
Drupal developer asked to leave project because of "belief system" - speeder
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/29/drupal_dev_banished/
======
DocTomoe
In the end, what we see here is a paradigm shift.

Open Source / Free software used to be about, well, open source and free
software. The moment "Code of Conducts", "Diversity advocates" and the likes
swamp into a project, a situation like this one is bound to happen sooner or
later.

Smaller projects are usually immune to this because they often are small,
well-knit communities. Large projects attract people who are not about
technology, but "to be a part of something bigger", and in today's climate,
this attraction extends to people who mean well, but are in fact destructive.

I guess it is time to make sure OSS projects do not become too large for their
own good - let's get back to what we are really good at, which is technology,
and keep all the diversity / orwellian minilov-stuff to the Humanities. As
long as the code is good, noone should give a damn if it comes from a Hindu, a
Muslim, an agnostic, a homosexual, someone with green skin or someone who
enjoys the consensual presence of their prefered gender in leather. We need to
go back to [https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-
independence](https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence)

~~~
ZokiNull
I agree with what I think is your main point. Specifically that:

>As long as the code is good, noone should give a damn if it comes from a
Hindu, a Muslim, an agnostic, a homosexual, someone with green skin or someone
who enjoys the consensual presence of their prefered gender in leather.

At the end of the day, the code eventually shipped is what an open-source
project exists to produce.

However, I'm more hesitant than you are to blame what happened here on
diversity advocates. I don't think we want to live in a world where software
is produced by homogeneous groups developers of the same age, race, and
gender. And I'm not sure diversity happens by accident either. Surely being
open and honest about diversity issues helps us build more accepting groups?

In my opinion, what happened here can be considered a failure in diversity, as
the leadership of Drupal project decided to discriminate against one of their
developers for his lifestyle decisions. This is where a diversity advocate
should step in to provide education about consensual BDSM and demand that the
leadership not discriminate against someone for their sexual preferences. What
happened here is no different than shaming someone for who they sleep with.

I certainly am willing to recognize that projects can be damaged by
individuals who push diversity issues too far because, as you said, they want
"to be a part of something bigger" but are in fact destructive. But we need to
find the right balance, not pretend like diversity will happen automagically.

As a member of the BDSM community I can honestly say that I would no longer
feel comfortable participating in the Drupal project. So an advocate here
would be perfectly acceptable to me.

~~~
gspetr
> I don't think we want to live in a world where software is produced by
> homogeneous groups developers of the same age, race, and gender.

Do you own any Chinese or Japanese products? Not necessarily software ones.
You almost certainly do.

It's virtually impossible to migrate to China and very, very difficult to
migrate to Japan. Therefore most of their products are created by people of
the same race. Do you regularly go out of your way to buy other products
instead of Chinese/Japanese ones?

My point is: As a consumer I don't really care who provides the best product
in terms of price and quality. And if diversity really does provide
competitive edge, then I believe we should simply let the market sort it out.
As long as there is no discrimination in providing equal opportunities for
access to the market for everyone.

------
mnm1
Wow. I can't believe what I just read. There's just no nice way to put this.
Those Drupal maintainers need to grow up and stop being such childish assholes
who try to control everyone and everything. The Drupal project should distance
itself from the people causing this kind of hate in the community, not the
person who is being persecuted for his ideas (regardless of what they are). I
guarantee I can find evidence of much more fowl ideas out there in the
community. Should we just ban people for having ideas we don't like that are
not even remotely related to the open source work they do? Do we really have
so many people vying to compete for all that unpaid open source work that we
can afford to kick people out because some idiots disagree over some unrelated
and unimportant ideas?

------
theoh
There's a discussion to be had about the correlation between a preoccupation
with interacting with the world through computing and "attachment styles" that
are not considered to be healthy. (avoidant etc.)

Witch-hunts are a dumb way to pursue this.

If a project (say a cryptographic software project) is full of
avoidant/dismissive types, a lot of mainstream people will be naturally so far
from engaging with it that they don't notice whether it succeeds or fails.

Our understanding of psychology is so limited that our idea of what's
desirable is really at the level of hunches and rumors, sometimes supported by
obscure studies. (Obscure mostly because of the size of the configuration
space.)

Etc.

------
ng12
Absolutely infuriating. Witch-hunting of the worst kind.

------
powmonk
I was getting kinda tired of drupal anyway. Now I have a reason not to deploy
it.

------
Neliquat
Shame on anyone who discriminates against consenting adults. I thought we were
moving past this.

------
speeder
I wonder why this got flagged.

~~~
Mz
Are you joking?

Why is this being downvoted? It is a sincere question.

~~~
krapp
The article has some traction, the comments are not that uncivil, the posted
article doesn't appear to be clickbait, and it does fall within what seem to
be the community's standards, being related to the intersection of politics
and tech culture.

There doesn't seem to be a reason for it to be flagged, other than
prudishness. But, we're supposed to be capable of having civilized discussions
here, and we're not all children, so maybe people should just not engage with
the thread or hide it if they're unwilling to engage with it.

~~~
Mz
I am aware of all that. I am also well aware that certain topics -- like this
-- do get flagged regularly. In many cases, people appear to be simply
reacting to the title, without reading further.

I am trying to establish if the OP is sincerely asking for an explanation,
trying to be funny, or if it is a not well worded comment indicating what you
have just indicated (i.e. an opinion that it shouldn't be flagged).

Edit: I think the OP may have slightly changed the remark. My recollection is
that it initially said "Why is this being flagged?" It is possible I am
misremembering it, but whatever.

------
kinos
Guh, I wish this title mentioned that it involves the Gorean community.

~~~
DocTomoe
And what difference does it make?

~~~
Neliquat
It is a rather small, specific subgenere of both kink and scifi. With a
specific reputation in both communities. Very diffrent from a generic
bdsm/scifi situation where I just imagine slave leia.

------
cheez
This is unfortunate. Private, everyone consenting. Who cares

~~~
bitwize
People get fired from actual jobs for far less.

The evidence suggests that this guy is a creep whose Gorean fantasies are
linked to regressive views of women in the real world. Allowing such a person
to have a significant contributory, let alone leadership, role in an open
source community is bound to leave other contributors massively uncomfortable.
To avoid distruption to the community, the community exercised its right to
exclude such a person.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> Allowing such a person to have a significant contributory, let alone
> leadership, role in an open source community is bound to leave other
> contributors massively uncomfortable.

I suggest Drupal find adult contributors then who can contribute. Being
uncomfortable or offended isn't a protected class, and you have no business
contributing to a public project if you're going to exile or shame colleagues
due to their private lives.

It seems the "Code Of Conduct" has jumped the shark and become a weaponized
tool for witch hunts.

~~~
micheljones
It didn't just 'jump the shark' recently, it was designed with this goal in
mind.

~~~
cheez
I'm surprised by how many people didn't see this coming. Rules are intended to
weed out undesirables, for whatever reason, even if not objectively moral.

------
draw_down
Yikes.

