On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 17:47:58 -0400, Tom Lane <tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>Benjamin Scherrey <scherrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> Another more specific factual question - have there been incidents within
>> the active Postgresql community where behaviour by individuals who are
>> participants in the community have conducted themselves in a manner that
>> brought on the actual need for such a code of conduct to exist in the first
>> place?
>
>I believe there were a couple of unfortunate incidents at conferences.
>Now, conferences are generally expected to have their own CoCs and enforce
>them themselves; this CoC is meant more to cover on-line interactions.
>You could argue that we shouldn't create such a CoC until something bad
>happens on-line; but I'd prefer to think that having a CoC might prevent
>that from ever happening at all, which is surely better.
Unfortunately, conduct codes generally aren't worth the paper they are
written on. People who are inclined to behave badly towards others in
the 1st place will do so regardless of any code or any consequences of
violating the code.
I would say that such a generalization is itself of dubious value.
The only thing a conduct code really accomplishes is to make some
subset of the signers feel good about themselves. Actions are more
important than words.
It communicates that this community has a policing force, which itself is non-obvious and thus worth communicating, and provides that force guidelines for action.
>In any case, we went over all these sorts of arguments at excruciating
>length in 2016. It's quite clear to the core team that a majority of
>the community wants a CoC. I don't think any useful purpose will be
>served by re-litigating that point.
>
> regards, tom lane
I remember that thread, but I don't remember any vote being taken. And
the participants in the thread were self-selected for interest in the
topic, so any consensus there is not necessarily reflective of the
community at large.
That's pretty much par for the public dynamic of this community. And, as noted above, such a policy doesn't need the community at-large's approval: it's a document that constrains those that wrote it.
I am completely in favor of civil discourse and behavior, but I am not
in favor of unenforcible red tape.
The core team does have enforcement tools at its disposal. They are at least being open about the circumstances and extents under which they would leverage those tools.
David J.
