Linux Australia - A Toxic Organisation
Linux Australia has had its fair share of controversy over the years, from reprehensible behaviour, bullying, sexual content at conferences (which were not age restricted), to the present day where we have an out of control power tripping dictatorship that includes making their own conferences up with no membership discussion.
They claimed nobody put forward a proposal for LCA - which was quickly shot down by those who did submit a proposal, then we have mailing list censorship, moderating the entire list because they did not like some threads, then individual moderations over trivial reasons like questioning L.A. councils decisions, no warning or telling those people what was breached, and leaving them moderated for six plus months and more, as well as ignoring requests for why.
Members seemingly have no recourse due to the open-ended wording loophole in the L.A. constitution allowing these abuses, then lets not forget my favourite, demanding moderated list members cease directly communicating with other members privately
This is not the Linux Australia I joined all those years ago (2006/2007), it has become an immensely toxic organisation in most recent times.
To avoid making this post 15K lines long, I direct you to the October 2022 Linux Australia Archive in particular the Everything open threads in a thread view.
In case they try nuke it, a downloadable copy of the October 2022 archive is also available to download here, this gives you the full picture of how LA is run in relation to one such area of abuses and puts the below into context.
Private responses obviously not in archive, below...
Reference
and here we are end on May and still moderated, council still ignores my requests since its long after I am told, and as to why I've since been informed the sole "complainant" /cough/ was Joel Addisson.
For reference
Kathy Reid, no longer on council but sure as hell speaks a lot on their behalf, was the only person to ask me not to mail her directly (not surprising since she thinks she is still running the place by speaking on councils behalf rather often - Kathy of course was the former president who tried to change Linux Australia's name a few years back (2017 if my memory serves me correctly) with the determination that no one could take over Linux Australia's name because they wouldn't relinquish it.)
I obliged and did not include Kathy in any further "private" mailings.
A few more requests for why moderation was not removed going unanswered.... including to Jonathan Woithe, LA secretary...
.... aaannnddd we still have .... crickets .... not a word...
If you contemplate joining Linux Australia, I urge you to consider all of the above information, if your organisation or company is approached for conference sponsorship or support, I urge you to consider the above information and to do your own in depth due diligence, before making any decisions.
Members seemingly have no recourse due to the open-ended wording loophole in the L.A. constitution allowing these abuses, then lets not forget my favourite, demanding moderated list members cease directly communicating with other members privately
This is not the Linux Australia I joined all those years ago (2006/2007), it has become an immensely toxic organisation in most recent times.
To avoid making this post 15K lines long, I direct you to the October 2022 Linux Australia Archive in particular the Everything open threads in a thread view.
In case they try nuke it, a downloadable copy of the October 2022 archive is also available to download here, this gives you the full picture of how LA is run in relation to one such area of abuses and puts the below into context.
Private responses obviously not in archive, below...
From: linuxaus@joeladdison.com 24 Oct 2022 The complaint centred around your conduct on the mailing list in recent discussions, especially the language and behaviour used towards specific people. In addition, you have been sending emails to people outside the mailing list, and this has also been raised as a concern as it is not something that our community members expect to occur. Regards, Joel Addison President Linux Australia
From: linuxaus@joeladdison.com 12 December 2022 Conduct on the mailing lists come under the Linux Australia Communication Policy (https://github.com/linuxaustralia/constitution_and_policies/blob/master/communications-policy.md) and in turn, the Code of Conduct (Taken from https://github.com/linuxaustralia/constitution_and_policies/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md). To quote our Code of Conduct: "Complaints can be made to the organisers by contacting the registration desk or mailing list/forum moderators by contacting the relevant email addresses. All complaints made to event organisers will remain confidential and be taken seriously. The complaint will be treated appropriately with discretion." Council will not be sharing full details of the complaints that were received regarding your conduct on the Linux Australia mailing lists, nor who made them. The complaints were regarding your behaviour towards other members of the mailing list, as well as sending emails outside the mailing list, which constitutes unsolicited emails. Based on this, Council took action to put your ability to post into moderation, and determined this would remain in effect for 90 days. This moderation period expires on 22 January 2023.
