zlacker

Sounds like you should volunteer for Ruby Central to help them with their communications! I don't mean that facetiously: it seems that they could use you, or someone like you, with comms. As the OP readily admits, this is not a strong point for them.

My general take on this:

1) Nerds are often not the best at communicating.

2) People on the Internet can be very cruel towards people they don't know.

We could all do better, especially with #2. The Internet used to be cool as hell. Now, by and large, it sucks.

>>adrian+(OP)
The organisation already has non-technical people employed. They should be able to get basic communications right.