Hi Sasha, Sascha, all,
Perhaps we lead very different lives, but I’ve never seen attempts at setting people on fire as “horsing around�.
Must be that. I've seen it more than once, both accidentally and by just being drunk or stupid. Even did it to myself once or twice and learned from it.
This is turning into quite the metaphor. It is precisely what we are talking about — diversity. In this case, of self-immolation experiences. The thing is, if you see someone else setting themselves on fire, you would call the fire brigade, and if someone at a RIPE meeting sets fire to themselves (I assume we don’t know if they’re doing that to themselves on a mailing list), metaphorically or not, help (or at least a nudge in the direction of the nearest fire extinguisher) may be needed. I don’t want to stretch that metaphor any more. Cultures are different. Perhaps the inhabitants of Cork have more fire-resistance than the inhabitants of the Netherlands (or elsewhere). Perhaps not. What does it matter? “Drunk and/or stupid” is not an adequate measure of professional interactions, and this is what a RIPE meeting ultimately is, a meeting of professionals (with a bit of a social aspect as a bonus). I don’t want to lose the social aspect because of irregularities in the professional side (or vice versa), but if I know which one has to go, you can probably make an educated guess. My view of the CoC is that it should be trying to find that balance — our community is more than just (say) the ITU, but neither is it a free-for-all, and most importantly of all, we welcome anyone and everyone that can contribute to our discussions in a constructive manner. As usual, this is just my personal opinion, yours will vary. Cheers, Rob