Re: Events Code of Conduct: Effects on Hackfests

[Allan Day <aday gnome org>]

[I'm replying as someone who helped to draft the CoC, and who was on
the board when it was approved. The CoC committee is responsible for
applying the code, and we have a new board now.]

Benjamin Berg <benjamin sipsolutions net> wrote:
...
> The Code of Conduct Committee charter[1] explicitly grants committee
> members the following rights for any "GNOME event":
>
>  * Issuing warnings
>  * Banning individuals from events
>  * Halting or cancelling talks
>  * Removing individual privileges and responsibilities
>
> In how far are these rights applicable to Hackfests?

The board voted in favour of this charter, as written. "GNOME events"
include hackfests. However, in practical terms, it isn't envisaged
that members of the CoC committee will be at hackfests. If the
committee receives a report, it is probably only going to be able to
respond after the event has ended, so I'm not sure how many of these
powers would apply.

> The response guidelines[2] state:
>
> "It is your responsibility to make a record of any Code of Conduct
> violations you become aware of, and to share those records with the
> Code of Conduct Committee."
>
> Is this a requirement for hackfest organisers?

The incident response guidelines are guidelines, rather than a hard
set of rules. They were primarily written with the Code of Conduct
committee and code of conduct teams in mind. So formally speaking, I
wouldn't say that the guideline you've quoted is a requirement.

That said, my view is that, if a hackfest organiser is aware of a
serious incident at their event, they ought to inform the Code of
Conduct Committee.

Allan