In March 2004, a thread started on a Debian mailing list about sexism on IRC, entitled Some Comments on Sexism in #debian.
* First post in thread by Matthew Hall "I would like to say some words to those who have been saying that Debian doesn't discriminate against women. As far as IRC goes, IT DOES. ADMIT IT ALREADY. Every day the channel is filled with trolls and flamers abusing the few female regulars who "boldly dare to frequent it." On top of that, there is a constant flow of sexist sexually suggestiv[sic] remarks [...]. Simply put, we can do better."
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| - In March 2004, a thread started on a Debian mailing list about sexism on IRC, entitled Some Comments on Sexism in #debian.
* First post in thread by Matthew Hall "I would like to say some words to those who have been saying that Debian doesn't discriminate against women. As far as IRC goes, IT DOES. ADMIT IT ALREADY. Every day the channel is filled with trolls and flamers abusing the few female regulars who "boldly dare to frequent it." On top of that, there is a constant flow of sexist sexually suggestiv[sic] remarks [...]. Simply put, we can do better."
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| - In March 2004, a thread started on a Debian mailing list about sexism on IRC, entitled Some Comments on Sexism in #debian.
* First post in thread by Matthew Hall "I would like to say some words to those who have been saying that Debian doesn't discriminate against women. As far as IRC goes, IT DOES. ADMIT IT ALREADY. Every day the channel is filled with trolls and flamers abusing the few female regulars who "boldly dare to frequent it." On top of that, there is a constant flow of sexist sexually suggestiv[sic] remarks [...]. Simply put, we can do better."
* Thread index Ten years later, Debian's IRC channels are much better places. There is an established culture that Debian's IRC presence is a place for professional and respectful help and coordination. Sexism is unwelcome just like racism, crapflooding or spam. The Debian project has also adopted a Code of Conduct which applies equally to IRC as to mailing lists and in-person meetings. IRC still suffers from two problems: (a) being text-based and lacking non-verbal cues, criticism can still become too personal and be harsher than actually intended (b) IRC channels are public places and all manner of nutters like to drop by to spread their particular forms of hate. Channel and network operators deal with (b) as best as they can -- everyone still needs to work on problem (a).
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