[OSGeo-Discuss] [OSGeo-Conf] Code of Conduct in Real Case

[Darrell Fuhriman]

I’m not sure who the “we” you are referring to here is, but it certainly does not include me.

I am absolutely, 100%, interested in having more women become engaged in FOSS4G.

Please don’t make such sweeping generalizations.

We are a broad community, a global community, but we are not truly reflective of the whole world. We are largely white men from wealthy countries.

I *want* people engaged and passionate about FOSS4G. And that means making sure have a community where *everyone* feels welcome.  If our FOSS4G community does not reflect the entire world, then we are failing to engage all people, or worse, chasing some of them away.

A CoC is not a sign that we are dying, a CoC is a sign that we acknowledge that we are insufficiently inclusive, and that we as a community will not stand for that. It’s a sign that says “We do not want behaviors that drive people away, behaviors that make our community *smaller*. We are a welcoming community and we want *you* to be part of it.”Is a CoC sufficient to create that community? Absolutely not, but it’s a step forwards. A flag in the ground — a flag that says, “We welcome you!”

If we’re afraid of that, then we truly are a dying community, and one that deserves to meet its quiet, irrelevant end.

Darrell


> We are not interested in "more women to become engaged in FOSS4G". We are interested in people engaged and passionate about FOSS4G. We don't care about the sex, the colour, the religious or the operating system. Why are we interested specifically in more women?
> 
> There is a large and growing business behind FOSS4G, which is an huge accomplishment of FOSS4G, that we should care and maintain. It is ok to have some grey people with a strange piece of cloth knotted at the throat attending FOSS4G and moving around.