merchandise & personal attacks

Thu Nov 18 21:45:26 UTC 2004

Wow...

I am bringing this on-list because I feel the whole community needs to 
be reminded of the Code of Conduct, the spirit of Ubuntu, and plainly, 
rudeness aimed at each other and new users as of late on the list.

 From UbuntuLinux.org : /"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning 
"humanity to others". Ubuntu also means "I am what I am because of who 
we all are".

/You are not showing humanity to others (namely David, Christians, and 
Americans or anyone not from your culture), nor are you accepting of 
'who we all are' (those previously listed things), nor are you following 
the standard which you so mightly say you subscribe to : the Ubuntu Code 
of Conduct.

Let me just help everyone out by copying and pasting certain parts of 
the Code of Conduct, in hopes that tempers will subside and we will all 
become level headed again.

"This Code of Conduct covers your behaviour as a member of the Ubuntu 
Community, in any forum, _/*mailing list*/_, wiki, web site, IRC 
channel, install-fest, public meeting or _/*private correspondence*/_. 
The Ubuntu Community Council will arbitrate in any dispute over the 
conduct of a member of the community.

*Be considerate*. Your work will be used by other people, and you in 
turn will depend on the work of others.

*Be respectful*. The Ubuntu community and its members/ treat one another 
with respect/. Everyone can make a valuable contribution to Ubuntu. _/We 
may not always agree/_, _/but disagreement it no excuse for *poor 
behaviour and poor manners*/_. We might all experience some frustration 
now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a 
/personal attack/. It's important to remember that a community where 
people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. We 
expect members of the Ubuntu community to be respectful when dealing 
with other contributors as well as with people outside the Ubuntu 
project, and with users of Ubuntu.

*When you disagree, consult others*. Disagreements, both political and 
technical, happen all the time and the Ubuntu community is no exception. 
The important goal is not to avoid disagreements or differing views but 
to _/resolve them constructively/_."

And from the mailing list portion:
"/2. Please avoid flamewars, trolling,* personal attacks*, and 
repetitive arguments./

Now, specific responses to Mr. Oluwa:
/"Your effort to silence me is a reflection of your grasp of what it 
means to be "in Christ"."
/This is a personal attack. Who says he is trying to silence you? I read 
it as trying to constructively come to resolution of the problem of 
merchandise production and shipping. And on top of that, you mock 
Christians worldwide. You are aware this is a worldwide distribution 
with worldwide users, correct? It baffles the mind why you would do this.

"/I received many messages in support of my objection - some of them 
from UbuntuLinux high-command, so it is for you to migrate or remain 
using a distribution that was created from African sweat and monetary 
resources, where users will oppose right-wing promulgation in undying 
defence of the African struggle for humanitarian justice. "
/This is the classic "I have more friends" motto. Good for you that you 
had many messages in support. Perhaps David has the same thing? Perhaps 
many users, especially of those you alienated with your earlier 
comments, have sent him messages of support?

I would also like to challenge the 'African sweat' comment. Yes, African 
work went into this distribution. As did the 'sweat' of many other 
peoples around the world. This is NOT an African only distribution. If 
it were, you'd have to remove all of the current maintainers and 
developers and docteam members that are not from Africa. If you'd like 
to do this, I grant you free will. Good luck with your African-only 
distribution. However, that is not Ubuntu.
/
"Maybe you should research the Ubuntu Community Code of Conduct and the 
history and philosophy of Mark Shuttleworth and then make a public 
apology./"
If you've read this far, you've seen pieces of the Community Code of 
Conduct that you yourself are violating. Who are you to demand apologies?

While it would be great if the peoples of South Africa could benefit 
from production of Ubuntu merchandise, shipping boxes of t-shirts from 
South Africa to the US (where, unfortunately for Mr. Oluwa, a good many 
users currently reside and is one of the countries where the amount of 
growth for Ubuntu could skyrocket due to the number of computers per 
household) is simply a poor idea and would be costly. Someone earlier 
mentioned having a producer on each continent to help keep costs down -- 
this is a great idea! I am saddened to see such hatred toward Americans 
and Christians coming from one user. This reeks of self-pride and is 
definitely, /in my opinion only/, not in the spirit of Ubuntu.

