[hackerspaces] Hackers, feminism, and bullying

[webmind]

On 2013-01-18 14:00, Yves Quemener wrote:
> I can understand the dating sites thing, but the social network? I
> do not find it awkward to add someone to my contacts if I had a 2
> hours technical discussion or working session with. It could be
> courting, sure, but it could also be simple convergence of
> interests.
> 
> The one you propose seem even more unjustified and hard to enforce.
> When I meet someone with interesting projects, it seems natural to
> google what he or she did achieve in the past.
> 
> However, here is a proposal for women who fear they could be
> stalked online : do as do many gray-to-black hats, political
> bloggers, and several demomakers : use a pseudonym. If Mary Sue
> does not want to see a dozen geek try to friend her on facebook,
> she can give another name (I however consider it polite to mention
> it is a pseudonym but this may be just me). Several persons (all
> males with a concern for privacy) did this. Our public list of
> members only give their pseudonym.
> 
> I would argue that this rule, however, is more an anti-harassment
> rule than a way to promote a more balanced gender ratio.
> 

A better anti-harassment rule: don't harass people.

I do think all information you put publicly online, is public.
Respecting each-others privacy should be common-sense (although I
expect most hackerspaces will end  up with at least some
rotten-apples), but they choose to share that information so I
wouldn't call it harassment if someone looks up your public information.

In general however I would consider it good advice that if you do not
want your information looked up, don't share it or use different
identities, but I've always found that difficult to uphold, it appears
to be confusing for some people.

Regarding dating sites, I'd expect creeps there any time, but as long
as they know no means no, it shouldn't be a problem imho.


Cheers,

w (still shocked about reading the firearm discussion :)
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