[IndiChix] COC and Policy for Chapters

[Gayathri Swaminathan]

On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 12:52 AM, Vid Ayer <vid at svaksha.com> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> From, http://www.linuxchix.org/founding-local-linuxchix-chapter.html ,
> "Local Linuxchix chapters are completely autonomous provided that your
> chapter observes the central aim of LinuxChix: "supporting women in
> Linux", and your chapter observes the "be polite, be helpful" rules.
> You can do anything you like beyond that."
>
> Unfortunately this freedom and autonomy is being misused by a select
> few for unknown reasons.  I am aware that local issues should be
> solved locally but its entirely demotivating to have vitriolic abusive
> responses when one is trying to ensure transparency in the project.  I
> state this because Linuxchix-India domain is currently owned by a
> woman who has left the group and has not communicated with LCIN for
> about a year now.  Fwiw, previous attempts last year and more recent
> attempts, as is evident in the ensuing thread[1][2], resulted in a lot
> of vitriolic personal attacks[3] and threats to fork the group by only
> one person (Mr. Atul Chitnis, and there is a precedent in this regard
> [4]) on the basis of LC having no specific rules for chapters.  That
> is neither polite nor helpful and our problem remains gridlocked as I
> said here [5] : "That said, threatening to fork the project is not the
> best way to behave in a community. Quoting the LC motto "Be polite, Be
> respectful", I'd add that "People come and go, Projects remain" and
> any community is made up of its people."
>
> [1]
> http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/indichix/2008-December/001309.html
> [2]
> http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/indichix/2009-January/001332.html
> [3]
> http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/indichix/2009-January/001326.html
> [4]
> http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/indichix/2009-January/001334.html
> [5]
> http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/indichix/2009-January/001340.html
>
> So this is a request and a suggestion that LC draft a policy for
> chapters with respect to domain ownership, hosting and server access
> issues.  Its certainly not nice to curtail freedom but misusing the
> freedom LC provides is not helpful and very demotivating.
>
> Since there has been no precedent like this in the 10 years of LC's
> existence, I'd like folks to suggest a way out of the current
> gridlock.  I am sending this mail to the grrl-talk list so that
> everyone can participate and discuss the issue and its discussed
> publicly with archives** so we can avoid future mud-slinging and
> finger-pointing.   In case someone has a thought to share on how to go
> ahead and resolve the (linuxchix.org.in) domain and keep things in one
> place. Am also keeping the Indichix list in the loop so people can
> suggest how we go ahead from here.
>
> ** NB: Grrl-talk is open to men subscribing but I'd also like to
> request the archives be made public (its currently only available to
> subscribers).
>
> Thanks for reading,
> --
> Vid



Don't think making grrtalk archives public is necessary.

The problem LinuxChix-India is facing is a very simple problem. The local
chapter needs a new domain name to better associate with it's parent
organization LinuxChix. The problem stems/hinges on the "how" part.

Handling the technical/ communication parts of this move needs explanation,
forming protocols, informing volunteers/ contributors. The
founders/administrators of LinuxChix-India need to work on these details and
consistently inform members of the organization.

The threads cited in your email got way out-of-whack as a result of past
references/ancient history. If there were policies forbiding such
"unhealthy" discussions the list administrators could have warned the
concerned member ( as Hassath did).

LinuxChix-India has a lot of work ahead this year in terms of strengthening:

- why it exists
- how to encourage participation
- reforming guidelines/protocols for communication.

Have the above defined will streamline these discourses.

-- 
Gayathri Swaminathan
gpgkey: 3EFB3D39
Volunteer, FDP
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.linuxchix.org/pipermail/indichix/attachments/20090102/0ad43ea4/attachment.htm