[Development] QUIP 12: Code of Conduct

[Jason H]

Consolidated reply to multiple threads:

Mitch, you wrote: 
> To me it seems like you guys are saying:
>> "I don't care if this person treats me like crap because they sure can code."
> I'm happy for you if you've gotten this far in life and decided that you like being insulted in exchange for someone reviewing your code (or even just asking a question on IRC), but personally I do not like it. I'm more than capable of standing up for myself, but other people who feel the same way may not feel comfortable speaking out.

I do not want to contemplate the emotional state of being of the author when reviewing and leaving comments on gerrit. Many times when I an giving technical feedback, I have been told "[I] sound harsh." I'm just being factual. I never call into the matter anything about the person, but some people still do get butt-hurt when you talk about their code negatively because it is their art. They then can project that criticism of the code onto themself. This is nothing I want to be in the position of being responsible for. As long as my comments are accurate and not unduly harsh, they are (or at least should be deemed) appropriate.



Next, we have the notion that the CoC was somehow agreed to at the Contributors summit. This is not a just action, as the summit was for the privileged few who had:
1) funding and 
2) the allowable time away from work and life to attend 
3) to the location of the event. Not everyone has a passport and is able to obtain a visa.

As a member who wanted to attend but was not able to, I find the legitimacy of the vote questionable. I call for a vote (use gerrit?) on a measure to adopt a Code of Conduct, then if that passes, we can go on to debate what should be in it.



Next there is a notion of the CoC being applied to profanity. I am also against this. This would violate my right to free speech, and it would be so vague to be unenforceable. So far in this thread I've used the terms "shit-show" (I contemplated more severe terms, but decided against it) and "butt-hurt". These terms were appropriate to convey the meaning intended. Similarly, I have been following the idea of Political Correctness and if it is even effective. We've had 20 years and it looks like it does not work, and overall isn't appreciated. Even if we could agree on what is offensive it would vary across populations and people would still be offended unless the most neutered language was used. 



Volker,
You say your KDE CoC has "worked", but your KDE fellow demonstrated that in fact, it has not.