Thank you very much Matthew and Neil for those refreshing write-ups! I'm really glad to see the question of inclusion, diversity (not the politically charged American meaning), and overall well-being in an mostly online community.
DISCLAIMER: Please take what I'm going to say with a distance. It might be shocking for some, or politically inclined/incorrect for some. I am dedicated in fighting racism and sexism in my life and everything written down below is oriented toward that goal. In my personal life, I'm involved a lot into improving the inclusion of women, black people and other often excluded communities into the technology field. >From my experience, I'd say one of the most important point is not saying "we are open, just come", but showing it through visual and overall public communication. Examples: - Show the faces of speakers in conferences, in which we can clearly see that some are black, some are women..etc - Explicitly create some Racket events/workshops dedicated to women (this is NOT so called "reverse sexism", please) - This is more of a personal feeling, but I think embracing functional programming as "a more feminine way" (because you let the program flow naturally) compared to "imperative programming" (which sound very masculine, in control, by shouting orders to a computer) can also be a way to show Racket is different. My point is: Since our society is inherently biased and unequal, simply saying you are open is not enough. To really counterbalance the inequality, we need to *actively* reach a different audience. I know some of you don't agree with that because it feels "political". It feels like Racket is taking side in a fight. But everything in life, especially big human communities, are inherently political, whether they want it or not. If we don't side for women, for black people, for excluded people, we automatically side for the dominators. This is my personal point of view, it has been stated now as an advice in the direction I personally feel is right for any community trying to improve its diversity. You are now free to throw stones at me and happily share your disagreement. I am a thousand times thankful for all that the Racket community has achieved so far. Thank you for making the best language in the world, not only for it's technological background, but especially for it's community and the values of freedom of speech and expression it promotes. I look forward to seeing this community grow and I am happy to be a part of it. Jérôme -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Racket Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to racket-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/racket-users/f58aec8c-bc50-420e-bad9-3a77822f0ebe%40googlegroups.com.
