[LCA2011-Chat] Some Anti-Harassment Policies considered harmful

From: Jim Cheetham <jim>
Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2011 22:53:30 +1300

Quoting Luke Weston (from 01/02/11 20:13):
> Conditions. However, I was definitely told, at least once, that as a
> speaker my slides and presentation content must be "G-rated", outside of
> either of those two documents.

I doubt Mark's was the only presentation with spoken swearing (although
possibly the only one to make it an essential and deliberate central
feature). Other presentations I have seen at LCA2011 included written
swear words on the slides, and a reference to an extreme case of
sexual/violent behaviour. I won't name these examples, they are part of
the public record (in the video downloads, specifically) and do not seem
to have drawn any adverse comment at the time.

Both examples I've seen so far (still loads of videos of sessions to
catch up on and enjoy!) were part of the content, and were making a
clear point in the context of the presentation. The written words were
perhaps unnecessary -- the point could have been made without them. The
verbal comment was not in reference to the technical part of the
presentation, but to the real-world social environment that had
influenced the projects very existence. It also didn't need to have been
mentioned, but wasn't completely out of place.

So let's not pretend that Mark was the only person who didn't comply
with the unwritten "G-rated" policy.

-jim
Received on Tue Feb 01 2011 - 22:53:30 GMT