Re: removing toxic emailers

[Iain Sandoe <idsandoe@googlemail.com>]

Ian Lance Taylor via Gcc <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 8:02 PM Frosku <frosku@frosku.com> wrote:
>>> We want free software to succeed. Free software is more likely to
>>> succeed if more people work on it. If you are a volunteer, as many
>>> are, you can choose to spend your time on the project where you have
>>> to short-stop unwelcome advances, where you are required to deal with
>>> "men with poor social skills." Or you can choose to spend your time
>>> on the project where people treat you with respect. Which one do you
>>> choose?
>>
>> The one where technical excellence is prioritized over social skills,
>> personally. If I have a choice between partaking in a project where I
>> have to walk on eggshells for fear of people coming with torches and
>> pitchforks to expel me because I was a bit too harsh in my critique or
>> posted an opinion on my personal blog which wasn't something they
>> agreed with, or a project where some of the other people are people I
>> wouldn't share a beer with but the technical standard is high and free
>> expression is generally valued, I would choose the latter.
>
> Those are not the only two possible ways that a project can work.
>
> Also, you seem to be making the implicit assumption that there is some
> sort of trade off between technical excellence and social skills.
> That is false.  They are independent axes.

Absolutely!

This forum (barring the current discussion where, frankly, the dissent is not
coming from people who are actually active contributors), does not usually
have a problem.

Nor is this isolated; I participate in two other forums where there are many
excellent software engineers with good social and communication skills (and
those that would not, perhaps, do this naturally have managed to adapt).

The world has changed (for the better in my view) this is 2021, not 1971;  
it is
not a passing fashion to treat each other with respect, but a steady
progression that I’ve witnessed over my adult life.

Perpetuating the stereotypical “excellent” engineer (this problem is not
confined to software) as a beer-drinking male social misfit is a huge  
disservice
to engineering everywhere.

It is already a considerable leap for many engineers to post code for public
review; it is essential (IMO) that review of code is carried out on a fair  
and
technical basis without personal attack or harrassment (or unwelcome  
unrelated
attention).

“Grow a thicker skin” is an appalling advertising slogan.

Iain