Regarding another group joining your space (pub); the analogy still applies, if they are a large group , give them some space (and be prepared to go over and introduce yourself if that is within your personality type) but if they are small and “hovering” around your circle, then welcome them in, and let them join the conversation naturally.

Also your response would imply that you are naive, as to assume that when speaking face to face in real life people ignore all base biological impulses. Be they any form of attraction or repulsion it is near impossible for any human to ignore all these little opinions, be they your personal appearance or the timbre of your voice.

My point being, if you want perfect equality you are either going to have to deal with an emotionless, soulless robot or have every personal detail ignored and simply be considered an intellectual entity, there is no middle ground.

Open source is not a workplace, and I hope it stays far away from ever becoming like one

My reasons for pointing out my gender in my blog and in my daily life are to be an example and a role model for others, and to make others comfortable with the fact the community has women in it. I assume the fact I state clearly I’m female SHOULDN’T affect the conversation any more than in a real life discussion when others see me dressed up in pink Emacs t-shirt and jeans wearing my long hair on ponytail and smelling girly. I’m not going to dress up in a burlap sack to hide my personality, identity, interests or boobs.

With the popularity and new user-base Ubuntu as a distribution has brought to open-source communities, we are bound to be seeing an increase in users in many differing age groups and maturity. In addition, I believe once Google Chrome OS is released, it may provide a much greater boost to these communities as suddenly many more people become aware of the existance of alternative operating systems.

Not that I think this will be a bad thing. The huge boost will probably bring new interest, new users and indeed more development for Linux-based systems. Undoubtedly if Google Chrome OS takes off, there will likely be much more development for Google Chrome OS initially, and later, other Linux-based operating systems, by both open-source developers and commercial (perhaps proprietary?) developers.

There is a mathematical joke that has been circling the internet for some time:

Normal Person + Audience + Anonymity = Unrestrained emotion

On the internet the physical realm is irrelevant.

Anyone who has had experience in online gaming or has ever read the youtube comments section will testify that people do not show the same courtesy on the internet that they do in real life, and why should they? No one knows who they are, where they live, what they look like. There is zero risk, so why show restraint? It is impossible to get into trouble.

Even in areas with controls in place, codes of conduct, threats of banning and other punishments, people will still push the limits. Some will do it as a stress let out, other, more manipulative and sociopathic, people will do it for fun.

I am not saying this is acceptable and by all means call for greater control, though not at the extent of freedom of speech. The internet is the one realm of true freedom of speech (much to humanities detriment in certain areas) and we should not sacrifice it.

That said, you will never eradicate this behaviour while there is zero accountability, one must deal with it in a way that does cause undue duress.

On an unrelated note: I think that using the gender specific “nerdette” does not display the gender equality you say you desire. If you wish frank discussion without any biased then I would suggest you use a description that does not state that you are in fact female.