We regret to announce that the formal relationship between the Humanist Discussion Group and ADHO has been dissolved. This change has come at the request of Humanist’s moderator, Prof. Willard McCarty. We are hugely grateful for the enormous service Humanist provides to the international digital humanities community, and we wish Willard and Humanist all the best for the future.
We note that this decision takes place within a specific context. Having published in August a post that raised the topic of racism, Humanist initially held back a number of respectful challenges that ensued and that were ultimately published following significant public criticism. ADHO welcomes substantive, thoughtful, and robust critique on any matter, and appreciates the challenges involved in moderating online discussions. We deeply regret the pain experienced by members of our community when their responses were not published as a matter of course. We also strongly denounce personal attacks on social media, such as some of those experienced by Willard; these only impede our ability to foster a diverse, equal, and global community. ADHO will continue to work towards addressing structural racism and establishment violence, as described in our recent statement, and to support free, open, and civil communication among our members.
See also ACH's statement.