[aiiane]

Another proposed hiring metric that is likely to favor the stereotypical coding-since-childhood male developer. IRC channels are often just as bad if not worse than mailing lists when it comes to providing a welcoming space for minorities.

[jgh]

I had a similar thought - also, what if the person is just graduating? I know IRC is still around, but I don't think it's nearly as widely known or used as it was back in the 90s and early 2000s.

[akerl_]

Maybe it's because of the channels I do and don't use, but I've found IRC communities to be mostly unwelcoming in general, and not more-so towards any specific race/gender/religion/etc groups. It's hard to be racist against somebody whose race you do not know, because your only insight into their physical existence is their chosen nick.

This article is a pretty solid point of evidence that IRC communities are insular against every non-member, regardless of who the non-member is.

[mariusz79]

If you go to a dark alley, you can expect to get mugged, but that does not mean that the whole city is out to get you.

[mariusz79]

I have not seen anything in the RFC 1459,2810, 2811, 2812, 2813 preventing females from using irc protocol. And obviously you never used IRC if you think that it's somehow not a welcoming space to minorities.

[mariusz79]

Apparently all these downvotes come from people who never used IRC.. and never took a part in a flame war on usenet, or overtook a channel on IRC.. Keep them coming, I still have enough karma left :)

[vidarh]

I downvoted you, as someone who spent years hanging around on IRC large parts of my free time, and who based on your comment questions how much experience you have with IRC.

For a while, it was my main source of social interaction overall. 20 years ago I used to pick up women on IRC - most of my dates for years came that way.

At the same time, while certainly there are women and minorities on IRC, I've seen few environments that could turn incredibly ugly and sexist and bigoted so quickly, or that could wear women in particular down so quickly and drive them away. It at least used to take an incredibly thick skin to be a woman on IRC.

In fact, back in the day, one of the most effective way of picking up women on IRC, was to simply set yourself apart from what they quickly became used to, by making fun of the endless stream of horny teenage boys anyone with a somewhat female-sounding nick used to have to deal with, no matter what channels they were on.

The extent certainly does vary by network, and channel, but watching over the shoulder of a woman using IRC anywhere without very strict policies and very specific audiences can be very enlightening unless they hide their gender. And many do.

[mariusz79]

"I downvoted you"

No hard feelings. I lived through a fair share of flamewars, and stuff like karma holds little meaning to my overall well being.

"while certainly there are women and minorities on IRC, I've seen few environments that could turn incredibly ugly and sexist and bigoted so quickly, or that could wear women in particular down so quickly and drive them away."

Here is the whole problem - claiming that IRC is bad for minorities is like claiming that all establishments serving food and drinks are.. and while this may be true for pubs, it certainly is not for restaurants.

It all depends where you hang out, and on technical channels, I have never seen anything that would suggest that minorities are not welcomed.. in fact nobody cares who or what you are, and you have no reason to share that information if you believe that this somehow may affect how people treat you.