to discuss these issues with them and found their attitude and beliefs completely unacceptable to me. As such I cannot give them any form of support, and sadly that means not helping the KDE community at this event anymore. John. Ouch, I was not aware that FOSDEM has no CoC. That is really bad. Do we have any connections to the organizers where we can make them aware that this is *important*? I for one would never want to attend a conf. with no CoC. There have been far too many incidents of harassment, assault and other nastiness to ignore. It is up to us individually and up to us as the KDE community to stand up for minority communities, and extend the hand of friendship to all. I know FOSDEM is happening soon, but it is not too late to take some action on our part, and not too late for them to add a link to a decent CoC on their website, at the very least. Thank you John for raising the issue on the list. I wish I had known earlier. Valorie I have been in contact with FOSDEM organizers. I worked closely with one of them earlier this year. She writes... Not that I am personally against a code of coduct, but being a FOSDEM attendee for the last 3 years, I don't feel that FOSDEM is not welcoming to women, or that it discriminates in any way. I might be biased since I am one of FOSDEM organizers, but I truly think that FOSDEM is the foss event with less, if any, discrimination... There's more about the situation that should be taken into account before there is a KDE UPRISING. I wasn't asking for an uprising. It sounds like you have done what I was calling for, which was talking with the organizers. I had lost touch with Wynke; I'm glad you have contact. At least some of the FOSDEM organizers believe that it's important. They have a social conduct policy. It's published in the front of the program brochure. Apparently John doesn't think that it is proper (whatever that means): Social conduct policy The FOSDEM organisers were surprised to hear that harassment is a common problem at open source conferences around the world. While we have no evidence of antisocial behaviour ever having been a problem at FOSDEM, we would like to remind everyone that harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. Please report any concerns to a FOSDEM staff member (yellow shirts), or contact our coordinator Wynke on (telephone number) from the 2014 conference in plain view (https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/assets/booklet-a1fec82960ed17ed7974bc2e9951dfc898c83318f8634f7ee046d952ada8ecb7.pdf) Some policies spell out detailed definitions of harassment and harassing behaviors, discussions of social structures of domination. How much effect does that detail and philosophizing have? IMO not much. A Code of Conduct encyclopedia is not likely to change dominating, churlish, harassing mindsets. What makes a practical difference is that the FOSDEM social conduct policy is clearly, though generally stated, published and given to attendees. Further, it includes a complaint resolution structure. This satisfies me, and I didn't know about it. Thank you for clarifying, Carl. I don't have enough information to address John's claims about the FOSDEM organizers refusing to address a lopsided gender ratio. Presumably someone who feels strongly about the issue could join the organizing team and do something about it. The quick, friendly response I got from my acquaintance and one other person on the FOSDEM organizing team was quite different than what John describes. Carl Setting up and enforcing a CoC is one thing, and really the easy thing. As Pau describes, addressing gender ratio is rather more difficult. In my experience, they work together to make a better experience for everyone. While being the unicorn (lone female) in a male space can be enjoyable for some, most women find the stress too much, and choose not to do the extra work. Which of course leaves the few women attending feeling even more alone. Until KDE, and until FOSS, and even until the tech industry as a whole crack this problem, we'll have uneven progress. When we embrace diversity, and hold out a welcoming hand to all, and not just a few, we enrich our community. Valorie -- http://about.me/valoriez ___ kde-community mailing list
Re: [kde-community] FOSDEM Organisation
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 5:21 PM, John Layt jl...@kde.org wrote: Hi, Just a heads-up that I will not be attending FOSDEM next year and will not be assisting in any way with preparations for FOSDEM or providing any hardware. This is the result of the FOSDEM organisers refusing to institute a proper Code of Conduct for attendees or to take any other steps in addressing the dreadful gender ratio of speakers on their program or attending the conference itself. I have attempted to discuss these issues with them and found their attitude and beliefs completely unacceptable to me. As such I cannot give them any form of support, and sadly that means not helping the KDE community at this event anymore. John. Ouch, I was not aware that FOSDEM has no CoC. That is really bad. Do we have any connections to the organizers where we can make them aware that this is *important*? I for one would never want to attend a conf. with no CoC. There have been far too many incidents of harassment, assault and other nastiness to ignore. It is up to us individually and up to us as the KDE community to stand up for minority communities, and extend the hand of friendship to all. I know FOSDEM is happening soon, but it is not too late to take some action on our part, and not too late for them to add a link to a decent CoC on their website, at the very least. Thank you John for raising the issue on the list. I wish I had known earlier. Valorie -- http://about.me/valoriez ___ kde-community mailing list kde-community@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-community
