Bonum Certa Men Certa

Recognizing relationships and false accusations in GSoC and Outreachy

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 09, 2024

Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock.

For about five years now Debian fanatics and their rent-a-mob have been spreading rumors about a mentor.

Many of us trust Debian as an operating system for our computers and servers. But can we really trust the people who make Debian?

Here is Ariadne Conill spreading rumours about a mentor girlfriending one of the GSoC interns:

Ariadne Conill

The last woman this mentor was responsible for is Elena Gjevukaj. In the middle of her internship, she sent the mentor a picture of her wedding.

Oops. Debian lies. Ariadne lies. If the woman got married in the middle of the internship then it is both very rude and very absurd for Debian people to suggest she was the mentor's girlfriend.

Subject:        Surprise
Date:   Wed, 15 Aug 2018 01:14:54 +0200
From:   Elena Gjevukaj <gjevukaje@gmail.com>
To:     Daniel Pocock <daniel@pocock.pro>

We got married! 😂

Elena Gjevukaj

Yet Ariadne persists. She is even stalking the mentor on Twitter, despite the fact the mentor doesn't have any social media accounts.

Ariadne Conill

There is a lot more evidence too. In fact, the mentor was denied funding to attend DebConf18 in 2018. Here is the email:


Subject: Your bursary request for DebConf18: status updated
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2018 18:35:52 -0000
From: <bursaries@debconf.org>
To: <daniel@pocock.pro>

Dear Daniel Pocock,
The bursaries team has updated the status of your bursary request for DebConf18.
Travel bursary --------------
Your request for a travel bursary has been evaluated and ranked. However, we are unable to grant it at this time: our travel budget is very limited, and we had to defer a lot of strong applications. We will let you know as soon as possible, hopefully before the end of June, if we can grant you the amount you have requested, as our budget evolves and higher ranked applicants finalize their plans.
Food bursary ------------
You have told us that you would be completely unable to come to DebConf if you weren't granted a travel bursary. Your food bursary is therefore pending an update on the travel bursaries front. If you're able to join us nonetheless, let the bursaries team know so we can update your "level of need". Note that this will be reflected in your travel bursary ranking.
Accommodation bursary ---------------------
You have told us that you would be completely unable to come to DebConf if you weren't granted a travel bursary. Your accommodation bursary is therefore pending an update on the travel bursaries front. If you're able to join us nonetheless, let the bursaries team know so we can update your "level of need". Note that this will be reflected in your travel bursary ranking.
You can review the full status of your bursary request in your profile[1] on the DebConf website.
[1] https://debconf18.debconf.org/users/pocock/ -- The DebConf18 bursaries team

Mentors do a lot of unpaid work for Google and Outreachy. Why did Debian and Google block this mentor going to DebConf18? Were they hiding something from the mentor?

It looks like other developers, inner members of the Debian cabal, wanted to have some personal time with the female interns. Jiin-Mei Lin published a photo gallery.

The gallery includes one inconvenient photo. It is the developer Lior Kaplan with his arm around an Outreachy. In fact, the woman concerned was subsequently employed by GNOME Foundation. She joined GNOME at the same time as Molly de Blanc.

Congratulations to this woman. She survived DebConf and she outlasted both Molly de Blanc and Neil McGovern at GNOME. The Albanian woman in Lior's arms is the last man standing.

Lior Kaplan, DebConf18, GNOME, Outreachy

At DebConf19 in Brazil, there was an even bigger controversy. We saw pictures of the Debian Project Leader, Chris Lamb (top left), with a table full of Albanian women at the conference dinner:

Chris Lamb, Anisa Kuci, DebConf19, Brazil, Albanian women

If travel budgets are so tight, how did they find money to buy all these tickets from Albania to Brazil?

Eight weeks later and the woman sitting closest to Lamby won the Outreachy internship, $6,000 and more free trips:

Anisa Kuci, Chris Lamb, Outreachy, favoritism

How do other women feel when they waste two or three evenings doing the Outreachy application test and then they see photos suggesting the Debian leader had a romantic history with the winner?

FSFE is at it too

Here is that picture from OSCAL in Tirana, Albania where we see the FSFE president Matthias Kirschner (on the right) with a table full of young Albanian girls.

