I'm all for people creating new social structures to move themselves 
forward doing it however they see fit. The internet is a big place, and 
there's room for more. In this case, though, I hope it will be an "and" 
operation, not an exclusive "or". I would be happy to hear that a new 
group formed and that it's going well. I would be disappointed if people 
in that group ended up moving away from this one big group. It happens, 
and I'd get over it, sure, but it'd still be disappointing. We gain 
something by gathering together like we have here. It's not exclusive, 
nor should it be. But code4lib has added so much to me and my work that 
I know how much I stand to lose if we do not also keep working to stick 
together, however difficult that can be sometimes. Respectfully yours, -Dan

The way to make that happen is to make the larger group welcoming, fair, 
non-hostile. I've seen some real hostility around this idea of creating 
a place for women -- not just people thinking it might not be as good as 
being a single group, but real hostility. I suspect there was less 
hostility about setting up a Python group, or about setting up local 
groups. Removing the "difficulty" is the best way to keep everyone 
together. I definitely do not feel, today, like I'm welcomed, mainly 
because of the strength of the arguments against an idea that came from 
women. And remember, there wasn't a felt need to create an 
anti-harassment policy against Pythoners. These are not analogous 
situations.

kc



-- 
Karen Coyle
[log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net
ph: 1-510-540-7596
m: 1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet