unicorn herd check-in

I first installed Linux (Slackware) from 5.25" floppy disks sometime around 1993. I was a systems administrator, and contributed in a small way to a number of open-source projects, never for financial renumeration. Mostly Perl, very early on some C. I left the open source communities for a few years -- burned out by all the sexism, in fact -- and have recently returned because of the much more welcoming environment of the two new predominantly-female open-source projects.

Even when I was young and had much thicker skin I always avoided online open-source community interaction (e.g. mailing lists, IRC, web forums), precisely because I don't have the Sanity Watchers points for threads like this one.

I love contributing to open source projects. But I hate needing to prove myself as something more than a real developer's girlfriend, I hate hearing sexist jokes, I hate the idea that I'm only interested in user interface or documentation, I hate flirtation. So my passion for open source, true, was not as overwhelming as my unwillingness to deal with sexism on the Internet. Now that I have found a place where I can be passionate about open source without all of that garbage, I'm incredibly happy.