Re: [guadec-list] code of conduct/anti-harassment at GUADEC

["Karen Sandler" <karen gnome org>]

On Thu, January 3, 2013 12:12 pm, Bastien Nocera wrote:
> On Thu, 2013-01-03 at 12:00 -0500, Karen Sandler wrote:
>> > Please do not believe that GNOME somehow is more special than other
>> > hacker communities. This assumption will only hinder you in
>> recognizing
>> > the problem.
>>
>> Absolutely. My point is really that discrimination occurs at a lot of
>> free
>> software conferences
>
> Can you define discrimination here, and discuss some past experiences in
> other conferences or at GUADEC?

Actually, I think we discussed all of this at length when we adopted our
code of conduct and conference policy (though it was before my time as ED)
so I don't know that we need to discuss this again at the basic level.

>
> Did we have to take action for "discriminatory behaviour" at GUADEC?
> What are currently our course of action when problems occur, are the
> Board or the organisers, or both responsible for enforcement?

There have at least two incidents at GUADEC that I am aware of and another
one at a different GNOME event. As far as I know our previous actions have
been to make sure that the behavior ceases, then discuss the issue, often
eliciting an apology. This also includes talking to the target of the
remarks to make sure that we understand what kind of impact the incident
had and to try to ameliorate it. In other words, to my knowledge, the goal
is to make it clear that such behavior is unacceptable and do the best we
can to make sure it doesn't happen again. In the past I have seen both
board members and organizers get involved. Zero tolerance from everyone at
a conference really nips such behavior in the bud.

FWIW, I've personally been subjected to a couple of sexist remarks at
other conferences, and this may contribute to my desire to do as good of a
job as we can.

> I'd really like to understand what is defined as the problem before we
> discuss about guards against it, or enforcement. I also prefer
> encouraging the positive approaches (like WOP has done) than enforcement
> at a later date.

I agree! I'm not talking about a long lecture about harassment, but short
discussion that we're a respectful community, that
harassment/discriminatory behavior makes the conference less fun for
everyone and that we've already got policies in place that we all need to
stick to. Linux.conf.au had a brief talk to this effect when I was there
and it was actually entertaining, while serious.

karen