Re: Code of Conduct plan - Mailing list pgsql-general

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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