[Courses] A letter from a group of volunteers

[Michelle M.]

Dear All,

Please review the following collectively drafted proposal, and if you 
agree that it is a reasonable plan for working out the recent issues, 
please sign at the bottom. It is on a Wiki, so click the Edit tab to add 
your signature. You do not need to do any tagging; just add a blank line 
after your sig. thank you!

http://wiki.metacentric.org/index.php?title=Linuxchix_Collaborative_Statement

To the Linuxchix Community,

We are a group of volunteers of Linuxchix, some of whom have been active 
parts of this community since 2000 or earlier. We have been disturbed 
and dismayed by a series of events that took place around the issue of 
the Linuxchix IRC server. These events have broad implications for the 
governance and future of Linuxchix.

We are writing this letter in the hopes that as a community, we can 
resolve these issues, and find a way for us to move forward as the 
larger, more vibrant community that we've become.

Here is a brief outline of events, that occurred over the past two weeks:

- First concerns about IRC server governance were taken privately to 
Mary by Carla, copied to Akkana, Valorie, Pig. Carla wanted the opinions 
of additional people as a reality check

- Akkana, Valorie, Pig agreed with Carla's concerns and added some 
issues of their own

- The issues raised concerned behavior by Val Henson, and why did Mary 
unilaterally, with no discussion, appoint Val as the 'IRC czar'

- Mary admitted she was probably biased in favor of Val, which would 
affect her judgement

- We suggested that Mary recuse herself and recruit other volunteers to 
examine the issues, Mary instead chose to publicly reaffirm both her 
method of choosing an 'IRC czar', and the person she selected.

- The issue was then taken to the Linuxchix irc-admin and volunteers 
lists, because we believe that decisions like "should we even have an 
IRC czar" should be made democratically, with discussion and input from 
membership

- Mary avoided any discussion of the issue that would change the outcome.

- Despite general agreement from many chix on the Volunteers and 
irc-admin lists that the issues needed discussion, Mary chose to ban 
Carla from irc-admin, volunteers, and removed her IRC ops, with no 
discussion and no due process. More than 10 volunteers wrote emails in 
protest.

We are at a point where some drastically different actions need to be 
taken. A significant number of volunteers of Linuxchix feel hurt, 
disappointed, and not listened to. Many have lost trust in the 
leadership of Linuxchix. We need to turn this around, so that we can 
continue Linuxchix as the inclusive, open, helpful, incredibly useful 
resource that it has been for all of these years. We suggest the following:

1) Mary reverse her decision to place Val as IRC Czar until such time as 
a discussion about whether or not to have such a position, and who 
should fill it can happen.

2) Three or so neutral volunteers be placed (by collaborative 
discussion) in charge of IRC until such discussions are complete.

3) Mary immediately unbans Carla from the Volunteers list, and gives her 
IRC ops back.

4) Truly open discussions about decision-making and accountability be 
pursued, with an open mind as to the result - the way things have always 
been done doesn't necessarily have to be the way things should be done now.

If Mary is not willing to follow through on these very reasonable 
suggestions, we suggest respectfully that she step down as Linuxchix 
coordinator, and a process be put in place to find her replacement.


Signed (in alphabetical order),


Maria Blackmore (maria)

Conor Daly (cdaly)

Terry Hanson (terry)

Michelle Murrain (pearlbear)

Linda Pahdoco (LDP)

Nicole Pauls (colby)

Akkana Peck (akk)

Carla Schroder (carla)

Dragan Stanojevic - Nevidljivi (nev)

Megan Zurawicz (pig)

Christina Zeeh (xtina)

Valorie Zimmerman (valorie)