Re: Code of conduct (bis)

[Anne Østergaard <anne oestergaard nu>]

fre, 01 12 2006 kl. 16:06 +0100, skrev Murray Cumming:
> On Fri, 2006-12-01 at 15:02 +0100, Dave Neary wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > A while back, Murray asked the board to pronounce itself on the code of
> > conduct.
> > 
> > We have had several debates on the issue, both on the mailing list and
> > on conference calls, and Murray asked me to relay the conclusions to the
> > membership.
> > 
> > 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.
> 
> 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. But "GNOME rejects Code of Conduct" is such an awful signal
> that I'll try to do that anyway.
> 
> Or do the new board candidates see this more clearly?
> http://live.gnome.org/CodeOfConduct

Hi Murray and everyone

I am in favor of a code of conduct.

Here is my go of a text:


DRAFT:

Ethical Guidelines for GNOME. 
GNOME Code of Conduct - 1.0.
This is the current version of this code of conduct. 

= GNOME Code of Conduct =

This Code of Conduct covers your behavior as a member of the GNOME
Community, in any forum, mailing list, Wiki, web site, IRC channel,
install-fest, public meeting or private correspondence. 

      '''Be considerate.''' Your work will be used by other people,
      and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision
      you take will affect users and colleagues, and we expect you to
      take those consequences into account when making decisions. For
      example, when we are in a feature freeze, please don't upload
      dramatically new versions of critical system software, as other
      people will be testing the frozen system and will not be
      expecting big changes.

      '''Be respectful.''' The GNOME community and its members treat
      one another with respect. Everyone can make a valuable
      contribution to GNOME. We may not always agree, but
      disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor
      manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then,
      but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal
      attack. It's important to remember that a community where people
      feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. We
      expect members of the GNOME community to be respectful when
      dealing with other contributors as well as with people outside
      the GNOME project and with users of GNOME.

      '''Be collaborative.''' GNOME and Free Software are about
      collaboration and working together. Collaboration reduces
      redundancy of work done in the Free Software world, and improves
      the quality of the software produced. You should aim to
      collaborate with other GNOME maintainers, as well as with the
      upstream community that is interested in the work you do. Your
      work should be done transparently and patches from GNOME should
      be given back to the community when they are made, not just when
      the distribution releases. If you wish to work on new code for
      existing upstream projects, at least keep those projects
      informed of your ideas and progress. It may not be possible to
      get consensus from upstream or even from your colleagues about
      the correct implementation of an idea, so don't feel obliged to
      have that agreement before you begin, but at least keep the
      outside world informed of your work, and publish your work in a
      way that allows outsiders to test, discuss and contribute to
      your efforts.

      '''When you disagree,''' consult others. Disagreements, both
      political and technical, happen all the time and the GNOME
      community is no exception. The important goal is not to avoid
      disagreements or differing views but to resolve them
      constructively. You should turn to the community and to the
      community process to seek advice and to resolve
      disagreements. 

      '''When you are unsure,''' ask for help. Nobody knows
      everything, and nobody is expected to be perfect in the GNOME
      community. Asking questions avoids many problems down the road, 
      and so questions are encouraged. Those who are asked should be 
      responsive and helpful. However, when asking a question, care must 
      be taken to do so in an appropriate forum. Off-topic questions, 
      such as requests for help on a development mailing list, detract 
      from productive discussion.

      '''Step down considerately.''' Developers on every project come
      and go and GNOME is no different. When you leave or disengage
      from the project, in whole or in part, we ask that you do so in
      a way that minimizes disruption to the project. This means you
      should tell people you are leaving and take the proper steps to
      ensure that others can pick up where you leave off.


Kind regards

Anne