Re: Code of Conduct and Foundation membership

[Philip Van Hoof <pvanhoof gnome org>]

On Wed, 2009-11-25 at 22:48 +0000, Alan Cox wrote:
> >    1. People speak on their own behalf, not on behalf of GNOME.  Unless they 
> > ARE talking on behalf of GNOME (say, board, release team, etc),

Indeed

> On things like the planet that can be addressed by suitable tags and
> styling (as could "inappropriate" content - if there is a 'rant filter'
> option or similar)

I agree with this

> >    4. In any kind of discussion and/or medium, one should learn who's words 
> > matter.  "Is he the maintainer of the module?  Is he a developer?  Does he 
> > generally offer useful insight?  Does he know what he's talking about?  Do 
> > others take this person seriously?"  When you learn to ignore the noise, life 
> > is beautiful again.
> 
> With the kernel hat on this is why LWN and Jon Masters summaries are so
> important. They distill the relevant material from the bloodbath that is
> linux-kernel (and which btw does put off a lot of people and cause big
> issues with some cultural groups). Please btw don't use Linux kernel as a
> shining example of why rules are not needed. The kernel works despite not
> because of the list attitude. Also there may be no code of conduct but
> certain people have at times been taken aside at conferences and
> "educated" on how they are coming across.

This happens at our GNOME conferences too.

Not as group meetings, but individual contact. This has most impact and
no Code of Conduct or "enforcement" amendment can compete.

> >    - Learn to agree to disagree.
> > 
> >    - Criticize ideas, not people presenting them.

I would likely support such amendments to our code of conduct. We worked
hard to get the often ignored "Assume people mean well" bullet point in
our Code Of Conduct:

Although often ignored, it's also the most important one.

Learning to agree to disagree goes alongside assuming people mean well.

> And perhaps also - Remmeber that different cultures have different
> attitudes, styles and touchy subjects.

Yes, good point.

-- 
Philip Van Hoof, freelance software developer
home: me at pvanhoof dot be 
gnome: pvanhoof at gnome dot org 
http://pvanhoof.be/blog
http://codeminded.be