Warning, some people may consider the following analysis to have one or two trigger words and or to be insensitive.
DO NOT read it if you are emotionally sensitive or otherwise challenged in regards to robust communications and the rights of amateur humans to create social spaces of their choosing. In principle, the concept of a "contributor covenant" sounds sensible, but my version of such a covenant would clearly be quite different to the one at http://contributor-covenant.org and the below is a very rough second draft (after having run it past a few friends off list) attempt at a response to that website's front page. Such a "covenant" worthy of the name would need a lot more work which I have not done. Also, I feel that it is important that certain things so far unsaid regarding c-c.org, ought be raised for discussion, although my version of raising discussion is unfortunately most likely to be controversial, so in general, unless you wish to pick the eyes and distill what I am struggling to say, don't read the below as it will likely be too much work for you - if there's the slightest chance you might take offense, this email is not for you. ---- Since the contributor-covenant.org got referenced, and I seem to remember reading allegedly 1000's of "open source projects" have "adopted" it, and there appears to quite the campaign to "encourage" the PostgreSQL project to likewise adopt that particular agreement, I figured it was time to read it and see what all the fuss is about. Those who chaperone more than one "open source" project mailing lists may wish to bring themselves up to speed with this so-called "covenant" before the steamroller hits your group/ list/ community, since it seems inevitable at this point. The below is my second woeful attempt (the first being private off list) to bring some sanity to the "covenant" discussion. It needs your improvements. I have put ">>" to readily distinguish text coming from c-c.org Good luck, Zenaan ---- http://contributor-covenant.org/ >> Contributor Covenant >> A Code of Conduct for Open Source Projects. Sounds reasonable. >> Open Source has always been a foundation of the Internet, and with the advent >> of social open source networks this is more true than ever. Let's hope free libre and open source software - FLOSS, stays as the foundation of the Internet! "social open source networks" - what?? Facebook social network?? Use of new terminology, without explaining that terminology, and presuming it is known and well understood terminology, in a document you are pushing as a new and additional "social contract" which others are pressed upon to adopt and enforce, is IMHO passive aggressive. >> But free, libre, and open source projects suffer from a startling lack of >> diversity, with dramatically low participation by women, people of color, and >> other marginalized populations. Those who have an interest in promoting, assisting, sponsoring and generally facilitating "the diversity" within this particular libre software project or mailing list, are welcome to do so and in general, ought be supported to the extent that their actions and words are neither actively nor passively aggressive towards any member of this mailing list, and are actually supportive of the technical goals of this project. >> Part of this problem Lack of diversity may be viewed as a problem. Such a viewpoint is a personal, individual matter. Your personal, individual opinion on this matter may be discussed, but in general is off topic for this mailing list. Speaking or writing that "lack of diversity is a problem", and even moreso, building the presumption into the words of a so-called "social covenant", where that presumption is almost hidden and "not up for debate", is a passive aggressive approach to communication with others who may or may not disagree with this position. Passive aggressive communication is not welcome on this mailing list. >> lies with the very structure of some projects: What is "the very structure of a project"? This phrase is too generic, and not explained, despite the next part of that sentence which follows below, which appears to pretend to answer (or define) the phrase - it does not. Phrases and terminologies used out of context and having indefinite and vague meanings, is a sign of passive aggressive communication and all members of this mailing list are encourage to ridicule such communication. >> the use of insensitive language, thoughtless use of pronouns, assumptions of >> gender, and even sexualized or culturally insensitive names. Although certain social niceties are encouraged on this mailing list, they are not required and indeed firm, clear and precise languaging is valued and encouraged. If you are overly sensitive, or in need (or desire) of an emotionally sensitive environment, then consider another mailing list - this mailing list is likely not for you, and if you are in need of any professional help, you are encouraged and indeed required to seek professional medical and or psychological advice and or support. >> Marginalized people also suffer some of the unintended consequences of >> dogmatic insistence on meritocratic principles of governance. There are forums and mailing lists which are suitable for those who have learning difficulties (reference?), for those who need an emotionally sensitive environment (be sure to check if you need professional medical or psychological support), and for those who are beginniners in the field of technology discussed on this mailing list. In all of these cases, this mailing list is not for you, and you will be encouraged to leave if we discover that any of these conditions apply to you. Take note, we heartily welcome the opportunity to joust against your best attempts to otherwise deceive us in regards to such conditions applying to you, although in general in such cases, please expect derision and ridicule for wasting our time in such circumstances. >> Studies have shown that organizational cultures that value meritocracy often >> result in greater inequality. This is a baseless assertion. Provide the references or go away. Such an unsupported, unreferenced and 'plastic' attempt to dominate our community into conforming, acting and behaving according to your standards is unwelcome in the extreme, and grounds for the ridicule of you. In any case, this mailing list is for those who have a minimum intermediate skill and understanding in the programming languages and technologies for which it has been established, and is explicitly not for those who are overly sensitive and need an emotionally supportive environment - we might have a laugh, and it may be at your expense, so if you can't laugh at yourself, this mailing list