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In my original post, which Trapani cites, someone asks me this same question. So [women] have to be spoonfed? What makes them so goddamn important if they have

In my original post, which Trapani cites, someone asks me this same question. So [women] have to be spoonfed? What makes them so goddamn important if they haven’t proven they’re willing to contribute? I have actually tutored many people before, but if they don’t express an interest to learn and willingness to contribute I am not going to waste my time on them. The problem isn't that women need special treatment to be accepted. The problem is that open source projects are not accepting of anyone who isn't a male programmer. That is, open source projects are sexist, because their members are sexist. They explicitly treat women worse than men. They also explicitly treat non-programmers worse than programmers. What's worse is they think they are too smart to be sexist or unwelcoming, so that behavior goes unchecked. A normal community would include instructive socialization. From my original article, "Hi, welcome to the community, here's a housewarming present, here's how things work, we could really use some help over here and I'd love to show you how to work on it, but anything you want to do, feel free and I'll be here to answer and questions and walk you through every process until you feel comfortable." This is the process that ThinkUp espouses, which almost all other open source projects lack.

Tichy 16y ago
I find it hard to believe that your generalization holds for all of the thousands of Open Source projects, or even for the majority of them. I mean that they treat women worse than men. Got any pointers to studies, references that make you think so? As for no hand-holding, this would equally harm men and women. Sure, hand-holding would be nice, but what if it isn't really in the budget? And what if women would START open source projects? Then they could decide on all those aspects. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to start an OS project. So we should see high rates of women starting OS projects, compared to women joining existing OS projects?
sovande 16y ago
> The problem is that open source projects are not accepting of anyone who isn't a male programmer. Your are so out of touch with real life. Contributors to an open source project are usually identified with an email and communicate online. No one cares if you are a woman, a man or a green alien. Open source is a meritocrasy and what matters is what you contribute.
- chc 16y ago
  Indeed, one of the most prominent Ruby hackers a few years ago managed to completely disappear into anonymity just by deleting his website and github — nobody knew his name, and the only reason anyone even knew he was a he is because he chose to attend some conferences. And I believe one of the core Ruby contributors is an open transwoman, which should be especially reviled if there actually is this intense sexism.

Tichy 16y ago

I find it hard to believe that your generalization holds for all of the thousands of Open Source projects, or even for the majority of them. I mean that they treat women worse than men. Got any pointers to studies, references that make you think so? As for no hand-holding, this would equally harm men and women. Sure, hand-holding would be nice, but what if it isn't really in the budget? And what if women would START open source projects? Then they could decide on all those aspects. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to start an OS project. So we should see high rates of women starting OS projects, compared to women joining existing OS projects?

sovande 16y ago

> The problem is that open source projects are not accepting of anyone who isn't a male programmer. Your are so out of touch with real life. Contributors to an open source project are usually identified with an email and communicate online. No one cares if you are a woman, a man or a green alien. Open source is a meritocrasy and what matters is what you contribute.

chc 16y ago
Indeed, one of the most prominent Ruby hackers a few years ago managed to completely disappear into anonymity just by deleting his website and github — nobody knew his name, and the only reason anyone even knew he was a he is because he chose to attend some conferences. And I believe one of the core Ruby contributors is an open transwoman, which should be especially reviled if there actually is this intense sexism.