Note from the petition creators: We have changed our position on this matter. In light of the new revelations, we now demand Dries Buytaert and Megan Sanicki step down.

Original petition:

Our beloved Drupal community has suffered a setback in recent months. As many people know, Larry Garfield (a contributor to the project) was demoted from leadership roles because of his conduct. This conduct did not reflect the standards that Dries Buytaert and the Drupal Assocation believe that leaders should show.

Larry Garfield wrote elaborate blog posts on the matter. His intentions may have been good but the blog posts caused significant harm to the community and ultimately led to the creation of Drupal Confessions. This initiative became a tool for online hate trolls who are now bullying, threatening, and doxing everyone (including Larry Garfield).

We believe that the time has come for the community to move past these tragic events. We have had more than our fair share of drama, but now we have to focus on the journey ahead. We need to improve our governance, our CMS, and above all the way we treat fellow members of our community. We believe that by standing together and looking past old disagreements we can learn and grow.

As a first step toward unification, we are boldly and proudly standing up for Dries Buytaert and Megan Sanicki (Executive Director of the DA). Nobody is perfect, but the Drupal community as we know it today would not exist had it not been for the dedication of Dries and Megan.

Dries has helped steer the technical direction of the project, and made it into the world's best CMS for enterprise deployments. Through the efforts of Dries hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested into the Drupal ecosystem. His technical prowess is widely respected and the diverse and inclusive environment he's created at Acquia speaks for itself.

Like Dries, Megan has tirelessly strived to unite the community during this challenging time, and rather than stoop to vicious attacks like the hate trolls, she has stood as a beacon of integrity, compassion, and hope; a symbol of the kind of community that Drupal aspires to be.

Both Dries and Megan have been attacked mercilessly on Twitter, in blog comments, and on forums like Reddit. For the sake of these two wonderful people who have contributed so greatly to the community, and continue to work so hard and sacrifice so much behind the scenes: these attacks must stop. The decisions that Dries and Megan made were difficult and painful. We as a community may never fully agree with the reasons or the outcome. But the die has been cast, and it's time to stand by these decisions and to respect our community leaders who have stood by us during this difficult time.

Today, we stand together for a Drupal community that "agrees to disagree" on the conflicts of the past. We stand for a Drupal community that wholeheartedly embraces Dries Buytaert and Megan Sanicki for the hard work they do to move Drupal forward and to reunite our community.

Thank you, Dries and Megan, for everything that you do! We trust you, we believe in you, and we know you will see us through these times and motivate us to build an even better community than we've ever had before.

Signed,

A United Drupal Community



P.S. Please do not sign anonymously. (We had enough of that with Drupal Confessions.) If for whatever reason you cannot put your real name to this petition, please don't sign at all.