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

[Hans Gregers Hedegaard Petersen]

Dear all,

Arnulf puts so nicely into words, what has concerned me in the last few
days. How can we ever be a welcoming community if we presume guilt?
The presumption of innocence is a core value of most (if not all?) of the
justice systems we see as fair, why differ from that in OSGEO?
In fact presumption of guilt might very well be seen as being in direct
opposition to our current CoC and the basic values of our community.

I see a frustration regarding a current "case", where "conviction" is not
possible, due to the balance of the given evidence.
Presumption of guilt might very well have changed this given case - but it
would, in my mind, also be toxic and change our community for the (much)
worse.

I therefore implore you: do not break down the basis of an open and fair
community to "fix" a single case. The slope is slippery.

Best regards,

Greg


On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 at 11:16, Arnulf Christl (aka Seven) <seven at arnulf.us>
wrote:

> Adding one more comment: Please, I implore you: Do not remove the
> assumption of good faith from OSGeo's principles!
>
> "Assumption of good faith" and "Quietening down somebody" are totally
> different things. In her blog on thebias.com Annalee somewhat hastily
> mixes the two up when she says:
>
> "The harm is that telling people to “assume good intent” is a sign that if
> they come to you with a concern, you will minimize their feelings, police
> their reactions, and question their perceptions."
>
> OSGeo and any open and welcoming community cannot exist without assumption
> of good faith. The opposite to assuming good faith is perfect paranoia
> which is only destructive. It is also quite impossible to set up rules to
> regulate everything without suffocating. So let us talk and interact as
> best we can from all our gender, cultural and individual background. If it
> starts to get out of hand - and this will happen again - look at it
> closely, have concerned people on a functioning CoC and repair the damage.
>
> Unfortunately I have not followed the issue which Sara Safawi indicated as
> her reason to want to leave OSGeo closely enough to be able to understand
> all the intricacies. But it actually did not feel good, even from a
> distance. Maybe a functioning CoC could have helped? People on a CoC have
> to take every complaint serious (reverse citing Annalee): Do not "minimize
> their feelings, police their reactions, and question their perceptions".
>
> And lastly, sometimes it is also time to let things go. If Sara has no
> intention of picking this up again we may want to let it rest.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Seven
>
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