Re: Unit 193: Declaration of intent
Greetings, Daniel,
On Wed, Jul 13, 2016 at 11:38:27AM +0200, Daniel Kahn Gillmor wrote:
On Wed 2016-07-13 10:16:06 +0200, Filippo Rusconi wrote:
On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 08:51:25PM -0000, Unit 193 wrote:
For nm.debian.org, at 2016-07-12:
I would like to apply to become a Debian Maintainer in Debian.
Would you like first to identify yourself ?
I don't know Unit 193 or their work at all, so this is not a vouch from
me. But i am unconvinced that Unit 193 has not identified themself more
than anyone else applying through this process.
While it may seem unlikely that Unit 193 is this person's
legally-documented name, we have other contributors to the project with
similarly unlikely names (hi Wookey!) or who have operated publicly for
years under a consistent pseudonym.
To the community : Should we accept pure pseudo "identifications" in
Debian ? I must say that this trend would not make me happy at all.
It seems to me that the primary goal for identification is to have
consistent reputational trust over time. Unit 193 is applying for DM
status, and has identified debian developers they have worked with in
the past on technical aspects of debian work. I'd have liked to see a
bit more background myself (direct pointers to related contributions,
maybe a URL or two pointing to BTS or mailing list interactions showing
the kinds of social and technical skills we want contributors to have),
but it should really be up to the DDs who have worked with the applicant
to assess the applicant's reliability, trustworthiness, and skills at
collaboration.
Had Unit 193 identified themself here as "William Jones", it would have
been just as easily a pseudonym, but you would have been less
uncomfortable with it. And it would have been arguably more deceptive.
Some people have life circumstances where exposing their official legal
identity puts them at risk. Consider a person pursued by a stalker, a
citizen under the grip of an oppressive state, or person in an abusive
relationship with a jealous and controlling partner. Should those
people not be welcome in the debian project?
Thank you for your kind reply. I like the tone, as usual, of your contributions
to discussions.
In fact, you kind of started answering to my other mail about anonymity uses in
the Debian project (or any on-line project, in fact). I hope other people will
be willing to contribute other experiences, that will change my mind on this
subject and that will enlighten me on "internet ways of doing". As you started
doing. Maybe I am too "oldschool" as a way to interact with others and also not
aware enough of deviating behaviours, like stalking, as you mentioned it.
Thank you,
Cheers,
Filippo
PS
PS speaking of strong identifiers, please use full fingerprints and not
short key IDs. short key IDs are trivially spoofable :)
reference: <https://www.debian-administration.org/users/dkg/weblog/105>
Yes, you are right, and I know there is a thread on this subject. I had not yet
the time to change my various signature dotfiles. But then, there, I've done it.
Thanks for pushing me over the energy barrier:-)
--
Filippo Rusconi, PhD -
public crypto key B053 304E 17D6 D419 DD9B 4651 41AB 484D 7694 CF42 @ pgp.mit.edu
Reply to: