Re: GNOME Speaker Guidelines

[Alan Cox <alan lxorguk ukuu org uk>]

> minorities have not had a large role in free software community.  So that
> joke might have worked with a lot of people back then but not so much now.
>  Since you're a celebrity people are willing to probably overlook such
> things that might normally offend them.  Of course the opposite is true as
> well, because you're a celebrity people might be even more offended
> depending on how sensitive they feel your role is.

Worse unfortunately, because he is a celebrity people will copy what he
does and think its 'cool'. Which when it comes to sexist jokes is not
what the free software community needs.

Richard, remember the freedom to modify code requires the knowledge to do
it - which is something you mostly learn and share within that community
by being part of it. Driving half of the human race out of that community
though behaviour they find obnoxious and threatening isn't just a matter
of poor taste, its a direct attack on the very freedoms the FSF and GPL
are meant to be about. It's not a question of what the law permits but
what is ethically right. Is it ethically right for the leader of the free
software movement to drive people away from free software ?

We want to replace the proprietary software world with free software for
all, not for mostly male, thick skinned folks because everyone else feels
unwelcome and threatened - whether for cultural or other reasons.

Alan