Women and TLUG - a personal rant

[Christopher Browne]

On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 10:57 PM, Digimer <lists-5ZoueyuiTZiw5LPnMra/2Q at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On 15/01/14 09:15 PM, William Park wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 08:39:26PM -0500, Scott Elcomb wrote:
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 7:53 PM, William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Come on, guys.  This bitching about TLUG meeting is strange to me and
>>>> counter productive as group.  People come to the meeting because they
>>>> want to learning something, and people don't come to the meeting because
>>>> they have nothing to learn.
>>>
>>>
>>> People come for other reasons as well. They also come for the
>>> community - I hate not making it out more often than I do.
>>>
>>>> Heckling and harassment are side issues.
>>>
>>> On the contrary, people are talking about why they no longer
>>> participate in person.  If community is the heart of GTALUG then
>>> meetings should be the lifeblood.  Such topics should not be dismissed
>>> out of hand.
>>
>>
>> What I mean is, they no longer participate because they see no need to
>> come to the meeting (e.g. Linux distros are easy to install, tons of
>> info on Web, etc.), and not because there is heckling.  That is, they
>> are acting in their own self interest.
>>
>> For example, if SAP were to present at TLUG and give free samples of
>> their software, I'd bet women would *** OMITTED; not going to repeat that!!!

Utterly, utterly inappropriate.

Not going to touch that point with any sort of implement.

That's the sort of sentiment that justifies people staying away in droves,
whatever the gender,

> Comments like this, and the reaction (or lack there-of) of the TLUG
> community, will determine the future of TLUG.

I am willing to take people at their public word, as said in this thread, that
they prefer not to come to meetings anymore because they have been
unhappy with what they consider heckling.

Others may disagree with what to call it ("I think that *genuine* heckling
means something else"), but that is pretty irrelevant if the consequence
is that people are staying away.  A rose, by any other name, is still a
rose.

And this bit of the thread amounts to pouring additional inflammables onto
the fire.

Sigh.
-- 
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question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"And
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