From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:09:14 -0700 Message-ID: From: "Devon H. O'Dell" To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Subject: [9fans] List Interactions and GSoC Topicbox-Message-UUID: 33cd1072-ead8-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 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