[AusNOG] Common Sense needs to prevail

[Skeeve Stevens]

I hate to do this. I'm going to contradict my previous post about this not
being the forum for such discussions.

This post is not to start another thread war, so if you want to abuse or
say something else to me, please do it off-list.

I've been catching up on the posts re Sexual Harassment in our industry. I
didn't read all of them, there were just too many. So I don't know if this
perspective was addressed.

Firstly, I will state categorically that Sexual Harassment is wrong. SEXUAL
HARASSMENT is wrong. Flirting or saying hi to a cute girl (or guy) is not
wrong.

I hate seeing people go politically correct mad and destroying perfectly
good situations because of a few idiots who should be punished. That said,
the incident should be looked into to make sure facts/accusations are
accurate, as a misunderstanding or wrong accusation can easily destroy
someone as badly as being actually sexually harassed. Bevan was right to
make the announcement, and right to send the warning of what would occur
next time.

But we need to make sure our industry doesn't have all the fun and
opportunity to meet new people squeezed out of it. I'd hate to see events
where people are afraid to even say hi to someone they fancy (damn I'm old)
due to incidents such as these.

I say this because I have a different experience than most people here in
that I met my wife at an Ausnog event.

It was an industry drinks (pre-conference I believe for Ausnog #2)... there
was a cute girl named Shanti (white) and her friend Lynette (Sri Lankan)
which I found highly amusing based on their names. We had lots of fun with
that and there was much flirting to be had.  I wasn't too naughty (based on
the result), but I do recall my staff carrying me out of that event due to
way too much alcohol.

It turns out Shanti was the one managing the event on loan from Vocus. As a
sponsor of Ausnog #2, I had some interactions with Shanti the following few
days (my staff were previously doing it - but I was smitten), and during
the actual conference spent most of the time outside doing more flirting
with this amazingly cute girl who for some reason was giving me the time of
day.

I don't recall any of that event really except Vijay Gill being awesome and
Geoff Huston doing his thing. Apart from that... no idea.. I was a little
smitten.

A few days later I headed to Christchurch for my first APNIC event (#26) on
James Spenceleys recommendation and by some stroke of luck (for me), James
brought along Shanti too.  Well, that was that. It was my first APNIC, and
James asked Shanti to 'keep me amused' [it was all his fault!!] as we were
obviously getting on well. Well, that was the end of that.

10 years later, and recently having our 7th Wedding anniversary, and being
the happiest husband ever that I met and fell for one of the very few women
at the AusNOG conference.

So. Sexual Harassment is bad bad bad... and anyone who does anyone that is
not welcome should be taken care of harshly. But, trying to meet people, is
not a bad thing, and as long as people are respectful, people should
continue to continue to have fun at these events and not be scared of
meeting new people, for whatever reasons.

...Skeeve

*Skeeve Stevens - Founder & Chief Architect - *eintellego Networks Pty Ltd
skeeve at eintellegonetworks.com ; www.eintellegonetworks.com

Phone: 1300 239 038; Cell +61 (0)414 753 383 ; skype://skeeve

facebook.com/eintellegonetworks ;  <http://twitter.com/networkceoau>
linkedin.com/in/skeeve
Cumulus Linux / Open Networking - Cloud - Consulting - Juniper - Cisco - IPv4
Brokering
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