Re: Code Of Conduct

[David Bolter <david bolter utoronto ca>]

Luis Villa wrote:
> On 6/1/06, Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk> wrote:
> > Ar Tue, May 30, 2006 at 01:04:43PM +0200, ysgrifennodd Murray Cumming:
> > > I don't think we need a whole organisation to police it. At the 
> > least, it
> > > should just be how we expect people to behave on mailing lists and 
> > IRC and
> > > it could be up to the administrator of that list or channel to decide
> > > whether somone's conduct is unacceptable. But maybe some people 
> > would be
> > > reassured by the existence of some group that they could go to in 
> > extreme
> > > circumstances.
> > >
> > > Here's a simple start:
> > > http://live.gnome.org/CodeOfConduct
> > >
> > > What do you think? What else would you like to see there?
> >
> > I think this is a long-overdue thing to do.
> >
> > I also think that there is no fun being part of a "community" which is
> > actually arguing the toss on whether "we think people should be 
> > courteous
> > to each other within this community" is a good thing or not.
>
> I don't think anyone is arguing against being courteous; I'm certainly
> not. I just think we'd be better off focusing on actually making
> people more courteous, instead of writing rules about it.

I sense we are all close to agreeing here... I think the fear is the 
idea that rules will restrict us.  The GPL is very restrictive but isn't 
that what makes GPL software so free? 

I like the idea of having guidelines that suggest the protection of 
people from discrimination.  Being a shy Canadian... if I was on IRC 
witnessing silliness I would like the option of politely pointing  
someone to a guidelines wiki page than actually arguing with them.

cheers,
David