Launchpad etiquette document/code of conduct

[Sarah Hobbs]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Matthew East wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> * Caroline Ford:
>> On Wed, 2007-05-16 at 08:05 +0100, Matthew East wrote:
> 
>>> 2. When interacting with people on bug reports, I like to know their
>>> real name :)
>>>
>> But you are making people expose real life details about themselves - I
>> think launchpad already "requires" this to be taken seriously as a
>> contributor.
> 
>> Why should I have to declare I'm a woman (or say a muslim) to contribute
>> effectively to Ubuntu?
> 
>> The work done on women in FLOSS suggests that women generally use gender
>> neutral nicknames, initials etc to not stand out. In my time on malone
>> I've had large photos of random men sent to me and other unrequested
>> rubbish. I would never have had that if launchpad had allowed me to be
>> "secretlondon" (as I can on wikipedia) without also having to declare
>> that I'm also called Caroline.

I've been wondering for a while, as to whether to respond to this
thread...I'm not sure what trouble it will cause for me.

Being one of the more well known women developers of Ubuntu, and on irc
a lot, I face these kind of issues all the time.

My take on this is that, by using a real name, and therefore admitting
that you're a woman, you're acknowledging that you may get harassed, hit
on, etc, as a result.

Now, I don't think that launchpad has any right to make that kind of
decision for its users.  I don't think that anyone has the right to make
that kind of decision except the user themselves.

Yes, knowing who you're talking to *is* important - UDS is great for
this - but it should not happen at the expense of denying someone the
above right to stay anonymous.


> I'm saddened to hear that women need to use neutral nicknames in order
> to contribute to FLOSS. Clearly if someone wishes to remain anonymous
> (for whatever reason), that is something that needs to be available to
> them. I wouldn't suggest that giving real names become a "requirement"
> as opposed to a "guideline".

GPG Keys seem to have problems with this - you're required to use your
real name in almost all circumstances, as the real name is on your ID.

> I'd like to understand more (even if I'm drifting off topic in this part
> of the email). Do you feel more comfortable using your real name when
> sending emails to public mailing lists than when using Launchpad (for
> example)? If so, what's the reason for that?

You have to go looking further to get a particular female's email
address off a mailing list - whereas on launchpad, if you know their
alias, they're far quicker to find - one search away.  That being said,
i don't have much to say on that particular question.

Sarah Hobbs (aka Hobbsee)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFGT+nz7/o1b30rzoURAgXxAJ4uyP2K0VzlTe7/re2Jm7JBz/PrLgCglqzQ
Wp07hztSk0hJrOBaKpZv98g=
=glLS
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----