For a moment, may some of the hurt and fearful in the Drupal community take a moment to pause and reflect. Take a deep breath and slow down from the continuous retweeting, reddit posts, or the most recent Drupal Confessions. (By the way, does anyone else think "Drupal Confessions" sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit or a bad emo song?) Let me begin by reminding you that some of the strongest voices are the farthest from those potentially marginalized by the Crell situation. These loud voices are drowning out the voices of those they claim to also stand up for. It's like a bad train wreck

In my previous two blog posts [one] [two], I shared my concerns and open questions over the recent events surrounding Crell and discussed my initial efforts to become informed even when full transparency does not and likely will not exist. I have formed the opinion that those seeking answers and specifics may never get the level of detail they desire, both for legal and privacy reasons. I continue to engage with others in conversation out of respect for those processing these events and out of my desire to form a well-rounded and bias-free stance. With the complexities involved, there is no

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was struggling to make sense of this situation. Was Crell treated fairly? Was he being discriminated for his beliefs? How is this possible in the confines of a community that supports diversity and inclusion? I spent parts of my day participating in discussions with team members, engaging community members, researching relevant topics, and reading responses of others that had their own questions and concerns. We are all still processing this and I ask you to please respect the diverse opinions from members in the community. In my post yesterday, I made it

When I was checking Twitter last night, a prominent community member posted a "TMI" message with a link to a blog post. This was totally off-character for a man regularly promoting thought leadership in technical capacities (why I was following him on Twitter). I was quite curious and I was immediately appalled by what I read. The post can be found here: https://www.garfieldtech.com/blog/tmi-outing This created widespread outrage on Twitter, Reddit, and much more. Inevitably it was followed up by a blog post from Dries: http://buytaert.net/tag/living-our-values While totally uninformed and

Off the top of my head, I can name several "first"-based approaches. Do any of these ring a bell? Mobile first, content first, API first, user first, design first, experience first, modeling first, security first. For far too long, experts in these various realms have caught the attention of communities by coining these terms. They speak to the vulnerable: people who have ultimately been burned by not applying the best practices of whatever is being sold. But, that is an altogether different problem than what is ultimately being sold. What is being sold is the need to put something first. This

The Trump team has been saying they are victims from attacks of those on the left that don't want them in office. While it is fair to say that those in the left indeed don't want them in office, this is a direct response to their policies. There has been a growing lack of confidence founded on the wrecklessness of the administration's words and actions. In response to the criticism they have received, members of the Trump team are claiming to be victims. This is one of many strategies the administration has used in deflection. An alternative strategy would be to engage with the public in

I'm a huge advocate for finding ways to encourage more Drupal participants. Due to the complexity, it's unreasonable to expect people to initially pick up programming-heavy issues. This is the motivation behind the "novice" label, providing a means for identifying potentially low-complex tasks new contributors could safely pick up. The end result is usually one or more commits which are credited to you and/or your organization on Drupal.org. Commit BiasFor those looking to bolster their Drupal expertise, organizations will often look at who has "given back" to Drupal as a means of vetting. The