In late 2009, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit's meeting of Ubuntu Women, it was proposed that the Ubuntu Women project's long-standing IRC channel #ubuntu-women be publicly logged.
This proposal concerned many members of the project because the channel was seen as safe space in which members of Ubuntu Women could express difficulties or negative experiences with the Ubuntu community (among other things). Public logging would not only make conversations in the channel publicly readable, but also licence them in the public domain, allowing them to be edited and incorporated into other works. There were thus substantial issues with silencing criticism of Ubuntu from within the Ubuntu Women project via such logging and co-opting the women's discussion in the channel to improve the Ubuntu project's appearance.
Current channel guidelines have the channel as unlogged.
Commentary
- On public discussion and safety: Melissa Draper critiques the proposal and examines alternatives.
