[SOLVED] Ubuntu Women ???

[hvac3901]

I just noticed, there is a special wiki for Ubuntu women. I believe this is part of the Ubuntu project (within some reasonable degree).

(i am not a pot stirrer) but have always wondered how women feel when they get singled out.

they quoted statistics the ratio of women involved in linux projects, vrs. proprietary software. I am wondering. Do you feel that you need to be singled out, do you need this to motivate you to contribute, use or otherwise be involved in something other than Windows. ( and i say windows because its pretty much commercially there anytime you buy a PC unless you beat the sales people up and demand a machine devoid of an OS)

Now PLEASE dear deity (*whichever you have or do not have) do not think for an instant that I do not appreciate the contributions of women to this OS, you have in every instance i am almost uncertainly sure, have contributed more than I ever could have to the distribution so that isn't the intent of this. and never will be.

[LaRoza]

Probably because of this (http://xkcd.com/322/)

[K.Mandla]

Moved to Ubuntu Women subforum ... and the irony of that is not lost on me. :mrgreen:

[hvac3901]

Cute comic, and the guy depicted isn't me. :P Here in the Ubuntu forums i hardly notice whether the person helping me is a women or not.

And i will never ask for your picture. I had a bad experience once :))

[hvac3901]

I think its an appropriate move (thank you) I wasn't aware that you had a special place in the forum as well. the irony is not lost on me either. :)

[elizabeth]

Do you feel that you need to be singled out, do you need this to motivate you to contribute, use or otherwise be involved in something other than Windows.

It's a complicated issue, but I will attempt to explain.

First off - the Ubuntu Women project does not seek to single out or segregate women. We openly work to get more women into the greater Ubuntu project.

We also offer a bit of a haven away from the sometimes harsh reality of the rest of the community (you should see some of the trolls we get on IRC, or forum posts I've had to poke forum admins about - it's really disturbing sometimes). Getting together with folks who have experience similar experiences within F/OSS development and involvement makes us feel less alone. I've been discouraged several times when working with people and learning their absolute shock when they found my gender As I work more in the community and more folks know me this happens less and less, but if I didn't have support in the beginning I would have left.

[hvac3901]

It's a complicated issue, but I will attempt to explain.

I understand, the reason, and i have no problem with anyone using something that is somewhat exclusive even if only by name reference, when in reality all can still access.

I was more focused on the extreme result of exclusivity. If women get a special forum, then we must make special instances (hypothetically of course) for all users of ubuntu so they too can feel perfectly at home. in a world where a jerk of a troll will do his thing, and hinder their involvement.

so again hypothetically.
we now need a forum for ubntu users of african decent which will include sub fourms for european users of african decent, african americans, and of course real africans, among others.

then the asians, both with sub forums for women and men,

and then we need a forum for those Ubuntu users that are gay lesbian bi-sexual and trans gender. with an appropriate sub forum that back links to any other special forum that each user is affiliated with.

I really have no issue with women having a special forum. I just wonder why some people feel compelled to isolate themselves because of a difference, WE ALL BLEED RED, WE ALL breath the same air, and we share the same earth, what makes us so different as humans we always feel the need to be special based on a factor none of us had any say over. and the flip side of course, what makes any jerk off troll think they have the right to harass anyone based on the same aforementioned factors.

it was more of a thought provoking question, i am happy to see it was taken in good faith.

[elizabeth]

and then we need a forum for those Ubuntu users that are gay lesbian bi-sexual and trans gender.

Ubuntu LGBT exists.

As does Ubuntu Youth and Ubuntu Accessibility. Along with Ubuntu Women they're under the umbrella group of Ubuntu For All (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuForAll) whose mission is to work with people who feel they've been treated unfairly within the project.

A new initiative exists to get more students involved called Ubuntu Students (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuStudents), which while not an equality struggle like the others, it does target a demographic.


I just wonder why some people feel compelled to isolate themselves because of a difference,

Again, it's not about isolation. MOST of my forum posts are not on this forum - they're within my LoCo team (and the same is true of my Mailing List involvement, IRC involvement, Wiki involvement...). Ubuntu Women is more of a place where I go back to when someone in my LoCo team posts in our forums whether I'm single or not - and I'm annoyed at how to answer that question again (humor is the best response, but it's tiring).

So, why? Because I wouldn't be involved with Ubuntu if -Women didn't exist. I would have been driven off long ago. I expect this is true of several very dedicated female members of the project. You may not agree that having people like myself working within Ubuntu is a good enough reason to have a project, but think the more people we can get involved the better, even if that means creating projects targeted at involvement.

[hvac3901]

i guess you told me, i will turn the floor over to you now. :) i just didn't think being anything other than Linux more specifically Ubuntu users was necessary to accomplish the goal of the already small community.

I truly appreciate you taking it well. And i guess in the end, what can i say I'm shocked. PEACE.

[hvac3901]

You may not agree that having people like myself working within Ubuntu is a good enough reason to have a project, but think the more people we can get involved the better, even if that means creating projects targeted at involvement.

I would never presume to say someone was inappropriately tasked based on as little exchange we have had here. And NEVER would i say that based on what they were.

[hvac3901]

EDITED:

kvidell is right, this is my point:

ubuntu for afro-(whatever)-people
ubuntu for gays | lesbians
ubuntu for transsexuals
ubuntu for physically handicapped people
ubuntu for psychologically handicapped people (don't know the correct phrase)
ubuntu for SuSE users *g* (no harm ment)

why are women so special and the others not?

This has already been covered, you guys might even see this moved to the womens forum ( ;) ) , Why dont you try going there and looking for it.

There is a GLBT forum as well, they pretty much have it all covered.

[hvac3901]

Threads merged. 37 pages to read, already discussed ad nauseam :)

I was just posting telling them this was gonna get moved :) but you were faster than me, er i guess that was me that needed to read.