Matthias Kirschner, OSCAL, Tirana, Albania, FSFE, women

Now we found another picture, it is Kirschner's predecessor at the FSFE, Karsten Gerloff taking a patriarchal pose with his arm around a smiling young woman from Eastern Europe:

Karsten Gerloff, FSFE, Women

RMS signatories were not victims

Here one of the women tells us she was not a victim.

RMS, Richard Stallman, petition

Nicolas Dandrimont was at it too

Dandrimont is one of the Debian Account Managers. He tried to bring his girlfriend into Outreachy. â–ˆ

Subject: Recusing myself from Outreachy applicant selection decisions, internships funding
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2016 12:37:46 +0200
From: Nicolas Dandrimont <olasd@debian.org>
To: <leader@debian.org>, <outreach@debian.org>
CC: <mapreri@debian.org>, <pocock@debian.org>

Hey all,
As of today, the person I'm involved with, Pauline Pommeret, is applying to an Outreachy internship in Debian (on the GPG cleanroom environment project - I don't see her mail on the list archive yet, so something must have gone wrong, but it should arrive soon enough).
To avoid an obvious conflict of interest, I am recusing myself for any decisions regarding applicant selections for this round.
I am of course still happy to serve as a liaison with the Outreachy program administrators, and to forward our applicants to them for general funding when selected, if the money allocated by Debian runs out.
This would especially be relevant, in my opinion, to RTC projects, as I'm not sure at all that we should fund them from Debian money directly. Karen Sandler also told me that one of the Outreachy sponsors was interested in funding interns on Reproducible Builds. All in all, we should be able to have two or three internship slots with Debian only disbursing one.
I'll stay on the outreach@d.o alias for now, but let me know if you need help ranking applicants, and I'll ask DSA to remove me so you can discuss at ease.
Cheers, -- Nicolas Dandrimont

Paul Tagliamonte & Outreachy candidates

Subject: Re: OPW Student in Kingston, Jamaica
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 13:39:12 -0500
From: Paul Tagliamonte <paultag@debian.org>
To: Joachim Breitner <nomeata@debian.org>
CC: debian-private@lists.debian.org

On Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 06:37:36PM +0000, Joachim Breitner wrote: > Hi, > > Am Montag, den 25.11.2013, 13:18 -0500 schrieb Paul Tagliamonte: > > She's got a PhD, so I think this could also be a good beersigning, if > > she drinks. > > not having a PhD yet I wonder what expects me: Will I be a better > drinker after I get the degree? Or a better keysigner? /me is confused.
It simply means she's likely of age in her jurisdiction. All I was saying is that she's not a high school student.
Cheers, Paul
-- .''`. Paul Tagliamonte <paultag@debian.org> : :' : Proud Debian Developer `. `'` 4096R / 8F04 9AD8 2C92 066C 7352 D28A 7B58 5B30 807C 2A87 `- http://people.debian.org/~paultag

Debian women: marriages and children

The story of Alexander Reichle-Schmehl and Meike Reichle is not uncommon in Debian

Subject: Ditto: Retiring
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2013 12:40:37 +0100
From: Meike Reichle <meike@debian.org>
To: debian-private@lists.debian.org

Hi all
> I'm very sorry but as I'm unable to dedicate any time to anything > related to Debian, I think it's best to retire. Sad truth is, that I'm > quite busy with my family and my job. > > Last year I hoped, that it would only be a temporary thing, but well I > still don't have much time, and the time I have left I prefer to spend > with my family. > > However, I really hope, I'll be able to rejoin when time permits it.
As expected, the same goes for me :-/
With job(s), kid, house, life etc. computers been playing a continuously smaller role in our family life. Most of these days I am glad if I manage to check my email once a day. I'd really hoped to find a way to combine family and Free Software, but I don't seem to be able to really pull it off.
So, as Alex, I am herewith declaring my resignation. *sniff*
Being a part of the Debian project was one of the greatest experiences in my life and I owe a lot to you (including my lovely husband). I hope we'll still be able to maintain a close connection to the project and find other ways to support it until we can return to full DD'dom.
In the meantime there'll at least always be a free guest room waiting, should anyone of you ever need a place to stay in the Southern Germany/Switzerland area.
Best Regards, Meike
PS This message shall never be disclosed.
-- Please respect the privacy of this mailing list. Some posts may be declassified 3 years after posting as per http://www.debian.org/vote/2005/vote_002
Archive: file://master.debian.org/~debian/archive/debian-private/
To UNSUBSCRIBE, use the web form at <http://db.debian.org/>.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

