[Osmf-talk] "a viper pit of racism and misogyny"

[Richard Fairhurst]

(I haven't been an OSMF member since 2013 so am unable to post to this 
list except by the good graces of the list administrators, but as one of 
the ops of the #osm IRC channel, would like to clarify something being 
discussed here.)

joost schouppe wrote:
> BTW I've just been told the actual trigger was not anything said on
> here, but some blatant anti-American hate speech on IRC that wasn't
> countered by those present there:

The #osm IRC channel is, in my experience, perhaps the friendliest, most 
informal and best-natured of OSM's many communication channels; and the 
three channel ops (myself, Ian Dees, Dee Earley) try to keep it that way.

We can't be in front of a screen 24/7 and so may sometimes miss 
something - certainly I hadn't seen the comment mentioned here. If you 
do spot something like this, please notify one/all of the ops - either 
in open channel or private message - and we can do something about it. 
It's a little disheartening to learn about this (very rare) occurrence 
third-hand.

> I wish we could try just a bit harder to understand why the other has
> a certain opinion, rather than trying to prove them wrong.

This is perhaps the most important point made in this whole sorry 
thread. Thank you, Joost.

Richard
#osm channel op inter alia