An Apology

[Sam Tobin-Hochstadt]

We were saddened to read [Matthew Butterick's recent post]. Matthias
has written his own [apology] in response.

For our part, some of us were present for the interaction between
Matthew Butterick and Matthias Felleisen and some of us learned about
it later. We did not intervene in the way that we should have, and we
are sorry.

If you wish to offer your thoughts to the people named below, the
email address feed...@racket-lang.org will reach us directly.

Jay McCarthy
John Clements
Matthew Flatt
Robby Findler
Sam Tobin-Hochstadt

[Matthew Butterick's recent post]:
https://beautifulracket.com/appendix/why-i-no-longer-contribute-to-racket.html
[his own apology]: https://felleisen.org/matthias/Thoughts/Apology.html

[Siddhartha Kasivajhula]

I just want to add my words on behalf of the silent majority. I think it is
important to look for ways to empower people like Matthew Butterick who have
contributed significantly to the community and done much to raise the profile
of the Racket language. While his code contributions are evident, we should
also bear in mind that there is much of value that cannot be parsed by the
reader, and is not easy to evaluate. It takes a special sagacity to do the kind
of community building that he has done, and I know I've been grateful to read
some of his - relatively infrequent now - posts on this list in the past. It's
heartening to see apologies from those involved. We all make mistakes, and
apologies are not easy. I hope that those familiar will also, based on an
honest appraisal of the facts and sincere reflection, take necessary steps to
ensure that this kind of thing doesn't happen in the future. I hope and believe
we can do more to help people feel welcome and encouraged, and in particular, I
am sure I speak for many when I say that I hope that we can make it right with
Matthew.

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[Yury Bulka]

Thank you, Siddhartha Kasivajhula, for expressing this.

I am an "ordinary" Racket user - I don't hack on Racket itself, I don't
even create DSLs (yet). But I care about Racket a lot, I tell people about
it, I write software in it, and I even contributed a small feature to a
racket package.

I was glad to see the Apology email on the list. I think this is a good
first step. And I very much understand this is a difficult situation.

But I agree there is a crucial next element that is needed: a clear strategy
on handling these issues in the future, a commitment to addressing the
problem in addition accepting it exists.

There are two links I would like to share:

The Racket Friendly Environment Policy:
https://racket-lang.org/friendly.html

It says:

> Unacceptable behavior will not be tolerated.

(Where unacceptable behavior is defined it a page linked from the Policy.)

And a blog post I saw the other day on Software Freedom Conservancy's blog:
https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/apr/20/how-to-apologize/

I think it has many constructive points.

Best,
--
Yury Bulka
https://mamot.fr/@setthemfree
#NotOnFacebook