[UbuntuWomen] Ubuntu-women IRC channel discussion

[Elizabeth Krumbach]

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 8:33 AM, Melissa Draper <melissa at meldraweb.com> wrote:
> counsel/mentoring out in the cold, there will probably still be a
> contingent who continue to believe we're an clique of chauvinist
> Amazonian fem-bots intent on taking over the world.

I understand that it is an exaggeration, but I am very uncomfortable
with this wording and feel shines a bad light on folks who have
approached us with legitimate concerns over the state of the channel.
Please let's try to keep this discussion in real terms and encourage
opposing viewpoints on this subject :)

That said what DO we think about incident reporting in the channel as
part of the channel purpose?

As I see it:

Pros:
 * Lowers barrier to incident reporting so it's less likely a woman
will be scared off by a "process" and can report things easily
 * Provides a space where sensitive topics to be discussed, which are
important for the goals of the project
 * If specific names, places etc details are not included in reporting
the incident, it can be a healthy place to discuss challenges we all
may have faced and give feedback on current situations we're dealing
with. The channel has served this purpose well in the past few years.

Cons:
 * We may be encouraging folks to report incidents in a space that
they assume is safe and secure when it may not be[0]
 * If details are included in the report I believe we will have
problems, logging or not - if it's logged all incidents reported are
viewable by the world, if it's not logged we continue to have to fight
the stigma within the community that we're a secretive project

Either way, I think there should always be a way to report incidents,
with details, to leader(s) of the project directly without fear - just
like the Community Council provides for the rest of the Ubuntu
community.

[0] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-women/2010-January/002366.html

-- 
Elizabeth Krumbach // Lyz // pleia2
http://www.princessleia.com