[Noisebridge-discuss] Don't make me turn this hackerspace around

Tom Lowenthal me at tomlowenthal.com
Wed Mar 19 22:50:19 UTC 2014


Praveen,

I wouldn't care to guess what the topic of noisebridge-discuss is. The
problem with the thread isn't the topic, but the fact that people are
getting hurt.

Multiple folks asked for that conversation to be removed from the
list. One person publicly stated that it was making them anxious.
Others privately told me that they found the discussion hurtful. The
first dozen messages in the thread have a rather high incidence of
people calling each other trolls. The rest of the thread has a huge
amount of name-calling, and of calling out the opinions of other
Noisebridge folks who are not part of the discussion.

I think that we can and should have discussions of race and gender.
They are real issues we encounter at Noisebridge and elsewhere. If we
do, I demand that those discussions be civil and respectful, that that
we should work to avoid harming others in these discussions. I do not
think that this thread even comes close to that standard of respectful
discourse.

-Tom

On 19 March 2014 15:37, Praveen Sinha <dmhomee at gmail.com> wrote:
> Tom,
>
> nb-discuss has had many many long threads on lots of contentious issues at
> noisebridge whether it's sleeping or mercury.
>
> The discussions on race and gender bring up lots of feelings in people, but
> honestly moderating out these discussions as being somehow "off-topic" are,
> I feel, part and parcel of systemic discrimination in the tech industry,
> whether it happens in open source forums.  This thread may have been a free
> for all, but it's also confronting very real issues under the surface at NB.
>
> I for one would really appreciate an explanation of why you chose to shut
> the list down.
>
> Thanks for your work,
> Praveen
>
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 9:32 AM, Tom Lowenthal <me at tomlowenthal.com> wrote:
>>
>> I have taken the list out of general moderation. You are free to go
>> about your business.
>>
>> This is not your moment to get the last word in on yesterday's
>> arguments. I will individually moderate folks who rekindle those
>> discussions.
>>
>> Hugs,
>> -Tom
>>
>> On 18 March 2014 14:40, Tom Lowenthal <me at tomlowenthal.com> wrote:
>> > Hi hackers,
>> >
>> > In my new apparent role as Noisebridge's fascist dictator, I have put
>> > the discussion list on moderation. This means that nobody gets to
>> > post. This'll last for a few hours or until one of the other
>> > moderators decides to revert it.
>> >
>> > Consider yourselves in “time out”. I want everyone to think very hard
>> > about what they've done.
>> >
>> > Kisses,
>> > -Tom
>> _______________________________________________
>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>



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