[Techtalk] Politeness and the purpose of Techtalk

[David Wolverton]

Well said/done David,

Moderator - I am still subscribed to LinuxChix...  Will you please 
UNSUBSCRIBE me as you stated you would?


Regards and best wishes,
David Wolverton

---
David Sumbler wrote:
> On Thu, 28 Oct 2004, Terri Oda wrote:
> 
>> On Oct 28, 2004, at 9:42 AM, Conor Daly wrote:
>>
>>> On a related note, should I avoid pointing male newbies at 
>>> linuxchix.org?
>>> Given the level of helpfulness here, it seems like such a good resource
>>> but I don't want to send guys here if they'll discourage the women...
>>
>>
>> Perhaps hold off on referring guys for a bit, at least 'till we've 
>> re-thought how we want to handle things.  There must be some other 
>> newbie-friendly places that aren't gender-based -- can anyone 
>> recommend some that they've liked?
>>
>> Responses to this effect should go to grrltalk rather than techtalk.  
>> I've set the reply-to for this message.
>>
>> Also, if those not on grrls-only would like to make further 
>> comments/suggestions about community behaviours, please post them to 
>> issues or grrltalk.
> 
> 
> Sorry, I'm not on grrls-only or grrltalk, 'cos I'm not a grrl; I'm not
> sure what 'issues' is/are, and linuxchix.org seems to be temporarily
> inaccessible so I can't find out.  So I'm replying here.
> 
> If one or two list subscribers have upset some of the others, then
> that is certainly something that must be dealt with.  But if these one
> or two happen to be male, then please don't think of penalising all
> the males on the lists - we're not all neanderthals.  If I'm one of
> the offenders (which obviously I hope I'm not), then please tell me
> about it.
> 
> It's not impossible that there could some day be a female subscriber
> who upsets people.  In such a case, you would deal with the particular
> problem.  Please do the same in this case.
> 
> The reasons I subscribe to some of the Linuxchix lists are mostly the
> same as everyone else's, regardless of sex (or gender, if you prefer):
> OK, I am not on the receiving end of the "oh, she's only a girl so she
> must be clueless about computers" attitude, nor are most males likely
> to talk to me because they think I look or sound attractive.
> 
> But I object to the "macho" attitude of quite a few regular
> contributors to the Linux newgroups, who try to show their superiority
> by "putting people down" who have asked perfectly genuine questions.
> And those who try to show their brilliance by "blinding you with
> science", giving answers which clearly cannot possibly be understood
> by the person who asked the original question, as well they know.  The
> poor questioner goes away feeling even more bewildered and 'clueless'
> than they did before they asked.
> 
> I know, I've been on the receiving end of this treatment; then one day
> I suddenly realized what was going on, and what pathetic idiots these
> guys are.
> 
> That's why I value Linuxchix.  Not because most of you are female, but
> because of your ethos of trying to be polite, helpful and encouraging.
> It's sad that it takes a mostly female group to insist on behaviour
> which, I should have thought, ought to be the norm.  But there it is.
> 
> At the same time, I can see that it is just possible that there might
> be a few female LinuxChix subscribers who actually do not like having
> answers from males, however well-intentioned.  If that is the case
> then, in order to be true to the original purpose of LinuxChix, you
> might just have to ban males from answering queries.  If that is the
> case, it's a shame, but so be it.  But perhaps we could still be
> allowed to ask questions?
> 
> David
>