Re: D-W mailing list

[Laura Arjona <larjona99@gmail.com>]

Hi all

Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org> escribió:
>On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 02:46:50PM +0200, Miriam Ruiz wrote:
>> I think it's a nice initiative, and I certainly thank those links.
>They are
>> interesting and talk about things that I guess some of us think
>about.
>
>> During our talk, Enrico suggested how a publicly accesible and
>archived
>> mailing list as open as this might raise concerns on the people,
>though. I
>> wonder whether people feel comfortable commenting those kind of
>things,
>> here, or if Enrico might be right.
>
>This question, comparing debian-women to other closed groups like Linux
>Chix, came up in the very early days of Debian Women.  There is a place
>for
>safe spaces where people can feel comfortable, but if the purpose of
>Debian
>Women is to get more women involved in Debian, it's important that such
>"safe" spaces be used solely as a launching point and not as a
>self-perpetuating walled garden, because Debian itself is an open
>community
>which will not always be "safe".  I think it's safe to say that Debian
>would
>not be willing to sacrifice its culture of openness and working in
>public in
>order to court contributors who are not comfortable working in such an
>environment.
>

Sometimes you want to talk something but you're not sure to who to
write or if the public list is the better place. Specially if you
don't know anybody in person. Then you just wait and keep lurking to
see how others behave (you stay in the invisible side of the
community), or you go to another place.

If just one person steps ahead to be in charge of a newbie (as a kind
of godmother) and adds to the welcoming email a sentence similar to
"You can also contact me privately to my email for anything that you
need", I think it can make a difference.

Later the 'godmother' can give advice to the newbie about the benefits
of discussing a certain topic in the public list, or privately give
advice or point to the right person for delicate topics.

It's just an idea.

Regards
Laura Arjona


>That doesn't mean that there's not room for a closed, women-only
>mailing
>list, but it does mean that thought must be given to how such a list
>would
>be used as an on-ramp for Debian involvement and not a closed off
>dead-end.