Re: Code of Conduct: Is it time? - Mailing list pgsql-general

On 1/5/16 6:32 PM, Scott Marlowe wrote:
>> I don't think I am a good person to rationalize their reasoning because I
>> >don't like the idea of a CoC. That said, I think a lot of boils down to
>> >perception, responsibility, accountability and the fact that a lot of people
>> >are flat out jerks. I am not talking the ball busting type of jerk but
>> >honest, just not nice people or people who vastly lack the ability to
>> >integrate with larger society. Those people tend to need guidelines for
>> >their jerkiness because they will say, "I didn't know I couldn't do/say
>> >XYZ". Whether that is true or not, I have no idea.
> CoC:
> 1: Use our code how you want
> 2: Don't sue us
> 3: Don't be a jerk

Well, that highlights that it's not just about a CoC, it's the things
that surround it. Especially what the conflict resolution policy is.

I suspect JD thought about this because of a recent Facebook thread[1]
about how the FreeBSD community just screwed this up big-time[2]. The
big screw-up was not having solid ways to deal with such complaints in
place. Sadly, as part of that thread, it comes to light that there is
some history of this in the Postgres project as well.

IMHO, the real problem here is not simply a CoC, it is that the Postgres
community doesn't focus on developing the community itself. The closest
we come to "focus" is occasional talk on -hackers about how we need more
developers. There is no formal discussion/leadership/coordination
towards actively building and strengthening our community. Until that
changes, I fear we will always have a lack of developers. More
importantly, we will continue to lack all the other ways that people
could contribute beyond writing code. IE: the talk shouldn't be about
needing more developers, it should be about needing people who want to
contribute time to growing the community.

I saw a great presentation about building a strong community by Joan
Touzet of CouchDB. The presentation link is currently down, but there's
a great interview with her at [3]. CouchDB didn't focus on community
building until they had a major problem to deal with. Now, they make
community one of their focal points. Just one example, this is the 3rd
paragraph on their home page:

"We welcome your contributions. CouchDB is an open source project.
Everything, from this website to the core of the database itself, has
been contributed by helpful individuals. The time and attention of our
contributors is our most precious resource, and we always need more of
it. Our primary goal is to build a welcoming, supporting, inclusive and
diverse community. We abide by Code of Conduct and a set of Project
Bylaws. Come join us!"

What I'd love to see is support and commitment from the Postgres
community to actively attract people who will focus not on the code but
on building the community itself. I know there are people in the
community that would be interested in doing that, but without active
support and some encouragement things aren't going to change.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/jon.erdman.jr/posts/10153828693183899
[2]
http://blog.randi.io/2015/12/31/the-developer-formerly-known-as-freebsdgirl/
[3] https://opensource.com/life/15/8/couchdb-community-apache-way
--
Jim Nasby, Data Architect, Blue Treble Consulting, Austin TX
Experts in Analytics, Data Architecture and PostgreSQL
Data in Trouble? Get it in Treble! http://BlueTreble.com