is definitely not for you. >> People with "merit" are often excused for their bad behavior in public spaces >> based on the value of their technical contributions. You may join this mailing list, but by doing so you agree to speak clearly and assertively if you feel offended, or otherwise to respectfully leave the mailing list, as it is unmoderated and uncensored, although discussion is generally sought to be on topic, and for offtopic digressions to be kept short and taken offlist or to an alternate list if they persist. Additionally, your consideration that this mailing list is a public space, is only partially correct. This mailing list is a list which is open to conditional membership, and the list administrator reserves the right to ban you temporarily and or permanently at any time, but with prior notice and opportunity for discussion given on this mailing list. Take Notice further that the discussions had by members of this mailing list are archived publicly, so to this extent the list may be considered public, whilst it is strictly a members only mailing list who choose to have certain public discussions, which may include attempting to ridicule -you-, so obtain a temporary membership to this email mailing list only after very careful consideration by you. If you are at all unsure of your suitability to our list, we are happy to help you decide by analysing your proposed introduction email of yourself. >> Meritocracy also naively assumes a level playing field, in which everyone has >> access to the same resources, free time, and common life experiences to draw >> upon. The sentence above is another passive-aggressive, presumption filled projected assertion. Such communication has no place on this mailing list, except as the target of naming the presumptions, highlighting the passive aggressive nature and generally tearing it to shreads and providing an opportunity for the mailing list members to laugh like hyenas. - >> "Meritocracy naively assumes" Meritocracy does no such thing - it is not a person. - >> "Meritocracy also naively assumes a level playing field," Meritocracy does no such thing - in fact it is the opposite - meritocracy is a socio political agreement, contract and or requirement that participants in the system shall be judged based on their technical merit and or performance. In our case, slow performance is entirely acceptable, you are under no requirement nor expectation to make contributions according to any schedule, only on your own free time and personal pleasure. Making any assertion to the contrary is passive aggressive, manipulative, and shall be joyously and most light heartedly attacked in words. - >> "in which everyone has access to the same resources, free time," No such assumptions are made on this mailing list, and quite the contrary - if you have very little free time for example, or a slow computer, then we will certainly expect that your contributions may be few and far between as compared with someone who has loads of free time or a faster computer than you. If you are experiencing free time and resources problems, then this list is DEFINITELY not the place for you - you are explicitly instructed to seek professional time management advice as well as professional financial counselling. DO NOT bring such personal problems to this mailing list, as they will be used as instant grounds for removal and for barring from the list, although more likely simply as grounds for ridicule and laughing like hyenas. - >> "and common life experiences to draw upon." Once again, "meritocracy" (to the extent we can personify a socio political system), and "we" the members of this mailing list in particular, make no such assumptions whatsoever, and we more importantly, put no such requirements upon you. So sleep tight, it's all alright, we won't hold your differing life experiences against you, in fact we may be intrigued, but if a particular experience you share starts to cause an extended off topic discussion, take notice that we reserve the right to calmly let you know this so that we can get back to the topics intended for this mailing list. This list may be a platform, but at most only for those robust enough to hold their own on the topic they make a post about. If you join this mailing list, you are strongly encouraged to communicate your personal concerns and problems, needs and requirements at the earliest stage possible, preferably in in your introduction email with a well identified subject line. Then we will be able to readily assess whether this mailing list is suitable for you or whether you need to find another, more appropriate environment in which to express yourself and or to find a "contribution space" which is suitable for your needs. If you are unsure, then you are welcome to introduce yourself in this way, and we will respectfully assess your suitability to the mailing list as best we can. Take notice that we are not professionals in any field, indeed we are amateurs that might be in your personal medical or other interests to NOT associate with, and that if you require any professional advice, medical or otherwise, then you are required to seek such advice from suitably certificated professionals in your area - we on this mailing list cannot help you in such circumstances and if you fail to inform us of any such problems and or issues you may have that you consider we would otherwise be responsible for, then you may be in breech of the legislation in your jurisdiction - deceive the members of this mailing list at your own legal liability. On this mailing list, robust communication is a prime valued contribution - if you are actively wanting to improve your emotional robustness, this mailing list could possibly be a suitable place for you - feel free to ask us about this specifically in relation to you. >> These factors and more make contributing to open >> source a daunting prospect for many people, If your emotional strength, your social and or communication capacity, and or your psychological needs are an issue in any way, you are not welcome on this mailing list and we require you to seek professional medical advice. >> especially women and other underrepresented people. (For more critical >> analysis of meritocracy, refer to this entry on the Geek Feminism wiki.) If you have any trigger words, emotional weaknesses and or sensitivities which may cause you to have any reaction whatsoever, you are required to inform the members of this mailing list in an introduction email if you do join the list, and if you are required to do so, you must seek professional medical and or psychological advice and support - this mailing list is most likely an inappropriate place for you to