Reference
and here we are end on May and still moderated, council still ignores my requests since its long after I am told, and as to why I've since been informed the sole "complainant" /cough/ was Joel Addisson.
From: kathy@kathyreid.id.au 23/10/2022 Noel, Council is under no constitutional obligation to provide you with their reason for moderation. Per S(13) of the constitution, the Council is empowered to make decisions they see as fit for the benefit of the organisation. If you don't like what Council is doing, you'll have an opportunity to either a) nominate yourself for Council prior to the AGM or b) vote out the existing Council at the AGM.
For reference
Kathy Reid, no longer on council but sure as hell speaks a lot on their behalf, was the only person to ask me not to mail her directly (not surprising since she thinks she is still running the place by speaking on councils behalf rather often - Kathy of course was the former president who tried to change Linux Australia's name a few years back (2017 if my memory serves me correctly) with the determination that no one could take over Linux Australia's name because they wouldn't relinquish it.)
I obliged and did not include Kathy in any further "private" mailings.
To: council@linux.org.au & undisclosed recipients 24/10/2022 09:52 Post to moderated list This is completely unacceptable behaviour by a council out of control. Shutting down topics that question its underhanded actions is one thing, but moderating some who speak out, is another. You do not get to commit a controversial action and expect to tell people to shut up, and if you think I'll just say " oh well" and unsubscribe and go way, you really don't know me. I have reviewed my posts and they contain nothing warranting such actions, I have long been moderators on lists, forums and even IRC oper, so I'm well aware of thresholds. Now the formal stuff, I require from council full reasoning for this decision, who made the decision, if complaints, member names of complainant(s), the exact offensive passages, including the instruments that prohibit them and determine the duration of the moderation, as well as message-id's, times and dates of the messages to the mailing list that brought you to enforce moderation. I further require the sender, message-id, time and date for the direct correspondence that council officially sent me advising I was close to breaching instrument that permits and leads to moderation. I gather from constitution discussions of the list, I will have all this information supplied within five business days. For the general recipients of this message (only those who replied to me or posted in related threads, about 26 of you) who think "so what", ask yourself what if they act like this towards you? Because they could at the drop of a hat. This should be the final message general recipients receive, as I have my point across of showing what length this mob will go to, if you wish to be kept informed of any council replies as some of you asked me last time, feel free to ask, the rest of you will not hear from me directly again
To: Private reply to a single LA member who raised discussions on the list about on 19/12/22 They certainly are out of control, I had my ban from the list confirmed, it was initiated by Addison, because I commented about their abuses with this new conference and how unethical and immoral their actions are, I am aware not all council members are involved in that decision. This council abuses its power of office, the executive is toxic. The fact they can write up some convoluted mess in a comms policy that lets them take action without warning or notification and not have to justify themselves make this executive dictators, this when dealing with an associations membership is highly (and possible legally) questionable, council seem to forget that constitution does not supersede law.
A few more requests for why moderation was not removed going unanswered.... including to Jonathan Woithe, LA secretary...
TO: jwoithe@just42.net, joel@addison.net.au, jaddi27@gmail.com, council@linux.org.au 24/05/2023 21:36 so you have left me moderated all this time, failed to respond or communicate with me in any way, no doubt at dictator addisons directive, how dare anyone think the org is a democracy let alone a fair democracy, LA is a toxic dictatorship under addison.
.... aaannnddd we still have .... crickets .... not a word...
If you contemplate joining Linux Australia, I urge you to consider all of the above information, if your organisation or company is approached for conference sponsorship or support, I urge you to consider the above information and to do your own in depth due diligence, before making any decisions.
