On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:19 PM, Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote:
1) Vicious, hurtful gossip and speculation about a
female executive's
private personal life is acceptable
2) People who point out that this is a ridiculous position are
manufacturing "outrage" to fuel drama
3) Recapping the whole sordid situation on a public, international mailing
list is appropriate
Agreed with Nathan. Please, gossip privately if you really have to.
Amount of gossips which came to me while I was on my one year break is
amazing. OK, I have to say that the unofficial Master of Wikimedia
Gossip was unstoppable in telling the stories to me whenever we drank
alcohol, but the MWG has the sources and there are plenty of sources
in the global community.
While it's unreasonable to ask everybody to refrain from gossip, I
urge to make difference between the *private* gossips "he slept in her
room during the conference" and "everybody thinks that she should
leave her partner". Having in mind few cultural requirements, the
first one is mostly harmless and could be positive, while the second
one is very harmful.
However, none of those stories have the place on the public mailing
list of the Wikimedia movement. Keep it for yourself, while drinking
some aromatic ethanol with fellow creatures.
I have one more point to the folk subscribed to this list: If you want
to reach *any* a bit more visible position inside of the movement,
keep in mind that you will targets of gossip in the same way as you
are gossiping now. It's normal that people know about each others'
private and embarrassing moments. The way how you influence handling
gossips about others is the way how it will be gossiped about you.
Besides that, in relation to Lila and Wil, it's a non-issue. Everybody
knows Wil's positions and I have to say that I am thankful to Wil
because of his public opening. All of the issues which Wil mentioned
are practically dead from the moment when he mentioned them here.