An Open Letter to the Open Source Community

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Tue, May 22, 2007 at 03:10:52PM +0700, Mikhail Gusarov wrote:
> Twas brillig at 15:16:18 22.05.2007 UTC+10 when Melissa Draper did gyre and gimble:
> 
>  MD> As a Woman and an Open Source contributor, I see a number of behaviours
>  MD> within the Open Source community that are quite counterproductive to the
>  MD> community. Many of these behaviours often go unnoticed, and this is a
>  MD> shame.
> 
> Please provide any facts (URLs to logs, e-mails, whatever) to prove your
> claims. Both your mail and report contain only feelings, not the facts. While
> feelings are very important, they do not create basis for fruitful discussion.

One of the key points that Melissa made was that we ought to be vigilant
regarding such behaviour, and respond to it appropriately when it does
occur.  This is not only about reacting to what happened in the past, but
creating and maintaining a more open and supportive environment going
forward.

-- 
 - mdz