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Comment by blub | Hacker News Reader

Women will never "be able to contribute and simply be part of the free software community without harassment", because any online community is a reflection of society at large, which is becoming more fragmented, agressive and embittered.

Did female harassment get solved in society at large? No. You can't solve it in online communities, you're only building bubbles of false-safety which will pop once the pressure from the real world becomes high enough.

America in particular is under so much political and social tension that it's starting to show cracks and online lynch mobs are a part of the problem.

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Er, what? The harasser is aggressive and bitter? They harass people in real life? It sounds like they have some problems. Maybe they can go work on themselves and come back to the community when they're ready to be civil.

We wouldn't tolerate sexual harassment, etc., in the workplace or in civil society. I don't see why we wouldn't expect a basic level of decorum in respectable online communities.

Can we guarantee that there never will be any harassment? No, of course not.

But what we can do is strongly oppose any harassment. Clearly tell off anyone whe participates in harassment.

Of course, the leaders of any community should be a role model in not supporting harassment.

How would you solve harassment then? If you dont believe in small changes in smaller communities, do you believe that change has to occur in all of society at once?

I believe change has to happen in the real world and start with educating children and then continue in schools and colleges. We literally have to grow generations for which equality is self-evident.

And people will know what's fair and when they're being bullied. The change has to work towards equality, not revenge and entrapping others.

Currently the exact opposite is happening: the changes are forced by small online groups, mostly associated with software development. Which bully others into submission.

You've probably noticed how in the real world, society is quite divided, with basic civil rights being questioned. This is what happens when people "win" in their little software bubbles.

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