Re: DW

[Helen Faulkner <helen@debian.org>]

Hi Clytie, all,

Clytie Siddall wrote:
> This has split from a discussion on Gnome-Women on future aims for  that
> group. In discussing that there, I'd said there were some things  that
> were working for D-W, and some things that weren't.
> 
> There was no intention to insult anyone. (I don't even know how, for 
> heaven's sake. I'm harmless! :) )

I believe that most of us would agree that some things that D-W is doing are
working better than other things.  The formation and continuation of this
particular community is a fascinating and ongoing process, and there always
seems to be more to learn and more decisions to take and more work to do for it.

I also believe that there is nobody here (except for the occasional troll) who
intends to insult other members of this community.

> Erinn, I _have_ tried to bring up some of these issues, but the 
> response is so vehement, and ignores so much of what I said in the 
> original email, assumes so much of what I definitely _haven't_ said, 
> that I am not game to keep trying with the topic.

Clytie I am confused and worried by this.  I think that I am pretty closely in
touch with the DW community.  Certainly I read all of the list email, though I'm
not watching the IRC channel 24/7.  The only contentious issue that I remember
you being involved in discussing was the question of whether it is a good thing
or a bad thing to have a separate debian-women-i18n list.  In that thread, I
don't remember you actually explaining what you think the problems are with the
way Debian Women is operating.  Maybe you could try again to explain what issues
you would like to see discussed by the DW community?  This would be the first
step to resolving whatever problems you are experiencing.

If people think there are problems with the Debian Women project, or even things
that we could be doing better, we would certainly like to hear about them.  You
can write to the list or raise things on IRC, and anyone is welcome to email me
privately if you don't wish to discuss something in public.

> However, for any person here, regardless of background, I believe the 
> response should be:
> 
> I hear what you're saying (I've taken enough time to read it and try  to
> understand it: if not, I ask polite questions)
> I am willing to let you explain it
> I will give you room to learn and grow
> 
> I think this is really important, if we want to attract new people 
> here, and encourage them to take risks and branch out.

Certainly I agree with this, and I think this is the sort of thing we commonly
see on this mailing list.  We are (nearly always - I can't help the trolls!)
polite, we certainly welcome people regardless of their level of
experience/expertise and we are certainly interested in discussing issues that
people raise.

> Let's look at what we are doing to encourage new members, people 
> lurking, who may not have enough confidence to take part here. Why is 
> this? What can we do to encourage them? How would they like us to 
> respond? Do they feel welcome here, safe to express opinion, and to 
> make occasional mistakes, or not to have the same level of experience 
> and knowledge as others?

It is always difficult to find out what people think who are not confident
enough (yet) to participate in a community.  Maybe some of those who have
recently started posting to this list could comment on Clytie's questions here?
   (Or better still, some of you who have never before posted to the list!)

Cheers,

Helen