[OSGeo-Discuss] Changes (and proposed changes) regarding the Code of Conduct

Tue Dec 11 01:14:28 PST 2018

Hi,

I think it is better if we discuss this on the COC-discuss mailing list,
just to avoid adding noise to the main discuss. My initial email, as you
can see, was directed to both mailing lists and the idea of redirecting it
to discuss was to make people aware that this was being done, not to start
a discussion here.

I have a long answer for this, once I have some free time to write it
properly down (this evening? tomorrow?) I will redirect it to the
coc-discuss. TL;DR: one thing is to be rude due to cultural or lost in
translation issues and another thing is to harrass someone. Going back to
Sara's case: the assume good intent is what prevented us to do anything
further as the discussed emails have two readings: harrasment or sincere
worry about her job situation.

On Tue, Dec 11, 2018 at 2:17 AM Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at mapgears.com>
wrote:

> I agree with Jonathan here. I also have my own similar personal story
> from ~20 years ago where I used a French expression as the opening line
> in an email where all the rest was in English... and some of the
> recipients (co-workers) could very rightly have been offended. Actually
> some wondered if I might have been mad at them, but instead of jumping
> the gun, they asked me directly, I explained the meaning of the French
> expression and why I used it in this context, they explained that there
> was a corresponding slang word... that day they learned a new French
> expression and I learned a new word of English slang. I was not being
> careless, I simply had no way to know at the time that there was a
> corresponding English slang word that could have been offending, because
> I am not a native English speaker.
>
> We all had a good laugh in the end, but if it was not for their
> assumption of good faith this could have turned into a huge mess.
>
> I realize that not everybody will agree and I am not planning to enter
> this CoC debate... I just wanted to relay an experience.
>
> Stepping out of this thread now.
>
> Daniel
>
>
>
> On 2018-12-10 7:44 p.m., Jonathan Moules wrote:
> > Hi Maria,
> >
> > Just a thought, but I'm not sure getting rid of the assumption of good
> > faith is a good idea. To do so would be basically assuming people are
> > guilty until proven innocent which runs counter to how these things
> > should work.
> >
> > To use a personal anecdote, many years ago I had a black flatmate who I
> > was joking around with and I made a comment that it turns out is a
> > negative racial epithet. Being young and unworldly, I didn't know that
> > at the time and certainly didn't mean it in that context, it also has a
> > perfectly innocent context - the only one I'd ever been exposed to -
> > which is how I was using it.
> >
> > Now, reading your thebias.com link, I can see that the author there
> > would suggest I be pilloried for what was an honest mistake. They'd say
> > I was being "careless" or "ignorant" and stepping on their toes. But I
> > don't think either is fair because it's not reasonable to expect people
> > to know everything that could offend everyone, especially somewhere as
> > multicultural as the internet.
> >
> > For example, consider this symbol: 👍a simple thumbs-up emoticon that's
> > commonly used to signify "it's all good" and "thanks". Well, it turns
> > out that it's "an obscene insult" in some cultures! I didn't know that
> > until a few seconds ago when I went searching for a simple example.
> >
> > I have learnt over the years from experiences in both directions that
> > it's best to always assume good faith if possible. Humans may be the
> > species with the most complex communication on the planet, but that
> > doesn't mean we don't fail often.
> >
> > @Ben - Thanks for sharing World Human Rights day. I'm a long time fan of
> > the UNDHR!
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Jonathan
> >
> >
> > On 2018-12-09 12:49, María Arias de Reyna wrote:
> >> Dear OSGeo community,
> >>
> >> As you may already know, I have been working for the last months in
> >> improving our community procedures[1] to make it a safer space. Recent
> >> events in the community have shown that we have a lot of work ahead.
> >>
> >> We all, as OSGeo, must remove the recent bullying and campaigning
> >> mentality that is unfortunately gradually become a part of our
> >> culture. Disclosing private data or hinting threats is not helpful and
> >> can only make our community less comfortable for everyone. We will
> >> work on improving actions on harmful behavior.
> >>
> >> This has been a slow task, but there are some actions taking place:
> >>
> >> CoC committee members have become inactive. I volunteered to pick up
> >> the task and lead a new CoC committee. Right now I am the only CoC
> >> member, but I am looking for more volunteers. If only, to make sure
> >> that if I am involved in any CoC incident, someone else can take care
> >> of it properly as mediator.
> >>
> >> I want to change also the way incidents and violations of the CoC are
> >> reported. I noticed there are reports being done on person and on
> >> private email, but never through the official channels (which right
> >> now is a mailing list).To improve this, I will ask the SAC to replace
> >> the mailing list with an alias and a form on the website. Also, there
> >> will be a public list of who receives those emails so people reporting
> >> incidents will have a clear understanding of who is receiving the
> >> information and decide to contact privately only a subset of the team.
> >> Replacing the mailing list by an alias that sends the data directly to
> >> the inbox of the CoC team is important, as sometimes incidents are not
> >> reported just because the person reporting is scared to leave a trace
> >> of the report or is not sure who will be reading the report.
> >>
> >> Another action I am going to propose is a change on the CoC itself.
> >> Our community has grown a lot both in diversity and in numbers, and we
> >> need a strict code of conduct that makes sure marginalized or harrased
> >> people is always covered by it. We can't rely anymore on just common
> >> sense and good faith.
> >>
> >> Once the new board is settled, I am going to propose to change the
> >> current CoC for another like the Contributor Covenant[2]. As it is a
> >> CoC shared by many communities, this has the advantage of receiving
> >> the upgrades and experience from other communities. As you can see, it
> >> fixes some of the bugs from our CoC, like the assuming good intent and
> >> good faith[3] part that made the current CoC useless on most cases. I
> >> will propose to add some foreword to adapt to specifities for our
> >> community, but in my opinion, the latest version of the Contributor
> >> Covenant is easy to read, simple, and cover most of what we need. My
> >> hope is that this new CoC can be adapted to all OSGeo Projects and
> >> Events that don't already have a CoC, so we have full OSGeo universe
> >> covered by default.
> >>
> >> I hope this actions will prove useful in the medium term and we don't
> >> have to see more members leaving the community. We should remember to
> >> be empathic and kind. We are all seeking the same goals and we should
> >> encourage cooperation, not hinder each other. I know that developer
> >> communities are very used to these bad behaviours, but I'm confident
> >> we can grow better.
> >>
> >> Have a nice day!
> >> María.
> >>
> >>
> >> [1] https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2018-August/011640.html
> >> [2] https://www.contributor-covenant.org/
> >> [3]
> >>
> https://thebias.com/2017/09/26/how-good-intent-undermines-diversity-and-inclusion/
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> >> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list
> > Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
>
>
> --
> Daniel Morissette
> Mapgears Inc
> T: +1 418-696-5056 #201
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> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
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