Spam, bacon, sausage and Spam (was: EuroPython 2020: Data Science Track)

[Christian Heimes]

On 23/07/2020 02.12, Cameron Simpson wrote:
> On 22Jul2020 15:00, Christian Heimes <christian at python.org> wrote:
>> Hi MAL,
>>
>> would it be possible to reduce the amount of EuroPython spam on
>> @python.org mailing lists to a sensible level? This mailing list is a
>> general discussion list for the Python programming language. It's not a
>> conference advertisement list.
>>
>> Something between 1 to 3 mails per conference and year (!) sounds
>> sensible to me. [...]
> 
> I, OTOH, am unperturbed.
> 
> Things have been much in flux this year, and a last minute short notice 
> thing like this post needs wide dissemination. Normally a conference 
> needs few posts, but this year everything is different and plans have 
> changed a lot, on the fly.
> 
> I have never attended EuroPython and probably never will (I'm on the 
> other side of the planet) but I'm still interested. Rather than 
> subscribe to every conference thing, getting them here is very 
> convenient.

I have been to a lot of EuroPython conferences. EP 2003 in
Charleroi/Belgium was my first Python conference. I have given several
talks at EP in recent years and have participated in one panel
discussion / AMA about Python core development.

I'm not disputing the fact that a conference can use the generic Python
users list for announcements. It's the fact that EP is literally
spamming the list with threads like "Opening our merchandise shop",
"Find a new job", "Introducing our diamond sponsor", and "Presenting our
conference booklet". That's just spam to advertise for the conference or
a company. Some EP announcements were cross-posted to multiple mailing
lists like psf-community at python.org, too.

python.org has a dedicated conference mailing list for conference
related announcements. Additional to general conferences at python.org
EuroPython has 2 (in words *TWO*) additional mailing lists for
announcements and discussions (europython at python.org,
europython-announce at python.org).

> As with all posters and topics, a truly annoying one can always be
> blocked at your personal discretion with a filter rule, eg to discard
> "europython". I know that advice verges on the spammers' claim that "you
> can always opt out" but for me this stuff isn't spam.

See https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Missing_stair

Some people have replied to me in private because they did not dare to
speak out against a prominent member of the Python community in public.
At least one person has followed up with Code Of Conduct working group
because they are annoyed by the spam.

Christian