[UbuntuWomen] Sites and site edits

[Sébastien Nicouleaud]

Le dimanche 19 mars 2006 à 00:19 +0600, || vid || a écrit :
> > Plus the IRC channel on freenode.
> >
> 
> Anyone can create an IRC channel and an Ubuntu Member would manage the
> channel and be the sysop as its done for official Ubuntu channels.  I
> had mentioned this earlier so maybe Mark or Henrik would like to
> clarify the Canonical position on this.

I believe that having official chans managed by official Ubuntu members
is very important. Because, when not, channels can be managed by anyone,
without consideration for the representation they give to users (through
their behaviour).

I will take the example of the #debian-fr (unofficial) chan, which was
one of my worst IRC experience. I once saw a guy insulting a novice girl
asking for help on the #ubunfu-fr (unofficial ?). For no visible reason.
Ops take a long time to react (despite some users asking them to make
him stop), and finally kick-banned him from the chan. But the girl
already left, because she just couldn't stand it.

Then, connecting to #debian-fr, I realize that the same guy was op on
this chan. I started a private conversation with another op of the
#debian-fr chan, telling him the story. The op answered me he didn't
care. He then started "making fun" (something stronger would be more
appropriate) of me on the chan, saying that #debian-fr was not debian
(so how can they just use the name ?!). I and some others were insulted
by quite a lot of the chan users ("ubuntu is for noobs, debian is for
men" and all that sort of nonsense).

I love Debian, I use both Ubuntu (since 1-2 year) and Debian (since 4-5
years). And although this chan is not Debian official, lots of french
Debian (and Ubuntu) users just don't speak english, and so this is the
only vision they have of the Debian (french) community, which is not
acceptable to me.

I was also unable to report this to the debian side, since I didn't
found anything related to IRC behaviour (and abuses) on the Debian
website, which I believe would be useful (some people don't know the
Freenode website, and will look at the distro website when facing such a
problem).

Once again, it is not Debian specific. I also regularly saw some,
generally less serious, abuses on #ubuntu-fr. But their number and their
repetition are significant. Even if the #ubuntu-fr is (in my opinion)
the most tolerant french-speaking chan I know for novices.

A friend of mine (long time Debian/IRC user) also told me once that the
IRC french community was the worst (compared for example to
english-speaking chans). And the more chans I use, the more I agree (and
I'm really not proud of it).

I have not been using IRC anymore since it happened (I'm too much
disgusted for now). That's also my main reason for joining this
mailing-list. I used to believe that "separating" women from average
users was not a solution. But today, I hope this to be a way for them to
be confirmed in the community, and to change this state of mind (which
will be profitable not only to women users, but to every people that
believe in an helpful and tolerant community).

Seb