Re: [Debconf-discuss] DebConf conference policy on profanity
On Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 1:46 PM, Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org> wrote:
> 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.
+1.
I'd like to add that restraining oneself from using profanity (either
as a speaker or as an audience member) in a public venue is common
courtesy. Similarly as we choose our words when speaking to strangers.
I might be tempted to use profanity with friends or coworkers, but I'd
be much more careful with people I don't know or have never met.
-mz
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