|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +body_class: index |
| 3 | +layout: article_layout |
| 4 | +--- |
| 5 | + |
| 6 | +# We Stand For A Welcoming Community |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +During the last weekend, several events have shaken the Ruby community. We feel that due to the gravity of these issues, a direct statement beyond those of individual members of the Ruby Berlin e.V. is necessary. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +## Against Harassment And Ignorance |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +Two incidents caught our eye this weekend (in the order they came to our knowledge): |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +A RailsBridge member wrote a mild rant about [inappropriate gem names](http://devandpencil.herokuapp.com/blog/2013/10/09/being-an-asshole-does-not-make-you-awesome/). It fostered a healthy debate, but he was also attacked and subsequently banned from the Ruby Facebook group by an administrator citing Mykeru's law for posting a link to it. We distance ourselves from this group and we will recommend leaving it until a change of administratorship has happened. |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +A community member came out about [her harassment experience](http://blogjustine.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/because-it-needs-to-be-said/) (heed the trigger warnings given in the post) at a conference, backed by two [colleagues](http://theotherzach.com/writes/2013/10/9/events) [accounts](http://blog.matt-darby.com/essays/i-am-the-other-developer). Sadly, instead of seeing this as a strong reminder that such things are a sad reality, quite a few people took the opportunity to shame Justine or come up with crude interpretations, if not outright choosing insults or threats. We are shocked by the lack of empathy in those reactions. We thank Justine for speaking up. |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +We all joined the Ruby community because it is a warm and welcoming place - sadly, the aforementioned events draw a very different and very real picture. This is why we feel the need to speak out: |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +We strongly oppose any form of harassment or discrimination, including, but not limited to all forms of sexism and racism. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +## For Diversity |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +The Ruby Berlin e.V. member roster is very diverse and we are proud to carry that outwards. All of events run by Ruby Berlin e.V. in the recent years were run under a Code of Conduct that was taken seriously and underlined by additional action like running CFPs that ensure a diverse set of speakers to attend or by providing childcare and significant others tickets to accommodate families. Our role of community organizers is first and foremost to provide safe and enjoyable spaces for people to exchange about their craft. |
| 25 | + |
| 26 | +We will try to lobby other organizations in the Ruby space to make similar announcements. |
| 27 | + |
| 28 | +We would like to reach out to anyone organizing community events, not only in the Ruby space, to help tackling the problems that pain our community. Though imperfect, we have a few things worked out and are happy to share. We are proud of what we achieved and will push to make our values known and followed to make such events a thing of the past. |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +## We Are Not In This For The Drinks |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +Yet, over the same weekend, one healthy discussion has happened: rethinking "Drinkups". Quite a few people have come out publicly, criticising the drinking-focused evening culture present at meetups and conferences, stressing that they did not feel welcome on the evening events. We have, through Rails Girls and eurucamp, experimented with different forms of organizing the evenings and will continue to do so. |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +We will review our way of organizing parties and gatherings and come up with proper solutions and guidelines for our events and announce these well before our next event. We certainly won't patronize attendees, but want to ensure that everybody feels welcome and has a good time. We appreciate feedback very much and welcome constructive suggestions. |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +## We Care |
| 37 | + |
| 38 | +Over the last few years, we organized many gatherings and brought joy to a lot of people. We can safely say that everyone we worked with as Ruby Berlin e.V. are humble and caring people that would go great lengths to make the Ruby community a welcoming one. Our mission is to foster that part of the community. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +The Ruby Berlin e.V. and friends, namely: |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +* Rails Girls Berlin orga team |
| 43 | +* RUG::B orga team |
| 44 | +* eurucamp orga team |
| 45 | +* JRubyConf.eu orga team |
| 46 | +* RedFrog Conf orga team |
| 47 | +* nerdkunde podcast |
| 48 | +* geekstammtisch podcast |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +In person: |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | +* Thilo Utke [@freaklikeme](http://twitter.com/freaklikeme) |
| 53 | +* Dajana Günther [@dg_tweety](http://twitter.com/dg_tweety) |
| 54 | +* Alex Coles [@myabc](http://twitter.com/myabc) |
| 55 | +* Guillermo Tirelli [@wordgraphy](http://twitter.com/wordgraphy) |
| 56 | +* Florian Gilcher [@argorak](http://twitter.com/argorak) |
| 57 | +* Fanny Krebs [@fannivuniconnu](http://twitter.com/fannivuniconnu) |
| 58 | +* Lucas Pinto [@medk_](http://twitter.com/medk_) |
| 59 | +* Jana Vogel [@janacharlotte](http://twitter.com/janacharlotte) |
| 60 | +* Robert Schulze [@fnordfish](http://twitter.com/fnordfish) |
| 61 | +* Sergio Gil Pérez de la Manga [@porras](http://twitter.com/porras) |
| 62 | +* Mari Carmen Gutierrez De La Ossa [@valakirka](http://twitter.com/valakirka) |
| 63 | +* Piotr Gęga [@piotrgega](http://twitter.com/piotrgega) |
| 64 | +* Ute Mayer [@nerdbabe](http://twitter.com/nerdbabe) |
| 65 | +* Tobias Pfeiffer [@PragTob](http://twitter.com/PragTob) |
| 66 | +* Nico Hagenburger [@hagenburger](http://twitter.com/hagenburger) |
| 67 | +* Klaus Zanders [@klaustopher](http://twitter.com/klaustopher) |
| 68 | +* Essy Hentrich [@casheeew](http://twitter.com/casheew) |
| 69 | +* Lucas Dohmen [@moonbeamlabs](http://twitter.com/moonbeamlabs) |
| 70 | +* Bodo Tasche [@bitboxer](http://twitter.com/bitboxer) |
| 71 | +* Tobias Eilert [@l_ama](http://twitter.com/l_ama) |
| 72 | +* Dirk Breuer [@railsbros_dirk](http://twitter.com/railsbros_dirk) |
| 73 | +* Sebastian Cohen [@tisba](http://twitter.com/tisba) |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +Want to support us and feel missing on this list? [Mail us ](mailto:[email protected]) or send a [pull request ](http://github.com/rubyberlin/rubyberlin.org). |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +October 16th, 2013 |
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