[ubuntu-in] new moderators, Ubuntu-Women [was] Re: Ubuntu-IN mailing list

[Baishampayan Ghose]

Vidya,
I thought not to answer your questions, but it seems it's become necessary now.

> That's not what I meant at all ... For the record, everyone who asks
> will not be given admin rights. I am handling it fine but sharing
> tasks as a team is better so you (or anyone who is interested) are
> welcome to moderate this list with me but 4 admins is a tad too much
> for a list where subscriber/s posts are not moderated.  Its
> interesting to note that there are only 2 moderators for ubuntu-users,
> which is a *very* high traffic list.
The point is not about moderating the list. Since it's an open list
there would not be any moderator activity in any case. This is more
about sharing responsibility. It doesn't really matter how many
subscribers are there atm. I asked you to make me an admin since I
wanted to change a few settings here and there, but you took it
seriously. This was totally unwarranted.

> Could you please explain what you mean by "Indian LoCo team is a
> formal entity".  The IN-team, as I understand, consists of
> Ubuntu-users, volunteers, developers, etc...  working together to
> increase communication, participation and thereby a vibrant community
> that is *open to all*.  TBH, this IN-team and list would not even
> exist if newcomers were not encouraged in the first place.  We still
> have many ToDo's, viz. website, localisation and other stuff and
> having a formal corporate style of 2-3 people telling others what they
> must do is not fun (and usually never works) in a volunteer community.
>  In this respect, its interesting to note that the Italian[1] team's
> community structure functions without a TeamLeader with only a
> LocoTeamContact, MatthewEast (mdke), yet they have a very cohesive
> working structure and could be cited as a role model of how a LoCo
> team works and I do hope we, the IndianTeam can learn from that.
Formal entity as in it's a official LoCo team. Yes, it consists of
users, volunteers etc. but we are working towards a specific goal at
the moment and we are not together just to be together or form some
sort of a fan club. Newcomers are always welcome and this has nothing
to do with this. And no, we are not 2-3 people telling others what to
do and what not. We are leading the project since we are experienced
in this matter (Indic Computing) and have been a part of the community
for a long time. We are leaders also because we are / will be doing
the bulk of the work. Don't mistake us with the corporate head honchos
who neither know or do anything. And about the Leadership thing ... I
consider myself as the LoCoTeam Contact and not the leader. If you
care to actively participate in our IRC meets / discussions, you'll
know what I mean.

> Also I am deeply disappointed to read your comments about
> UbuntuWomen[2]. This is precisely what pushes women away from
> technical projects and I hope that does not happen here. FWIW, I also
> founded (prefer the term 'set-up' instead :-)) UbuntuWomen and I am
> proud to say that we have some fantastic people there. UW is an
> International list with Jane Silber, Jane Weideman, Mark Shuttleworth,
> Ubuntu developers, users and volunteers as members. So please join the
> UW mailing list before forming any opinion whatsoever.
What wrong did I say to push women away from tech. projects? Please
let's not go into this discussion of ``how to encourage women into
FOSS'' we have done that umpteen times already. Danese Cooper, Zaheda
Bhorat talk about this ``women empowerment'' issue each time they come
here, but I don't understand where the exact problem is, since I have
never witnessed a female being discouraged anywhere I have been to,
may be I am inexperienced, correct me if I am wrong. Please pinpoint
the issues without talking vaguely about this. We have a female hacker
in #ubuntu-in itself. If you care, you can come and ask her in private
exactly how we have discouraged her. And no, I don't need to join UW
to know what's going on there. I read the archives anyway.

> Finally I am sure you agree with me that if we expect others to work
> and co-ordinate as a team, we must be open-minded and willing to trust
> people (even newcomers) to some extent.
We are open minded here. What's giving us admin rights got to do with
this? We have been in the FOSS world longer than you can imagine. We
know how to coordinate projects within and among ourselves.
Please don't take all this the wrong way ... our goals are very
similar, let's work towards that goal.
Regards
BG

--
Baishampayan Ghose
Free Software Foundation of India
b.ghose at gnu.org.in