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Anonymous123 on :
Andrew Boxleitner on :
The List archives confirm much of what you said, we can only take your word for the private posts, but they do tend to match up. As for your punishment, I don't think you were close to crossing even the grey line, we've all seen a lot worse, that doesn't warrant moderation at all, and to be left there forever as it appears you have been and refusing to respond to you shows they want to shut your decent down, it publishes their insecurities.
The open ended communications policy I find rather disturbing, it is vague, sounds like it was written by a politician, allowing things to be so broad they can do what they want when they want, I for one can't fathom out how the members ratified that, or did they?
I am a BSD user but if I was a linux user, would I want to join Linux Australia after reading those archives? Not a chance in hell until those people were removed.
Mitsy on :
As for this communications policy, I would hope it would have been wrote by a well intentioned council, but I fear it was wrote with ill intentions, and leaving it so broad was deliberate to permit those in control to abuse it to no end, and that they have, shutting down the list to everyone a couple of times last year for such petty reasons.
Stargazer on :
First up when that ex debian weed makes an appearance, and yeah he is a pest, I'm lucky enough not to be on his recip list, what I dont get is people go like oh here is his WHOIS details go to his ISP and complain, complain about what? The private messaging? what exactly do they want us to do, he is not exactly spamming in the context of spam, he is not advertising anything for monetary gain, most ISPs do not have policies to warn customers about such things, you know, sending private email that is not spam, he might be a bloody idiot but there is no law against that.
As for your posts, nothing wrong with them, the clown who thinks he knows mail but obviously has no clue, I think you were plenty fair with him, firm but not abusive, fairer more than I would have been, and yes your other posts about the secret decisions on conferences, nothing wrong there either, you showed passion, as did another.
I think you will find those policies came about when Kathy Reid was secretary back around 2013, I remember even Russell saying at the time it was acceptable to show outrage at "the thing", my oh my how opinions change when you get into the inner circle, or did Russell object to your ban, you said you "knew" not all agreed with it.
Getting moderated without warning, without notification, without evidence and without them having to provide evidence, is wrong, then they tell you your banned for 3 months - wow really? for what? even an alleged criminal gets to hear his evidence and contest it, yeppers, joel addison hates your guts, I think commenter Andrew above summed it up when he said you exposed joels insecurities, supported by that 3 months ban ended 5 months ago and your still banned, complete abuse of power for sure, and to ignore your requests for why as well, goes to prove he and anyone involved in that decision is unfit for the position they hold, change can only come from within and problem is sweet fuck all others want to be in the roles.
NoelB on :
@Stargazer,
I wont reveal who it was on council whom late last year contacted me, that would breach trust, and I am very grateful to the information they supplied.
Oh and I was going to mention your use of the word "banned", I was only moderated, however, I see that I have not received any posts in my LA mailbox since early may, I replied to a post on may 4 and got a your post is moderated mailman message, then nothing since, perhaps you know something I don't.
Phil on :
Zak on :
BJ on :
Little by little, bit by bit, they are getting their way, and they need to be stopped, but that will only happen with a complete new council and one that declines the input of the likes of Joel and Kathy.
Curious, you get your moderation removed?
NoelB on :
We do need a new full fresh council for LA, one that will fix all such abuses from being able to happen, which means a mass overhaul of the gestapo-like list policies and preventions put in place to make sure anything like that trash never happens again.
Anonymous LA member on :
Council have deliberately ghosted you and left you moderated, for nearly a year now?
Joel hasn't been on the list that much in recent months, to be honest I don't know who the current Council is, they don't mention poll results after AGM or anything, it's pretty poor from the Secretary, but it is deplorable treating you in such a way. I have no opinion on if i should have been applied but it was, and forgetting you is unacceptable, it could be you, me or anyone else next time.
I too am very concerned about the Communications Policy that permits actions taken without question or right of reply or justifications, that needs to be remedied for the protection of all members
John Doe on :
Remember they took the grants applications off the main list to some backwater list because too many on the main list had opinions on grants they didnt like and opposed, this way there is less resistance of councils desires, the council is for council, its not for the membership.