So please, let's all remember: "/I am what I am because of who we all 
are."/ Not, "/I am what I am because I am African and all non-Africans 
are capitalist pigs."/

Thank you for reading,
--Kevin

Shango Oluwa wrote:

> David Williamson,
>
> I will address you one more time to say this:
>
> _You_ seem to be the one who is offended and I cannot apologise for 
> that. It may be that the developers of UbuntuLinux made a "mistake" 
> (as you maintain) to incorporate the African notion of 'ubuntu' in 
> this distribution of GNU/Linux, but in fact it would seem that it is 
> _you_ who made the mistake by subscribing to a distribution that 
> incorporates this philosophy in its terms of use.
>
> As long as an explicit link exists between my culture and a public 
> operating system, I will be advancing its cause according to my 
> cultural values. You correctly identify this as "politics on your 
> desktop" and this is your fault not mine or any proponent of African 
> cultural values - be it Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela or El Hajj Malik 
> Shabazz. Your effort to silence me is a reflection of your grasp of 
> what it means to be "in Christ".
>
> I received many messages in support of my objection - some of them 
> from UbuntuLinux high-command, so it is for you to migrate or remain 
> using a distribution that was created from African sweat and monetary 
> resources, where users will oppose right-wing promulgation in undying 
> defence of the African struggle for humanitarian justice.
>
> Maybe you should research the Ubuntu Community Code of Conduct and the 
> history and philosophy of Mark Shuttleworth and then make a public 
> apology.
>
> Over and out.
> Shango Oluwa.
> www.mewe.org.uk <http://www.mewe.org.uk>
>
>
> On Thu, 2004-11-18 at 19:30 +0000, Shango Oluwa wrote:
>
> > Welcome to the increasing reality of African and Underdeveloped World
> > use of the internet! What? Should I not voice my/our concerns?
>
> By all means express your concerns, just as I expressed mine.  My gripe
> pertains to the socio-political connotations of the name of the linux
> distribution, Ubuntu.  Who you are and where you're from doesn't pertain
> to my argument. 
>
> > Seriously, just browse CafeExpress.com - they have a section called
> > "Right-wing politics" t-shirts... easy to gloss over and chuckle about
> > if you're not being done in by the right-wing everyday.
> > Deal with it: Me and my people don't want it.
>
> Then don't buy from them.  And if you don't want Ubuntu dealing with
> them, by all means let them know as you did.  My gripe is, again, a
> linux distribution with a socio-political slant, rather than just a
> gnu/linux philosophy.  Right wing or left wing, it doesn't matter.  I
> don't want politics on my desktop unless I put them there for myself
> only... just as I have a faint background on my (personal) web page of
> Orthodox crosses - it's for me alone.
>
> Is it wrong for the Ubuntu gang to have this philosophy attached to
> their distribution?  Of course not.  It's theirs and they can do
> anything they want with it.  It's just that it's a bone of contention,
> and gets in the way for some people.  Somebody could take Ubuntu, rename
> it Hitler Linux, have some wacky nazi philosophy, a swastika splash
> screen, and some crazy people would use it for that reason, and because
> it's a great distro too.  But is it a good idea?  Does it increase the
> number of people who want to use that distro?  No - and I'd rather see
> as many people using Linux as possible.
>
> I think that the philosophy attached to this distro, while admirable,
> will only hinder its use and growth.  I've read on the list where some
> people don't care about that, and that's fine, but it bugs me as someone
> who wants to see linux take over the personal and corporate desktops.
>
> I hope I've made myself clear, and please forgive me if I've offended
> you in any way.
>
> In Christ --
>
> David Williamson
>
>
>
>
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