[Osmf-talk] Dale Kunce (OSM, OSMF and HOT US Inc president) on [OSMF] mailing list: "a viper pit of racism and misogyny"; a statement which minimally calls for answers and facts

[Christoph Hormann]

On Tuesday 19 December 2017, Ben Abelshausen wrote:
>
> It hurts when people tweet this kind of stuff, I follow Frederik's
> sentiment. I have responded on twitter a couple of times when this
> happens. But how we respond to this has to be different from what
> we've done up until now:
>
> "It's not true, there isn't a problem, and let's do nothing!"
>
> This reaction is normal, [...]

No, it is not and since no one here said anything like that implying 
people do and that it is normal to do so is demeaning.

If anyone comes up here with specific critique on the way people 
communicate and treat other people and does so respectfully and in a 
tolerant way, supports this critique with solid arguments and most 
importantly is open to the possibility of being wrong about it, i will 
be the first to defend them against voices who deny this needs careful 
consideration.  But that is not the case here.

Before the board elections Joost rightfully pointed out that it is 
important to clearly speak up if people make comments you consider 
offensive or otherwise inappropriate.  This is what is happening here 
regarding Dale Kunce's comments.  Frederik and Rod both pointed out in 
detail how that is the case with Dale's comments.  Please don't try to 
spin this into yet another 'we need a CoC' campaign.  It would be 
incredibly ironic if a statement by a radical CoC lobbyist that is in 
blatant violation of just about any CoC you could imagine was used as 
an argument for imposing a CoC on the OSM community.

I am all for continuing the discourse on how to support friendly, 
respectful and open cross cultural communication in a growing global 
OSM community.  But do not let statements like that from Dale Kunce 
which trample on just about everything OpenStreetMap stands for 
influence this discourse.

-- 
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/