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FreeDesktop.org Adopts CoC for All Member Projects

posted by on Monday April 10 2017, @07:43AM   
from the i-can't-tell-who-is-toxic-anymore dept.

The Mighty Buzzard writes:

Michael Larabel over at Phoronix brings us news of a stealth Social Justice coup over at FreeDesktop.org:

X.Org, GStreamer, Wayland, LibreOffice, Mesa, VA-API, Harfbuzz, and SPICE are among the many projects hosted by FreeDesktop.org that now appear to be on a contributor covenant / code of conduct.

The Contributor Covenant for those unfamiliar with it is trying to promote a code of conduct for open-source projects that is trying to promote diversity and equality of contributors to libre software projects. From the covenant's website, "Part of this problem [of "free, libre, and open source projects suffer from a startling lack of diversity, with dramatically low representation by women, people of color, and other marginalized populations"] lies with the very structure of some projects: the use of insensitive language, thoughtless use of pronouns, assumptions of gender, and even sexualized or culturally insensitive names."

The covenant states in part that those contributing should use welcoming and inclusive language, be respectful to others, showing empathy towards others, avoid insulting comments, and avoid inappropriate conduct. For the most part, it's basically common sense.

Now it seems this Contributor Covenant is being forced onto all FreeDesktop.org-hosted projects.

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Original Submission

• Re:Where is the sewing OUTRAGE? (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday April 11 2017, @08:56AM

  by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Tuesday April 11 2017, @08:56AM (#492190) Homepage

  Interesting issue, I'd never thought about the double-suffix aspect of seamstress before, nor about gender being implied by -ster - hipsters, and gangsters really aren't things I view as being female-dominated groups. Etymological gender of course doesn't mean that the modern language has any gender implication. I was simply back-forming by cuting off the unnecessary -ess, and tieing up the lose ends.
  
  http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-ster
  """
          Old English -istre, from Proto-Germanic *-istrijon, feminine agent suffix used as the equivalent of masculine -ere (see -er (1)). Also used in Middle English to form nouns of action (meaning "a person who ...") without regard for gender.
  
          The genderless agent noun use apparently was a broader application of the original feminine suffix, beginning in the north of England, but linguists disagree over whether this indicates female domination of weaving and baking trades, as represented in surnames such as Webster, Baxter, Brewster, etc. (though spinster probably carries an originally female ending). Also whitester "one who bleaches cloth;" kempster (c. 1400; Halliwell has it as kembster) "woman who cleans wool." In Modern English, the suffix has been productive in forming derivative nouns (gamester, punster, etc.).
  """

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