ubuntu-lgbt team mailing list archive

[Scott James Remnant <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 2009-04-24 at 12:41 -0700, Robert Wall wrote:

> > So, Jimmy, thank you for bringing it up.
> > Scott, THANK YOU for looking into it.
> 
> Seconded on both counts. The !o4o policy is one that needs discussing
> frequently, close monitoring, and vigorous debate, to make sure that
> it's functioning as intended, and not being discriminatory. 
> 
I contacted the Community Council and IRC Council about this, in
response they updated the text slightly to attempt to clarify that
discussion about topics such as sexuality may result in no more than
being asked to take it elsewhere.  The assertion was that mentioning
your sexuality isn't discussing it:

<ubottu> Some things are inappropriate for #ubuntu-offtopic. Some topics
are controversial and often end in fighting. War, race, religion,
politics, gender, sexuality, drugs, potentially illegal activities and
suicide regularly upset people. Please be aware and drop a discussion if
you are asked. Discuss Microsoft in ##windows and Apple in ##mac. To
discuss these rules, please see !appeals. Please always adhere to
Freenode Policy.


The discussion isn't over at this point, the most recent message has
been from Mark Shuttleworth:

> We don't tell people "no debate of the technical decisions of the
> technical board because is allowed", we say "if there are technical
> differences of opinion, conduct that conversation in a polite and
> respectful manner".
>
> In this case, I believe we should take the same approach. We should
> not say "these topics are banned because they 'are controversial and
> often end in fighting'", we should say "fighting is not acceptable
> conduct, we expect you to be polite and respectful here as anywhere
> else in Ubuntu".

He also makes an important distinction:

> I also don't think we should declare that "only liberal values will be
> accepted here". We need to be able to collaborate effectively with
> people across the spectrum, from conservative to liberal. I think
> folks in the LGBT community will have to take a deep breathe and
> accept that someone may show up in #ubuntu-offtopic and declare
> themselves to be homophobic without being kicked off. It's OK for them
> to be homophobic, it's NOT OK for them to attack people who think
> differently, or who are gay. The tone and conduct of the discussion
> are what we will moderate, not the topic.

Scott
-- 
Scott James Remnant
scott@xxxxxxxxxx

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