This New Determination on a Case Echoes the Modus Operandi of Microsoft's Serial Strangler vs Techrights (Its Online Decision/Judgment Says Truth and Public Interest Defend the Publisher)
Noel Anthony Clarke hopefully has enough money left to pay his victims, which include the publishers
 
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Was Right About "Sideloading" in 1996
We now have computers that treat booting GNU/Linux like an act of "Sideloading"
Panama: Windows Down From 97% "Market Share" to Less Than 30%
In 2009, Windows was measured at 97.24% (compared to 62.32% right now or less than 30% if one also counts Android)
The UEFI 9/11 - Part I - Introduction to Impending Catastrophe (Microsoft Preventing People From Booting Non-Windows Systems)
eight-part series
Why Techrights is Slow Today (Bot Floods)
We don't know if those bots are connected to LLMs (we have not checked), but that is a possibility
Slopwatch: DDoS Slop, LinuxBSDos.com Spam, and Slopfarms in Google News, Including webpronews.com
Among the news we also found fakes, albeit not so much today
Links 26/08/2025: "Ballooning Debt" in France and "Transnational Repression in the UK"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/08/2025: Listening to Alcest and Google Doing Evil (Users Installing Software is "Sideloading" and Prohibited)
Links for the day
Links 26/08/2025: DNS Tampering and TikTok Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows "Market Share" Overestimated
Microsoft's income sources are shrinking
We Shall See...
My wife and I are hardly the first victims of Brett Wilson LLP
Going Offline
There was life before the Net
The Register MS Has Apparently Shut Down Its Office
It is basically a fake address on the face of it
There Are Also Expectations of IBM Layoffs Very Soon With "Narrative Control."
Some of them mention Red Hat and how IBM failed to achieve anything substantial with that acquisition
After at Least Two Rounds of Mass Layoffs in August Microsoft Said to Have "September Layoff Confirmed - Performance Based"
Those "M5 level meetings" sound plausible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 25, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 25, 2025
Slopwatch: Slopfarms All Over Google News and Real News Sites Pushed Out of Visibility
Google News is dying (as a tool of value)
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Numeric-only VM and Alhena 5.3.0
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: ‘Panama Playlists’ and Live Nation/Ticketmaster Suit Aims at Class Action
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/08/2025: Empathy Towards Autistic People and Old Gadgets
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Datacentres Versus Water Supplies and "The IPv6 Divide"
Links for the day
Links 25/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Financial Strain
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Distros Ought to Replace Firefox (and Firefox ESR) With Something Like LibreWolf
Perhaps it's come to replace Firefox
Father of Julian Assange Said the US Government Was Trying to Bankrupt WikiLeaks, Now the Assange Family Promotes Fake Currencies
Using the name for bad purposes?
Bailing Out GAFAM, Giving Taxpayers' Money to Failing Companies, and Trying to Outlaw Lawsuits Against Them
What would the late Lincoln have said?
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) Inc. Lost 2 Million Dollars Last Year and Its Chief Took a Salary Increase of Almost $6,000
Another year or two like this... and the SFC will be bankrupt [...] Hallmark of mismanagement
The "New Techrights" Turns Two Very Soon
Accomplishing something each year is what's important, not merely "finishing" another year
Gulf Nations Leave Microsoft Behind
How much lower will Microsoft stoop in an effort to raise money from oil-rich lenders?
How to Combat IRC Trolls (in Our Experience)
Today I want to share my experience (or knowledge) of how to deal with IRC trolls
The Register MS Needs to Stop Participating in the "Hey Hi" (AI) Hype, But It Gets Paid to Participate in This Hype
the publisher (The Register MS) wants to have it both ways
Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Living With Your Parents, Zürich Zoo, and Macondo
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 24, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 24, 2025