{{trigger warning : French joke included}}
Dear Pete, let me explain why this is problematic.
First I am sorry to say there is no hidden agenda or awful witchery plot to
uncover including WMF influence. I have myself severely criticised the WMF in
the course of the branding process (and was never scolded for that so I think
we can express criticism). Maybe not all the time, maybe not just in any
format.
I made the initial comment, and no one pushed me into. If it has offended
people, I am sorry, maybe I should in effect have reached out to Dan privately
first. Dan I am sorry of the attention, your wording is being given, and I
would like us to move on, as suggested by Alphos to a more constructive debate.
Pete, because your are asking repeatedly for clarification and only because of
that, what I have learned from my #black lives matter friends, it that s not my
obligation to educate you on why this is problematic. In fact when you ask for
clarifications, you are putting pressure on people who find the use of
disrespectful language a problem instead of asking why the initial comment had
to include flatulistic scenery (and this for French speakers has nothing to do
with Brice de Nice’s expression « ça farte » see for reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhZ_kkVzx18
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhZ_kkVzx18>) which blurrs the actual meaning
behind the criticisml, especially for people whose language is not English in
the first place. Then one could argue that it is targeting people of an
institution. Full stop.
I wish to move on to why I believe spaces should be moderated, which basically
would mean enforcing a code of conduct, that many members of our community have
been asking for for years.
« As I am a nice guy » I will give a few ressources explaining why I think
lists, and wikimedia spaces should be moderated. Basically it is because you
can :
1- allow free roaming speech and leaving agressive behaviours unchecked
creating a space where only certain social groups are over represented but thus
you can’t claim to be designing the sum of all human knowledge
OR
2 - design free open source inclusive spaces that are allowing anyone to
participate but you then have to moderate content because, people have
different « cultures" and may not understand what offends others, there is a
learning curve.
Here is a timeline of incidents
https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents#2018for
<https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents#2018for>
This time line of incidents is often cited by women as a reason for having OS
code of conducts (which includes moderation of mailing lists most of the time)
History tells us, that in the early internet days, the first experiments of
virtual spaces encountered less harassment and more women. This is told in the
following book : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35953464-broad-band
<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35953464-broad-band>, where the story of
Stacy Horn and how she actually designed the Esat Coast Hanger (ECHO) see
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacy_Horn
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacy_Horn> is detailed. Why? Because Stacy
Horn moderated each chan and reached out to every member that left the
community so that she would eventually know about abusive behaviours and
document it.
Designing a safe space does not mean you cannot address just any topic, it just
means that you do so paying attention to how you treat potential readers, and
contributors to create a discussion that is actually evolving around the
subject, and not the format of it.
A 2018 incident about wether or not a joke should be removed
https://lwn.net/Articles/753646/ <https://lwn.net/Articles/753646/> questions
wether there is a need for a safe space or not in open source projects. I’m
taking this example, because it shows how power and privilege iin a community
can be used to influence « keeping a joke that is upsetting to some ».
So the question of « censorship » is central, but it usually has a pending side
: who is silenced, whose voice is not being heard? I like the way the Django
FAQ adresses the problem of « censorship » in a community
https://www.djangoproject.com/conduct/faq/
<https://www.djangoproject.com/conduct/faq/>
Quote from the above :
This is censorship! I have the right to say whatever I want
You do -- in your space. If you'd like to hang out in our spaces (as clarified
above), we have some simple guidelines to follow. If you want to, for example,
form a group where Django is discussed using language inappropriate for general
channels then nobody's stopping you. We respect your right to establish
whatever codes of conduct you want in the spaces that belong to you. Please
honor this Code of Conduct in our spaces.
https://web.archive.org/web/20141109123859/http://speakup.io/coc.html
<https://web.archive.org/web/20141109123859/http://speakup.io/coc.html>
Quote from the above :
It's important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or
threatened is not a productive one
If people do not know how to issue gracefully formulated criticism, we should
have ressources to them to study, maybe even courses on non violent
communication.
So I hope I have provided {{useful}} context and I will not answer anymore so
that we can move on to something else.
Kind regards,
Nattes
> Le 11 sept. 2020 à 13:29, Peter Southwood <[email protected]> a
> écrit :
>
> There was no clear statement of "this is the problematic text and this is why
> it is considered unacceptable", which is a thing that I consider a reasonable
> expectation, as it is possible to learn from it, understand it, pass
> constructive criticism or agreement, and use as it a precedent for future
> expectations.
> Cheers,
> Peter
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
> Of Adam Wight
> Sent: 11 September 2020 11:56
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] A Universal Code of Conduct draft for review
>
>> Is there somewhere we can refer to the list of offensive and unacceptable
>> expressions, and how they are determined?
>
> There were been several explanations already. It's possible to use mild
> words in a cruel way, for example a father telling their child "You've
> always had beans for brains." Editors are aware of this simple truth
> and any feigned outrage must be disingenuous.
>
> It's interesting that I've voiced some extremely harsh criticism of the
> WMF, even suggesting that the editors form a union and sue for control
> of the Board, yet I've never once been moderated. Had my job threatened
> perhaps, but never blocked.
>
> The point here is that petty hostility only achieves the goal of
> creating an unpleasant and unwelcoming environment. If you (speaking to
> the people here who are critical of the UCoC) want to make real change,
> please organize yourselves somewhere else, come up with a coherent
> argument, and present it here. The constant attrition of "why can't I
> say 'fart'?" is tiresome and dilutes any conversation of substance.
>
> Kind regards,
> U:Adamw
>
>
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