[Techtalk] FAQ: Proposed techtalk meta-FAQ, invitation to discuss.

[LinuxChix FAQs]

Hi all,

The below meta FAQ is Val's attempt at describing ways to keep techtalk
female friendly and to have lots of female voices on techtalk. It has
been posted to issues at linuxchix.org once before.

I'm posting it a second time before it becomes an official FAQ and
begins to be regularly posted and appears on the website.

PLEASE post all replies to issues at linuxchix.org ONLY, and not to
techtalk AT ALL. People not on issues who find this interesting enough
to discuss will want to join issues.

The discussion we want to have should be focussed on the following:

The GOAL of LinuxChix is, as expressed in the General FAQ (this may be
rewritten or expressed more clearly at some point, perhaps in this
discussion):

       And that's exactly why I started LinuxChix. To give women who use
       Linux a comfortable environment in which to discuss the OS they
       love; to create a community that encourages and helps new users;
       to make others realize that the vocal minority does not
       necessarily represent the Linux community in general.

The perceived PROBLEM with techtalk as of a few months ago was that
women felt that all the questions on techtalk were answered by men, and
that this had driven some women active on the other lists to cease
posting to, or even reading, techtalk, thus failing to meet the
"giv[ing] women a a comfortable environment in which to discuss the OS
they love" goal.

The SOLUTION as expressed in this FAQ is to alert men to this
possibility and ask them to remember that LinuxChix, including techtalk,
are primarily intended as women's lists, and to remember that being
welcome on such a list does not mean that they should take it over, and
to work to help keep techtalk friendly and female oriented.

If you want to discuss the meta-FAQ, keep in mind that the GOAL of
LinuxChix and the fact that the *number of posts* by men answering questions
on techtalk was a real PROBLEM according to women on other lists. Hence,
if you disagree with the meta-FAQ, you might want to propose an
alternative SOLUTION rather than debate the fact that there is a
problem. People are getting upset, so we know there is a problem, that
much is already established.

So the question is: will posting this meta-FAQ to techtalk on a
semi-regular basis help keep techtalk friendly and female oriented?

-----


                          LinuxChix: Techtalk Meta-FAQ

  Val Henson

   Revision History             
   Revision 0.1                 January 2002                 
   Sent out to issues at linuxchix.org for initial comments

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                               Techtalk Meta-FAQ

   The purpose of the LinuxChix project is to provide a friendly,
   woman-oriented environment to discuss Linux. The techtalk mailing list
   exists primarily as a place for female geeks to ask technical questions
   and get answers from other female geeks. Many women posting to this list
   aren't just looking for answers to their technical questions, they're also
   looking for a peer group and a sense of community with other technical
   women.

   While techtalk welcomes helpful and considerate people of any gender, it's
   easy for the mailing list to become overwhelmed by male voices. As long as
   Linux geeks are mostly male, mailing lists about Linux will be mostly
   male, so members of the list should expect to see a lot of male voices.
   But then, how do we fulfill the original purpose of the techtalk list? We
   don't want to kick out all the men, who are productive and helpful members
   of the list. One way to keep the list female-oriented is for the men on
   the techtalk list to self-moderate themselves to some degree.

   How do you self-moderate? When you see a question, stop and think for a
   minute before answering. Wait a few hours and give other people a chance
   to answer first. It's unlikely that the poster needs an answer within a
   few minutes. Consider responding off list, or not at all. If you've been
   answering questions a lot lately, take a break and let other people
   answer. Examine your motives: Could it be that you race to answer
   questions mostly because you want to look smart, and only partly because
   you want to help people?

   When you do answer a question, include how you discovered the answer. Did
   you read a man page? A web page? A book? Did you do a web search? Did the
   programmer in the cubicle next to you tell you the answer? Suggest ways to
   find out more about the topic under question, independently of the mailing
   list. If you were once embarrassed by not knowing the answer to this
   question, tell your story. It helps to remind people that even the gurus
   were once clueless newbies.

   Finally, every time you think about posting, remember that if every
   question on the list is answered in 5 minutes or less by a guru, that
   discourages every single other person on the list from even attempting to
   answer a question. By the time other people have finished reading the
   email, the guru has already sent a detailed, jargon-filled answer. We want
   to encourage people to participate, not discourage them.

   The reason the LinuxChix lists are so popular, techtalk in particular, is
   that they do have a lot of women subscribed and as a result, have a
   different "feel" to them then normal Linux lists. We all like this and
   want to keep it that way. If the list appears to be too male-dominated,
   the women who make techtalk what it is will stop participating and start
   leaving. Help us keep techtalk a friendly and helpful place!