6 ms·

I have organized devrooms at FOSDEM for almost 15 years. That thing about "lack of diversity" is bullshit, plain and simple. If women, or gays, or trans, or peo

by zxspectrum1982 4y ago

I have organized devrooms at FOSDEM for almost 15 years. That thing about "lack of diversity" is bullshit, plain and simple. If women, or gays, or trans, or people with disabilities, don't submit talks, then they will not get talks accepted. And I'm not going to chase them begging them to submit talks or insert some talk just because they belong of a "minority". That would be unfair to the people that took the time and effort to actually submit a proper talk. Oh, by the way, I have no way of knowing whether someone is gay, trans, disabled or whatever because all I see is a 1-2 paragraph bio and a 2-3 paragraph proposal and title. Stop blaming yourself for being a white man.

spencerchubb 4y ago
I would really prefer to be at a diverse conference. To make the conference experience as good as possible, maybe it would be wise to actively seek out diverse speakers if they are not applying.
- guntherhermann 4y ago
  FOSDEM is a diverse conference, it's great. If you've never been, go and then criticise if you don't like it. Don't rely on second hand information to make up your mind.
- zxspectrum1982 4y ago
  No, it wouldn't be. If those "diverse people" want to be at FOSDEM, they will need to follow the same rules everybody follows.
- JuniorBalleg 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - spencerchubb 4y ago
    A reason why I dislike homogeneous environments is because I feel like the odd one out. If most people in a room are of the same demographic, and I don't fit that demographic, then I feel like an outsider. It is hard to interpret your question as sincere when you imply that people want diversity so they can pick up women.
    - JuniorBalleg 4y ago
      [flagged]
college_physics 4y ago
"lack of diversity" is a statistical fact, not bullshit, please stop winding yourself up. Whether there is "culpability" or whether there is anything that can realistically be done about it in the short / long term is another matter. On the first count (culpability) I personally don't think that's the case for FOSS communities, i.e. there is no glaring reason to single them out - if anything they tend to be more open minded and collaborative, at least on average. It is the second point that is the useful direction, whether there is any opportunity to change the picture, not because "we have to meet some quota" but where it might actually enrich the community and make its output (FOSS software) more impactful.
JuniorBalleg 4y ago
[flagged]
Shish2k 4y ago
> If women, or gays, or trans, or people with disabilities, don't submit talks, then they will not get talks accepted. If you went along and had a terrible experience as a guest (for example being the only woman in a room with a hundred men, 95% of whom are fine, but 5% of whom are creepy, meaning that you get to spend the session dealing with 5 creepy men), would you want to submit a talk, with the goal of getting up on stage and bringing even more attention to yourself? Lack of diversity is a self-perpetuating cycle - I get it, you aren’t going out of your way to intentionally make things worse, and that’s great! But it is perpetuating itself at this point, and it’s going to require intentional effort to stop it. That effort can either come from the minorities, going out of their way to fight an uphill struggle to insert themselves into an event that doesn’t want them, or it can come from the organisers, going out of their way to be welcoming to groups who are currently pushed away by the status quo.

spencerchubb 4y ago

I would really prefer to be at a diverse conference. To make the conference experience as good as possible, maybe it would be wise to actively seek out diverse speakers if they are not applying.

guntherhermann 4y ago
FOSDEM is a diverse conference, it's great. If you've never been, go and then criticise if you don't like it. Don't rely on second hand information to make up your mind.
zxspectrum1982 4y ago
No, it wouldn't be. If those "diverse people" want to be at FOSDEM, they will need to follow the same rules everybody follows.
JuniorBalleg 4y ago
[flagged]
- spencerchubb 4y ago
  A reason why I dislike homogeneous environments is because I feel like the odd one out. If most people in a room are of the same demographic, and I don't fit that demographic, then I feel like an outsider. It is hard to interpret your question as sincere when you imply that people want diversity so they can pick up women.
  - JuniorBalleg 4y ago
    [flagged]

college_physics 4y ago

"lack of diversity" is a statistical fact, not bullshit, please stop winding yourself up. Whether there is "culpability" or whether there is anything that can realistically be done about it in the short / long term is another matter. On the first count (culpability) I personally don't think that's the case for FOSS communities, i.e. there is no glaring reason to single them out - if anything they tend to be more open minded and collaborative, at least on average. It is the second point that is the useful direction, whether there is any opportunity to change the picture, not because "we have to meet some quota" but where it might actually enrich the community and make its output (FOSS software) more impactful.

JuniorBalleg 4y ago

[flagged]

Shish2k 4y ago

> If women, or gays, or trans, or people with disabilities, don't submit talks, then they will not get talks accepted. If you went along and had a terrible experience as a guest (for example being the only woman in a room with a hundred men, 95% of whom are fine, but 5% of whom are creepy, meaning that you get to spend the session dealing with 5 creepy men), would you want to submit a talk, with the goal of getting up on stage and bringing even more attention to yourself? Lack of diversity is a self-perpetuating cycle - I get it, you aren’t going out of your way to intentionally make things worse, and that’s great! But it is perpetuating itself at this point, and it’s going to require intentional effort to stop it. That effort can either come from the minorities, going out of their way to fight an uphill struggle to insert themselves into an event that doesn’t want them, or it can come from the organisers, going out of their way to be welcoming to groups who are currently pushed away by the status quo.