Comment 12 for bug 272826

On what Miia said: I wouldn't speak for the "larger community" so quickly.
As someone who would prefer something gender-neutral, it might be a good
idea just to run the idea of a new "demonym" past the rest of the Ubuntu
community and see what comes up, see if people have ideas, see if people
like it. I wouldn't worry about us "imposing" our will on others, since
these words (or *any* words) are only useful insofar as they are used; so,
if we make a new word that nobody likes, nobody will use it, and that will
be the end. (Sexism aside — I had never actually thought about it, before
this — I've always simply thought "Ubuntero" is a bit clunky, and have never
used it, myself.)

Does anybody here know Zulu or Xhosa, or in touch with someone who does?
Perhaps we could ask how you might conjugate "Ubuntu" as a playful, singular
nickname. It's an idea.

—Tina

On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 2:07 AM, Clytie Siddall <email address hidden>wrote:

>
> On 24/09/2008, at 5:49 PM, Launchpad Bug Tracker wrote:
>
> > You have been subscribed to a public bug by Matthew East (mdke):
> >
> > The term "Ubuntero", which is presumably of Spanish derivation, is
> > only
> > applicable for male contributors. A female contributor should be
> > called
> > an Ubuntera, which is impossible currently as a contributor is not
> > asked
> > his or her sex.
> >
> > I suggest introducing a question about a participant's sex in the
> > profile, or substituting "Ubuntista" which is applicable for a man
> > or a
> > woman.
> >
> > ** Affects: launchpad
> > Importance: Undecided
> > Status: New
> >
> > --
> > "Ubuntero" inappropriate for female contributors
> > https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/bugs/272826
> > You received this bug notification because you are a member of
> > Ubuntu-Women Team, which is a direct subscriber.
>
> I'm in favour of "Ubuntista", then. Having to declare your gender is
> not only uncomfortable in some situations, it can be actually
> dangerous. There are, unfortunately, still people online who target
> others based on gender. This targetting ranges from insults to death
> threats. And yes, I have personally experienced these things. So
> please avoid labelling people by gender. After all, as another member
> has said, what relevance does it have in a computing context?
>
> from Clytie
>
> Vietnamese Free Software Translation Team
> http://vnoss.net/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=projects:l10n
>
> --
> "Ubuntero" inappropriate for female contributors
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/272826
> You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu-
> Women Team, which is a direct subscriber.
>