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Re: Diversity statement for the Debian Project



Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:

> There are other kinds of ability besides technical ability.  All of
> those useful activities you mentioned depend on the ability of the
> people doing them.  And it is right and proper that when we choose with
> whom we do these things, we should discriminate on the basis of ability.

> And when it comes to technical work, we should discriminate on the basis
> of technical as well as other kinds of ability.  To say "we will not
> discriminate on the basis of technical ability", when what we are
> undertaking is fundamentally a technical project, is absurd.

I think, rather than saying that we won't discriminate on the basis of
something like technical ability, we should instead say something along
the lines of:

    We welcome contributions from everyone within their areas of
    particular expertise.  While much of the work of the Project is
    technical in nature, we will value and encourage contributions to the
    Project from those with expertise in non-technical areas and welcome
    such contributors as part of our community.

That's not very good, and I wouldn't want to put that into the statement
directly, but it should hopefully communicate the basic idea.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)               <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>


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