@gcrkrause i think people seriously need to relearn two things after the last years: risk estimation and choosing to take risks, facing the consequences of actions.

from what i gather this years fosdem was also done online, why not participate there? risk free option. why impose _your_ risk assesment on others? clearly the covid measures of the last years didn't work all that well after all, or we wouldn't have any problem by now.

regarding sexism, giving up meritocracy for whatever hell of rules people think up also doesn't work. might well be that there could be more keynotes from minorities. a free conference - any conference you didn't organize yourself - is the absolute wrong tree to bark up at. i don't even like fosdem all that much as it reeks of corporate "open source" money instead if proper free software.

the politicization of software by whatever criteria is the current thing will kill free software first, as seen by the cancel attempt on RMS, and open source next as the licenses permit it easily.

politicizing everything doesn't make you morally superior so that you can blame everything on everyone else.