On 1/2/2015 1:17 PM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling via Digitalmars-d wrote:
How about a link at the top of the forum.dlang.org page saying something like,
"Before posting, please read our _community guidelines_" ? With the page linked
to containing advice like the above.
I know that there's always been a lot of pride that we've always been able to
get along without some kind of code of conduct, but ... well, guidelines are not
the same as a code, and anyway, not having guidance just doesn't scale in my
experience.
I've been extremely reluctant to have any sort of official conduct code. I
prefer a gentle nudge on a case by case basis, and just deleting the posts of
incorrigible trolls.
Leading by example, implicit expectations of good conduct, and peer pressure can
be amazingly effective.
A code of conduct that says things like "don't harass others, no illegal
content, etc." are just pointless, patronizing and frankly insulting. If someone
wants to behave badly, is a code of conduct really going to change their mind?
Caltech, which I attended, was very influential on me in that it is the only
school in the world that has a real honor system. Nobody else has the guts to
try it. I've had good success applying the principles of it ever since, and this
forum is one of them.
Essentially, the default attitude is to trust that people are honest and decent.
I don't tell them how to be honest and decent, I just assume that they are. It
works amazingly well.
(At Caltech, for example, exams are not proctored by institute policy. You can
even take time limited tests home with you and do them when you're ready. The
number of Fs students get on exams is a pretty good indicator that when they're
trusted, they rise to the occasion.)
I've noticed that the D community is an unusually honorable and decent group of
people. Maybe that's due in some part to implicitly expecting them to be so, or
maybe that's my own hubris. But I am extremely unwilling to risk that by posting
a "code of conduct" that assumes people need lessons in how to behave.
