[Courses] A letter from a group of volunteers

[Tricia Bowen]

As someone who doesn't spend anytime on IRC, because of time constraints,
it's difficult to make a judgment about what is happening. I have been on
this list for too many years and I've never experienced a vote of no
confidence issue. I would like to hear Mary's response before drawing any
conclusions? I would hope that the issues can be resolved before things get
too ugly.
--Tricia

On 6/12/07, Michelle M. <michelle at murrain.net> wrote:
>
> 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)
>
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>



-- 
--Tricia