On 1/4/19 2:44 PM, Russ Allbery wrote:
Scott Kitterman <deb...@kitterman.com> writes:
For clarification from me, I don't expect a consequence free
free-for-all where anything at all can be said with no repercussions.
There are absolutely things that are not acceptable, but on the other
hand, I also don't think "someone was offended" is a reasonable standard
(and I am not claiming that's what Debian is currently using - but there
are places where things seem to me to be headed in that direction).
As a reference point, let me mention a recent incident at our church.
One of our committees radically changed a sign outside the building –
essentially changing its use.
I went to the chair of our "outreach committee" and said, in about so
many words, "I protest. I don't like it. And that kind of change
should be voted on by the Congregation."
Apparently, that hurt the guy's feelings so much that he ignored me, and
when I raised a protest on our Church-wide email list, it led to a huge
bro hah hah. (And right now, the sign has been changed to yet something
else, that's essentially an "f u"). No resolution in sight, on either
the specific issue, or the broader issue of Church governance. We did
have a Church-wide "listening session" where both the guy and his wife
talked about how attacked they felt.
It sure seems that, in some sectors, disagreement is offensive, and
offense trumps substance. (One might point to our current President in
that regard, as well.)
I kind of wonder if Debian is headed that way - given the way the
discussion on systemd went, not that long ago.
Miles Fidelman
