Stuff Michael Meeks is doing

Up early; mail chew; merged a patch; chunk of admin.
Interested by the SJW discusion, and amazed to find myself with some things to agree with Eric Raymond about. Now that's unusual. Unfortunately - I also have some sympathy for the Contributor Covenant: people shouldn't be abused and harassed and the whole world should be a pleasant place to interact. The covenant is also unusually good for not including "giving offense" as a cause for action, that's some real progress. I agree with Bradley that Social Justice seems like an important goal to fight for; me too. My problem is primarily around enforcement of what look like common-sense rules. To Matthew Garrett (and other Geek Feminists) this appears to mean enforcing a glass-ceiling for Christians (and other small c conservatives) in Free Software and business. A ceiling based, not on their contributions or on anything they do in the project - but based exclusively on their personal ethical stance and its outworking. ie. "they disagree with me on (insert topic), so they should never have a position of authority". Is that Social Justice ? - perhaps. What gets to me though is the application of that: cheering on and justifying internet mobs attacking those with different views and driving them from their jobs. That is what really worries me. Eric captures this risk rather well I think. Sadly, the structures to ensure justice that we setup, can be and often are perveted to create injustice: part of the human condition. When it comes down to decisions that profoundly impact people's livelihoods - knowing that there is a fair, reasonable, balanced, compassionate approach to project discipline, removed from the heat of the moment is vital. It is on this basis that Eric also ironically fails: his call to eject or shun SJWs is also not the solution; indeed it looks like a mirror image of the basic problem (surely) ? I'd want to treat SJWs contributions like anyone else's, and to treat them with respect, and to try to winsomely persuade them that meritocracy as well as a pleasant working culture is actually a good and just goal. Anyhow, I'd like to hope that whatever a SJWs views, we can be friends and work together (I have lots of respect for several people with that worldview, not just Matthew ) - work together without polarising and excluding anyone; I certainly value interacting with their viewpoint. My hope is that we can remove the blatant personal attacks on both sides.
Drove into Cambridge to pick up some awkward hardware - to unwind exactly what is going on with GL on Windows / HD 3000. Home; installed Windows.

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In case it's not painfully obvious: the reflections reflected here are my own; mine, all mine ! and don't reflect the views of Collabora, SUSE, Novell, The Document Foundation, Spaghetti Hurlers (International), or anyone else. It's also important to realise that I'm not in on the Swedish Conspiracy. Occasionally people ask for formal photos for conferences or fun.

Stuff Michael Meeks is doing

2015-12-17 Thursday.