[TriLUG] proposed amendment to the bylaws

[Steve Litt]

On Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:30:26 -0400
Alan Porter <porter at trilug.org> wrote:

> 
> > walking on eggshells, having to
> > constantly worry about being busted
> 
> Believe me, the steering committee shares this concern.
> 
> This is supposed to be about inclusiveness, and how to convince
> some that may be cautious about attending that we've got their
> backs.  We want to announce up front that if someone is being
> truly bothersome, we will ask them to leave a meeting rather
> than just shrugging and saying "that guy is a real jerk, but hey".
> 
> That does NOT mean that we can't joke and have fun and even
> poke fun at each other.  But it DOES mean that I don't have to
> worry about a foul-mouthed heckler or a presentation with NSFW
> images in it before inviting my kids to attend a meeting.

Concerning http://trilug.org/anti-harassment, I think you might want to
rethink the inclusion of technical background in the list of, for want
of a better word, and I wish I had a better word, "protected classes".
All the rest of those classes have nothing to do with Linux or TriLUG,
and forbidding jokes about all the rest of those subjects would be of
little or no restriction to the joy of TriLUG. However, protecting
"technical background" means we can't joke about our technically dense
bosses who choose technology on the golf course and ignore our educated
technical input. Taking the protection of "technical background" to its
ultimate conclusion (which I'm sure nobody would do), it could prevent
us from discussing the technically stupid Windows security model
compared to the Unix security model.

Personally, if it were me writing the policy, instead of including
technical background, I'd just have a blanket policy against personal
insults. That prevents person A from calling person B "ignorant of
Linux", requiring him instead to say "I think you're mistaken".

HTH,

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance