“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” — Mark Twain
Firstly, I do not believe the initial post in this thread holds much meaning without additional data and context (no offence intended!). I can’t help but wonder what the point of posting such a message is, except perhaps to spread misleading impressions or unfairly paint this community in a negative light.
After reading through the comments, I reached out privately to one of the participants to understand better. What I found was that the information I was given was either outdated or inaccurate. Yes, decisions within the community have at times upset various people; not only those considered “minorities” (a term I will address later). And yes, there have been individuals who behaved verrrry poorly, but to my knowledge, they have been banned, or they simply left. I see no valid reason for this level of relentless critique.
Having been part of the Nix community for 4 years, I can genuinely say that I have never observed any form of discrimination, whether on GitHub or Matrix… quite the opposite, in fact. I say this carefully, not to dismiss the possibility of issues, but simply to share my personal experience. For me, the project is about Nix, contributions, technical discussions, and ensuring that Nix (the overall project) is better after every single contribution. At no point have I felt the need to delve into the private lives of contributors. Everyone is free to live as they wish outside the project, and I treat all the Nix people I interact with equally, regardless of background, gender, or any other personal attributes.
Reading this thread, I can’t help but feel that the tone undermines the efforts of contributors who genuinely work to create a warm and relax environment. Many of us strive to make everyone feel welcome. I could point out the lack of recognition for this “under-represented community” and these quiet contributors, but that is not where my focus or energy lies. I contribute to the project without expecting accolades or recognition. IMO, labelling certain groups as minorities is itself diminishing, as it reduces complex identities to a single label.
Furthermore, it seems that this thread is approaching this as if it were an isolated issue within the Nix community, when in reality, it is a much broader societal matter. I am not saying improvements are not welcome here, but it is essential to keep in mind that this is a global issue that will hopefully improve over time, and, sadly, it will take time. Let’s keep in mind that forcing representation locally can lead to unfortunate results, as I have seen elsewhere (mostly in workplaces), where positive discrimination places individuals in roles (e.g., for gender balance) that they neither fit nor enjoy… something that, ultimately, harms both the individuals and the organisation, counterproductive and opposite to the goal we initially want to reach.
Finally, this is my first and last time engaging in such a thread. I do not plan on spending more time making my points here. It feels like we are all spending far too much time on this. If even a portion of the energy devoted to this debate went towards actually improving things (like documentation, the website, or pull-request reviews), we’d already be seeing far more progress.
Friends, choose your battles wisely.