[Osmf-talk] [OSM-talk] Call to Take Action and Confront Systemic Offensive Behavior in the OSM Community

[Ferdinando Giammichele]

I think the choice of appropriate, considerate words will always set a
civil tone for a conversation in any forum.

If you have strong feelings about Facebook, this shouldn't lead you to
express these feelings publicly by using metaphors that include rather
offensive words – to any civil person I think, not just women.

And if you offer an apology later, you shouldn't use yet another
inappropriate word to describe something else equally deplorable [1].
Is there any added value in using that strong word? Being an
administrator/leading person in the OSM community, your examples will
set the tone for many other OSM users to follow.

Also, I would consider appropriate to apologise to the Facebook
employee/candidate for the OSM board who was quoted in the metaphor
used [2]. Before expressing such an extraordinary judgement,
unrefutable evidence should be provided although I wouldn’t express it
that way in any case.

On the other hand, in so doing, I do not feel there was an
‘’intentional behaviour to exclude participation by women and minority
groups’’ from OSM. On the exclusion of women and minority groups
perhaps the OSM board or those in charge may wish – given quite a few
users strongly feels so – to ascertain to what degree this is true in
OSM and therefore have a (independent?) review carried out and then,
when findings are presented, take the appropriate/necessary actions? A
manifesto like the one proposed is of little use I think.

I would instead welcome – also based on my previous (and not very
pleasant) experience with other Italian OSM users on the mapping
comment boxes and mailing lists –  a more robust and truly enforceable
Etiquette/Code of Conduct for all OSM users. This should help users to
understand that unfriendly and disrespectful tones/words/expressions
in any OSM mailing list or elsewhere on the OMS website are not
welcome and may be sanctioned.

Thanks,
Ferdinando

==

[1] ‘’[...] Women [...] their place is in the home with the kids or
any of that last-century shit.’’.

[2] ‘’[He] is going to grab our licence by the [*****] just as he
promised he would, and he's being paid a fine salary for that from one
of the most disturbing mega-corps on the planet’’.