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GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

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Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#21

Post by marquis »

archon wrote: post #5

> This reluctance has good reasons behind it: fear of being told they are bad programmers, fear of being publicly mocked or harassed, and even fear of losing job opportunities. All of these are greater risks for women on average than men. [Citation needed] Edit, to expand on the kneejerk reaction: I find it difficult to accept the premise that this is a female-only problem. I've been reluctant to post my code before…

For what it's worth, you'd be completely welcome as far as I'm (as a female) concerned. Women don't want to just hang out with women but this is an opportunity for us to get our feet wet in the OS community. As soon as a project is underway with pride, it will become a public repo and I hope you can seek out those communities and work alongside.

I just watched The Color Purple last night. It rings true in me because it's not that people aren't free - it's the constant, constant underlying of fear from all sides. If you have fear as a man then women don't want that either - you should be proud and comfortable as only fear begets fear.

Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#22

Post by marquis »

dcope wrote: post #20
marquis wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reply is exactly why this initiative is needed. Can't you just say 'hey, more people contributing to open source!'

How is pushing code to a private repository 'contributing to open source'?

I expect that if a significant portion of work was done to an existing fork, or a significant bug found, it would be celebrated and immediately pushed back to the community. It would be exactly the same as if I downloaded Linux, made some awesome changes then sat on it and just shared it with my friends. A ridiculous thought.

Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#23

Post by jcoder »

dcope wrote: post #20
marquis wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reply is exactly why this initiative is needed. Can't you just say 'hey, more people contributing to open source!'

How is pushing code to a private repository 'contributing to open source'?

They're learning together and need collaboration tools.

Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#24

Post by steveklabnik »

archon wrote: post #5

> This reluctance has good reasons behind it: fear of being told they are bad programmers, fear of being publicly mocked or harassed, and even fear of losing job opportunities. All of these are greater risks for women on average than men. [Citation needed] Edit, to expand on the kneejerk reaction: I find it difficult to accept the premise that this is a female-only problem. I've been reluctant to post my code before…

> I find it difficult to accept the premise that this is a female-only problem.

It doesn't need to be a woman-only problem. It just needs to affect women disproportionately.

Scratch that, it doesn't need to be _anything_. Giving free repos to _anyone_ does no harm to anyone who's not getting them, so the only thing this does is help a group of people.

Now, you may argue that GitHub should be helping a specific group of people over another one, but they've chosen to help who they've chosen to help.

Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#26

Post by Voidkom »

archon wrote: post #5

> This reluctance has good reasons behind it: fear of being told they are bad programmers, fear of being publicly mocked or harassed, and even fear of losing job opportunities. All of these are greater risks for women on average than men. [Citation needed] Edit, to expand on the kneejerk reaction: I find it difficult to accept the premise that this is a female-only problem. I've been reluctant to post my code before…

Females as a noun is used to refer to lower animals, I believe you mean women.

Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#27

Post by steveklabnik »

manacit wrote: post #11

I get five free private repos for being a university student (for as long as I'm a student) - I don't see why we can't just extend something like this to people who are learning how to program / use github, and not just women/students

They could, but they're not. Obviously they have a reason to do so, are you aware of what that is and why they might choose that reason?

Re: GitHub donates private repositories to women learning open source software

#28

Post by SeanDav »

marquis wrote: post #17
woah wrote: post #15

IANAW, but this almost seems sexist in and of itself. Is Github shielding the delicate female programmers from the merciless wrath of internet trolls? I guess the assumption is that big strong male programmers don't need this kind of coddling.

This reply is exactly why this initiative is needed. Can't you just say 'hey, more people contributing to open source!'

I doubt you would have felt the same way if Github had announced they were making free repositories available, but only to male developers...
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