Re: Code of Conduct plan

"Joshua D. Drake" <jd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Fri, 14 Sep 2018 07:08:40 -0700



    On 09/14/2018 01:31 AM, Chris Travers
      wrote:

    
            I
              apologize for the glacial slowness with which this has all
              been moving.

              The core team has now agreed to some revisions to the
              draft CoC based on

              the comments in this thread; see

              
              https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Code_of_Conduct

              
              (That's the updated text, but you can use the diff tool on
              the page

              history tab to see the changes from the previous draft.)

            
            I really have to object to this addition:
            "This
                Code is meant to cover all interaction between community
                members, whether or not it takes place within postgresql.org
                infrastructure, so long as there is not another Code of
                Conduct that takes precedence (such as a conference's
                Code of Conduct)."
            

            That covers things like public twitter messages over
              live political controversies which might not be personally
              directed.   At least if one is going to go that route, one
              ought to *also* include a safe harbor for
              non-personally-directed discussions of philosophy, social
              issues, and politics.  Otherwise, I think this is asking
              for trouble.  See, for example, what happened with
              Opalgate and how this could be seen to encourage use of
              this to silence political controversies unrelated to
              PostgreSQL.
          
        
    I think this is a complicated issue. On the one hand, postgresql.org
    has no business telling people how to act outside of postgresql.org.
    Full stop.

    
    On the other hand if you are (note: contributor, not community
    member which is different) contributor to PostgreSQL, your actions
    speak about PostgreSQL. So I am not sure what a good plan of action
    here would be. 

    
    One area where this is going to cause a lot of issues is within the
    social constructs of the micro-communities. Are we going to ban
    Chinese members because their government is anti Christian and anti
    Muslim? Are we going to ban members of countries that are not as
    progressive thinking about LGBT rights? Are we going to tell
    evangelical Christians or devout Muslims that they are unwelcome
    because they are against Gay marriage? Are we going to ban Atheists
    because they think Christians are fools? 

    
    I think the answer would be, "no" unless they post an opinion... Is
    that really what our community is becoming, thought police? 

    
    There was a time when Open Source was about code and community. It
    is clear that it is becoming about authority and politics.

    
    I am the individual that initiated this whole process many moons ago
    with the intent that we have a simple, "be excellent to each other"
    code of conduct. What we have now (although much better than
    previous drafts) is still an over reach.

    
    tl;dr; The willingness of people to think they are right is only
    exceeded by their willingness to oppress those they don't agree
    with.

    
    JD

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