[9fans] List Interactions and GSoC

["Devon H. O'Dell" <devon.odell@gmail.com>]

Several really awful threads have come through in the past few weeks,
though I recognize this has been an increasing problem over the past
two years. It is possible to not respect a person without being
disrespectful towards that person. It's possible to promote software
without having a nuclear meltdown. And it is possible to ignore topics
that are not interesting to you.

I don't own this list or have any control over it. I wouldn't want to
try to force anything upon anyone if I did. But I do have a fairly
active role in the Plan 9 community. Every year, I do my best to help
organize our (mostly) very successful Summer of Code program. This
includes writing and reviewing our application, engaging students and
mentors with each other, understanding project status, and more. It's
not an easy task. Some years, I have also either been a direct or
surrogate mentor on top of this role.

In this capacity, I'd like to ask people to step back and take a
breather before posting the sort of inflammatory drivel and hateful
discourse that has sadly become common on this list.

This list is our most active public face to the world, and it is
something that absolutely is used in determining whether we are
accepted for GSoC. This program is not only good for getting people
interested in Plan 9, but also in helping students learn solid
software engineering fundamentals using an environment that was
created by people adhering to those fundamentals. Some of our students
have left the community because this list is extremely uninviting and
volatile. Some students have declined to join our program after
reading the list.

This isn't a healthy way to keep Plan 9 active. Please, in the
interest of advancing the software (or at least advancing the
knowledge of others), can we please tone the vitriol down a notch?

Kind regards,

Devon H. O'Dell