[LRUG] Suggestion

[Aanand Prasad]

To be clear, I was drawing an analogy to the "are you a Ruby developer?" question, not the proposed "everyone here is a developer" assumption.


I'm not advocating blanket assumptions - I'm advocating being careful around asking questions which might have othering effects.

On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 1:34 PM, Warren Guy <warren at guy.net.au> wrote:

> Aanand Prasad wrote:
>>> I will admit that I did ask this question at least a couple of times, and I am truly sorry if that bothered or offended anyone.
> ...
>> The effect, in aggregate, of having this conversation again and again is harmful far beyond the innocent intentions of any one person asking it: the othering of those who don't fit the norm. The question behind the question, as Hari Kondabolu puts it: "Hey. Why aren't you white?"[1]
> ...
>> This is a microaggression[2], undoubtedly, and it should be treated as one: largely unintentional, perhaps even well-intentioned, but nonetheless harmful and something we should be taking direct action to avoid. Because we *want* more people in our social spaces who don't fit the norm.
>>
>> It takes a bit of extra effort to watch that we're not alienating people, but it's worth it.
> I'm aware of this phenomenon and its harm, but to be honest I can't
> quite get my head around how the analogy fits here.
> To me, making an assumption that everyone at an LRUG event is a Ruby
> developer just like you seems far from inclusive. If Monday's meeting
> was typical in this regard, there are all kinds of developer,
> pseudo-developer, and non-developer folk at the meetings. The community
> comprises all kinds: developers; hobbyists; beginners; entrepreneurs;
> managers; and others who won't identify themselves as "developers".[1]I
> can't imagine anyone being offended by someone inquiring what their
> interest in Ruby is, at a Ruby meeting.
> While personally I would not be offended by someone assuming I was or
> was not a Ruby developer, to suggest that we all assume that everyone
> *is* a developer seems to seek only to exclude. Stephen's original post,
> regardless of any intent or lack thereof,really gave me the impression
> that non-developers do not belong, or are less welcome than "Ruby
> developers", at LRUG events. I do not assume that Stephen's comment had
> any malicious intent. I just thought it was worth making the point that
> we're not all developers and that it is exclusionary to assume so.
> Warren
> [1] For clarity, I don't intend to exclude beginners, hobbyists, etc,
> from also considering themselves Ruby developers. Some will, some won't.
> I think it's a personal thing.
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