Re: On harassment at IETF

["Theodore Ts'o" <[e-mail]>]

On Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 12:45:23PM +0100, Kyle Rose wrote:
> 
> Many of us observe a clear distinction between taking official action via
> established channels against those who have violated IETF policies on
> harrassment, and advocating mob justice. I am in favor of the former. I am
> against the latter.

I think it's important to remember that if there are calls for mob
justice, that might be a sign that the offical, establish channels
have failed in some way.  If people chose not to come forward, but are
only willing to engage in unoffical conversations with people who
might official roles, but who are unwilling to file a formal complaint
because they feel unsafe in doing so --- that there might be
consequences for the target of harassment making a formal report, or
because they don't believe it will be taken seriously or will be
addressed, and then they keep their mouths shut.

And then several years later, when several people come forward within
a short space of time with credible stories, and the mob shows up
demanding resignations or they will leave the organization, and urge
sponsors to stop funding things, etc. --- and the people with official
hats on wring their hands and say, but.... they refused to file a
formal complaint, so our hands were tied, and it's the target's fault,
not ours....  does it really matter whether or not the mob justice was
justified or right or something we should approve of?

This is essentially what happened at Arisia last year.  The public
complaint, followed up with other women declaring that they had
similar things happen to them, with little to know followup from the
incident response teams, and volunteers declaring they would cease work
and withdraw their membership until there was was substantial change
from the top, guests of honor withdrawing or declining to participate
in future years --- was that mob justice?  And does it matter?

Whether or not it was "mob justice", and whether or not the targets
"should" have followed the official channels (some did, with no
satisfaction), the end result was the president and most of the board
was forced to resign as a result of the wide outcry from their
community, and the conference went through a near-death experience.

This is why all organizations need to have a very robust process;
because if it fails, the alternative will be mob justice, whether we
like it or not.  And when the mob shows up, and alternative is give
them satisfaction or let the organization die, they're not going ask
for your approval first.

					- Ted