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Re: DPL blindsides



Sam Hartman <hartmans@debian.org> writes:

Hi everyone, I am sorry that this issue has been brought up in public,
and I feel sorry for the people involved, as they are also very likely
inadvertent victims of the harassment campaign.

> I'm sure people unfamiliar with this situation are  horribly confused by
> this point.
>
> As DPL, I think I have a duty to try and give the electorate enough
> information to evaluate situations like this while retaining privacy and
> neutrality.
>
> I'm going to try and do so.
>
> My understanding is that  in early 2017, some rather public and
> concerning accusations were made.
> As DebConf17 approached, the DebConf local team made a decision that
> Teemu disagreed with and protested.
>
> For a while, the Debconf team failed to respond to Teemu's protest.  The
> DPL at the time escalated and asked for them to respond.  They did,
> declining to engage in a discussion because of the sensitive nature of
> the situation, but pointed Teemu at another team in Debian.
>
> Jonathan was copied at least on the mail where the local team declined
> to engage further, but I suspect that was in his role as a DebConf
> Committee Member.

The emails in question have been forwarded to both Sam and Jonathan.
As you have noted, DebConf Committee members already received these
emails.

Appendix A contains a list of the emails.

> According to Jonathan's mail here he was not involved in the decision in
> question.
> Moreover, according to mail from another DebConf committee member, the
> decision is one that the local team took without involving the  DCC as a
> whole.  All evidence I have supports Jonathan and the DCC's claim that
> they were not involved.
> However, I have not explored exactly who did make the decision.

Thank you for these clarifications.

> The DCC wishes that they had been involved earlier in the process.
> I'll note that this is the kind of decision that is often taken in a
> very small group, and I think it would be reasonable either to involve
> or not to involve the DCC at the choice of the local team.
> (I suspect some DCC members will disagree with me).

Agreed and noted, it appears to be a matter of accountability for
delegated roles in Debian.

> Around the time Teemu  brought up this issue on debian-vote, he sent
> mail to the current project leader as well as people involved in the
> previous exchange, asking for help deescalating the situation.
> His proposal for how to do that seemed like it was going to be an
> escalation rather than a deescalation.  I responded with an alternative,
> describing  the situation under which I thought it made sense to go
> forward and describing what a deescalation might look like.
>
> I have received no mail sense then.

Thank you for the email on 2020-03-31, which was good to read. It
seemed sensible (correctly or incorrectly) to await and see what
replies might show up on -vote.

We now have the following information:

- An (all-round) organiser did not know
- The DebConf Committee did not know
- The DPL did not know
Which leaves the (local) organising committee.

This returns us to the original query: """
 How would you handle a situation where a Debian event planning team
 would instigate a unilateral blacklisting against a DD for a Debian
 event, and the team would refuse to provide any details or
 explanation, even at the request of the DPL at the time?
"""

I.e.: What would you do to ensure that delegated roles in Debian have
accountability?


Appendix A
----------

On 2017-07-09 a previously unknown third party (not connected to
Debian as far as I know) delivered a threat concerning my attendance
at two events, one of them being DebConf17. These threats were mostly
ignored.

On 2017-07-20 the DebConf17 (local) team wrote to me, including the
DPL, the DebConf Committee, da-manager and anti-harassment in the
recipient list in <e5ccf617-b218-1002-3449-0b6735384396@lelutin.ca>:
"This decision was taken after an explicit request to ban you".

On 2017-07-22 I sent a response to the same recipient list, in
<874lu4ucrt.fsf@logic.part.iki.fi>, explaining parts of the harassment
campaign against me, and requesting fair treatment and copies of any
materials.

On 2017-07-27 (during DebCamp, only a few days before the start of
DebConf17) the DPL requested the DebConf17 (local) team to respond to
me in
<1501234967.2211370.1055405832.1D2D7A4A@webmail.messagingengine.com>,
noting that by not responding, the DebConf17 (local) team was forcing
a particular sequence of events.

On 2017-07-29 I sent a lengthy email in
<87lgn7od44.fsf@logic.part.iki.fi> to the same recipient list, further
explaining the harassment campaign against me, and how my attendance
to DebConf17 had been threatened by a third party on 2017-07-09.

On 2017-08-03 (three days before the start of DebConf17) the DebConf17
(local) team responded in
<b04e30df-ec64-b953-ed70-3ec2f1b3a768@lelutin.ca>, citing "trusted
sources" (plural) as their only basis. The DebConf17 (local) team did
not respond to any of the harassment campaign comparisons or threats
made against me.

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