Re: Code of conduct (bis)

[Dave Neary <dneary free fr>]

Hi,

Murray Cumming wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-12-01 at 15:02 +0100, Dave Neary wrote:
>> The feeling of the board (a majority opinion, rather than unanimous) is
>> that the code of conduct would be more hurt than helped by being pushed
>> by us. Its adoption really needs to be bottom-up.
> 
> Thanks for being the messenger. I am deeply disappointed by this. I
> think it's a failure of leadership and a failure to stand up for our
> most basic common values. From an otherwise sensible board.

My personal opinion? A code of conduct is vital to the success of a
project. Usually, these codes are left unwritten - the group forms
itself around common principles and self-selects people who conform to
the unwritten norms (that's why some projects have a disproportionate
amount of assholes, and others seem heavily weighted with nice guys &
gals - birds of a feather and all that).

We have a code. You've attempted to write it down in its simplest form.
I applaud you for it.

A written code of conduct is useful for what - for reminding existing
members what's acceptable and not? I don't think so. The main use of a
code being written down is to ensure that newcomers to the project know
where they stand, what they can expect, and (if they don't respect the
code) why they're being given out to.

This is clearly a case where having it written and endorsed by the board
is not enough - you need prominent mailing list people, project
maintainers, bugmasters and everyone else who is in regular direct
contact with newcomers to our community.

That's what I mean by bottom-up. Leading by example. Proving the benefit
of the code by showing how it improves the tone and content of a forum.
As I said, Olav has been a shining example in this.

> This was really the only way that this could be done. It will be
> logistically almost impossible for me to individually persuade every
> single mailing list, project maintainer, and sysadmin to endose this
> explicitly.

You don't have to persuade them all. You just have to persuade a big
enough chunk that they'll be persuading others, and the cure will spread
just like the disease did (if we're diseased at all).

Cheers,
Dave.

-- 
Dave Neary
dneary free fr