Re: [Debconf-discuss] DebConf conference policy on profanity
On Wed, Sep 03, 2014 at 08:11:11PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> I should preface this by saying that I personally don't feel that strongly
> about this one way or the other. But it came up in another forum that
> isn't the right place to talk about it, and I've been trying to make a
> point of doing my part to move some of those conversations to a better
> location.
>
> I was mildly surprised during registration by the inclusion of expletives
> as something that was ruled out by the conference code of conduct. My
> (not particularly well-researched) impression is that use of non-gendered
> expletives in English is something that's become somewhat generational.
> Using four-letter words was considered very impolite and unacceptable in
> professional public venues in my parents' generation, but appears to
> hardly be noticable in the generation in college now, with a change point
> somewhere around my generation.
I think it's still quite reasonable to ask speakers to keep their talks
clean, and to ask conference participants (such as people asking
questions or participating in BoFs) to do the same. Many other
conferences do so, successfully, and it hardly seems like a major
imposition.
Ben Hutchings mentioned one notable reason. For another: some people
may wish to reference DebConf content in a professional setting.
In rare cases where this would prevent the presentation of relevant
content, such as the talk on the pervasively-offensive Anonymous, a
content warning (both on the schedule and prefacing the talk) seems
sufficient, together with discretion on the part of the presenter in
selecting material of sufficient importance to merit inclusion.
- Josh Triplett
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