From my experience with technical newsgroups and mailing lists,
including those intended for experts, a FAQ can be invaluable in dealing
with the questions the long term participants have seen far too often.
Craig Russell has suggested having one for our diversity effort. I am
sure there are other somewhat relevant FAQ's out there, and I will look
for them, but I think we need something tuned to ASF's mailing list and
do-ocracy culture.
When someone shows up with an old, familiar, question there would be no
need to argue about whether they are a troll or just ignorant. You
simply refer them to the FAQ and then ignore them unless and until they
ask a question it does not answer, in a way that shows they have read
and considered it.
Even given my medical situation, I think I could at least make a start
on organizing a FAQ. For that, I need two types of input: links to good
self-education sources, and sample questions-and-answers.
As I have already pointed out, I am not myself an expert. Of course, I
will read referenced material to improve my own education. I got started
in the computer industry at a time when people accepted women in
technical leadership roles. By 1980, I was project leader for the
technical core of NCR's VRX operating system, and it was too late for
anyone to tell me I didn't belong.
Unfortunately, the best sample questions will be exactly the ones many
of you have been dealing with for years. The more likely a question is
to be the opening salvo of troll visit, the more important it will be to
answer it in the FAQ. I hope some of the experts will be willing to
contribute their experience.
I don't want my FAQ-collection effort to get in the way of getting
things done on diversity@. For that reason, I suggest creation of a
mailing list [email protected]. Its purpose would be to educate.
People who are willing to contribute to the FAQ, and to answering basic
questions, would subscribe. Those who have had enough of educating
others would carry on using diversity@ to get the job done.
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