We live in a world where the are repercussions of calling out people for sexual harassment.  Not to put too fine a point on it, we live in a world where people were recently sued for doing just that.  So I think it's completely necessary to have an anonymous method of raising concerns, if you really want people to raise concerns with the conference organizers.

-Esmé

> On Feb 24, 2016, at 6:12 PM, Kyle Banerjee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Feedback about proposed duty officers can be emailed to directly to me,
>> [log in to unmask], or submitted via this anonymous form
>> <http://goo.gl/forms/YKfWRwyiOr>.
>> 
> 
> 
> It's unfortunate people feel a need to move discussions offline -- I
> interpret this as meaning some people are afraid of repercussions for
> respectfully sharing thoughts on an issue that affects everyone.
> 
> I believe we agree as a community we cannot be our best if the ideas and
> talents of any group are excluded. I believe we agree specific measures are
> needed to overcome structural barriers and provide opportunities to broad
> groups of people who still can't participate in the technology community on
> an equal basis.
> 
> To be direct, I have concerns about the duty officer idea.  I support the
> motivation behind the concept 100%. I have great respect for the people who
> have stepped up on this issue, both as technologists and as people in
> general.
> 
> Being a self selected group, c4l has problems found in society at large. If
> the conference is at least as safe as other environments attendees
> encounter such as airports, streets, bars, and restaurants, I would hope
> the conference organizers could address issues when self policing (i.e.
> people looking out for each other) proved inadequate.
> 
> My concern is that while harassment and assault are real issues, they have
> taken a life of their own and divert too much focus from helping people and
> improving everyone's skills to protecting people from attack. I fear these
> well meaning measures do not improve safety and possibly harden the few
> miscreants they're intended to mitigate.
> 
> I hope my words will be perceived in the spirit intended.
> 
> kyle