On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 7:55 PM, Matthew Brett <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi (mainly to Jonah, but about SWC policy in general), > > Spaced Girl told me by private email that you (Jonah) emailed her > to say that you had unsubscribed her from the discussion list. I assume > this was because she first used the word "asshole", as in: > > "rather than have to receive asshole teaching statements" (about > Dirk's rather abrupt and unhelpful email) > > - and then she used the word "shit" in her recent email, as in: > > "It's a theoretical piece of shit" (about the code of conduct). > > You (Jonah) publicly emailed in reply to the first of these, and > referred Spaced Girl generally to the code of conduct. > > I must say it wasn't clear to me what you meant specifically in the > code of conduct, and I thought Spaced Girl's general objection to > Dirk's email was reasonable. I also think that the reference to > "asshole teaching statements" is referring to the statement not the > person, so is not a personal attack. > > I'm at a loss as to what you objected to in the second email if it > was not just the word "shit" - but that seems pretty ordinary > conversational use to me. I don't see any mention of swearing in the > CoC. > > In any case, I was worried to hear that you thought these two emails > were enough to justify throwing someone off the list. In general, it > seems to me that it will be damaging to frank discussion if list users > are aware that they could get thrown off for such minor things, and > without any direct and specific warning (as in "if you swear in an > email again, we will unsubscribe you"). Otherwise we are in the > unpleasant situation where we have to worry about what is going to > upset you, without knowing exactly what that is. > > Can I humbly suggest that, unless this is already done somewhere, SWC > formalizes what exact steps should be taken when throwing someone off > the list, and err strongly towards not doing that? I think this is a > case where more aggressive enforcement is counterproductive. It > doesn't make you feel more welcome if you know you have to be very > careful what you say.
I think the general principle is, "If you wouldn't say it at a professional conference in front of 700 strangers don't say it here." _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
