+1 - I totally agree on that.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Roy Tennant
> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 5:27 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
> 
> I'd be happy to join this effort, and would like to suggest a friendly
> amendment. We need, as a community, to have an anti-harassment policy
> that governs ALL of our collective interactions (e.g., the chatroom,
> for example), not just for the conference.
> Roy
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
> > Dear Fellow Code4libbers,
> >
> > I hope I am not about to get flamed. Please take as context that I
> > have been a member of this community for almost a decade. I have
> > contributed software, support, and volunteer labor to this
> community's
> > events. I have also attended the majority of code4lib conferences,
> > which have been amazing and life-changing, and have helped me do my
> > job a lot better. But, and I've never really known how to talk about
> > this, those conferences have also been problematic for me a couple of
> > times. Nothing like what happened to Noirin Shirley at ApacheCon (see
> > http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Noirin_Shirley_ApacheCon_incident
> > if you're unfamiliar with the incident I mean) but enough to concern
> > me that even in a wonderful community where we mostly share the same
> > values, not everyone has the same definitions of acceptable behavior.
> >
> > I am watching the toxic fallout from the BritRuby conference
> > cancellation with a heavy heart (go search for "britruby conference
> > cancelled" if you want to catch up and/or get depressed). It has me
> > wondering what more we could be doing to promote diversity and
> > inclusiveness within code4lib. We have already had a couple of
> > harassment incidents over the years, which I won't rehash here, which
> > have driven away members of our community. We have also had other
> > incidents that don't get talked about because sometimes one can feel
> > that membership in a community is more important than one's personal
> > boundaries or even safety. We should not be a community where people
> have to make that choice.
> >
> > I would like for us to consider adopting an anti-harassment policy
> for
> > code4lib conferences. This is emerging as a best practice in the
> > larger open source software community, and we would be joining the
> > ranks of many other conferences:
> > http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-
> harassment/Adoption.
> > The Ada Initiative has a great discussion of why adopting an
> > Anti-Harrassment policy is a good choice for a conference to make, as
> > well as some example policy statements, here:
> > http://adainitiative.org/what-we-do/conference-policies/ Here is a
> > summary:
> >
> > > Why have an official anti-harassment policy for your conference?
> > > First,
> > it is necessary (unfortunately). Harassment at conferences is
> > incredibly common - for example, see this timeline (
> > http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/index.php?title=Timeline_of_incidents)
> > of sexist incidents in geek communities. Second, it sets expectations
> > for behavior at the conference. Simply having an anti-harassment
> > policy can prevent harassment all by itself. Third, it encourages
> > people to attend who have had bad experiences at other conferences.
> > Finally, it gives conference staff instructions on how to handle
> > harassment quickly, with the minimum amount of disruption or bad
> press for your conference.
> >
> > If the conference already has something like this in place, and I'm
> > just uninformed, please educate me and let's do a better job
> publicizing it.
> >
> > Thanks for considering this suggestion. If the answer is the usual
> > code4lib answer (some variation on "Great idea! How are you going to
> > make that happen?") then I hereby nominate myself as a member of the
> > Anti-Harrassment Policy Adoption committee for the code4lib
> conference.
> > Would anyone else like to join me?
> >
> > Bess Sadler
> > [log in to unmask]
> > Manager, Application Development
> > Digital Library Systems & Services
> > Stanford University Library
> >