join, and we continue to encourage ourselves to not hold back in reminding you this. >> A Small Step Forward >> An easy way to begin addressing this problem You may have some problem, and this mailing list not the place for you to fix your problem. Only technical matters related to the technical topic of this mailing list are appropriate problems for fixing in discussions on this mailing list. Seek professional advice when you need it, including professional advice regarding the technical topic of this mailing list if that is what you require - this mailing list is for non professionals with at least moderate technical competence, all members are volunteers, all members participate at their own discretion and with no obligations upon them and with no obligations whatsoever to you, including courtesy which is valued, but not required - enter at your own risk. >> is to be overt in our openness, welcoming all people to contribute, and >> pledging in return to value them as human beings and to foster an atmosphere >> of kindness, cooperation, and understanding. This we agree with - we, the members of this mailing list, proclaim our intention to welcome all people to contribute, and to value each member as a human being. We encourage each other to foster an atmosphere of kindness, cooperation and understanding, and robustness in communication - passive aggressive communication, despite the best intentions of the one making such passive aggressive communication, has no place in our community. And take notice - persistent bad behaviour, 'bad' by the assessment of the members alone and discussed publicly on this mailing list, shall be cause for temporary and or permanent banning from this mailing list. >> The Contributor Covenant can be one way to express these values. Pledge your >> respect and appreciation for contributors and participants in your open >> source project by adding an explicit CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md to your project >> repository. Respect, kindness and cooperation are good things, but this "http://contributor-covenant.org/"; "contributor covenant" to which we hereby respond, is in no way or shape getting into our project's repository without this our response. >> The Contributor Covenant uses semantic versioning for revisions so all URLs >> are permanent. Previous versions are available here: 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 >> Using the Contributor Covenant >> We recommend that you add the Markdown or text version of the Contributor >> Covenant to your source code repository at the root level. >> Thanks to Simon Vansintjan there is an automated way to add Contributor >> Covenant to your project. Assuming that you have node installed, simply run >> the following two commands from your project folder: >> npm install -g covgen >> covgen your_email_address >> You may want to add language similar to this to introduce your code of >> conduct: >> Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of >> Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its >> terms. >> You may also use the permalinks given above to reference from your project >> home page. >> Important! You must add a contact method to the placeholder in the document >> so that people know how to report violations. Enforcing the Contributor >> Covenant This above paragraph does not quite feel right. If the members of this mailing list are so anti-social that genuine "social problems" cannot be resolved on the mailing list itself, then this "community" of members is quite likely beyond repair without substantial work by robust individuals with a passion to heal the community - if you are not such an individual, then you best leave that job to comeone who is, and take yourself to a kinder, gentler happy place. >> Do not simply add the Contributor Covenant to your project and assume that >> any problems with civility, harassment, or discrimination will be solved. As >> a project maintainer you must be committed to enforcing the code of conduct. There may be a time and place for banning members from this mailing list, temporarily and or permanently, but such discussions shall continue to be public, on the mailing list itself and open to discussion and contribution by all members. No duty is incumbent upon any member, including the "project maintainer" - if the community can't work out its problems, it is unfair to place such a burden upon such a one individual. >> A code of conduct without enforcement sends a false signal that your project >> is welcoming and inclusive, and can create a dangerous situation for >> marginalized people who participate. "Marginalized people" who are not competent to contribute on some technical level (which includes documentation writing, testing as well as programming), are not welcome - we the members of this mailing list are volunteers and, on this particular mailing list, are not willing to tutor those who have special needs - do not join the mailing list in such circumstances, there are other, appropriate forums, mailing lists and learning institutions which you ought apply to. Genuinely anti-social communication is actively discouraged, and this includes those who communicate deceptively regarding their own needs and or social environment requirements, as well as those who communicate in a passive aggressive way. If you this any of these types of communication may apply to you, then be prepared to suffer the consequences should you join this mailing list - we shall roast you in words, with glee! >> Adding the Contributor Covenant to a project places responsibility on the >> project team that must not be taken lightly. Since the archives of this mailing list are public, should you have even the smallest concern regarding your own robustness in public communication, then you are invited to browse those archives and make an assessment as to whether you are a suitable candidate to join this mailing list. If you do decide to join, you are required to make your first email an introduction, which introduction includes a reference to your assessment of the archives as well as any needs you feel that the members of this list ought be able to meet. >> Before adopting the Contributor Covenant take the time to discuss and decide >> how to deal with problems as they emerge. Document the policy and procedure Oh, we've taken the time, and "problems as they emerge" shall be handled publicly, on this mailing list! To the extent we the members of this maliing list consider you a problem, passive aggressive or otherwise, we WILL handle you, publicly, with the one caveat that all members are in general expected to show respectful consideration in respect of all private or "off-list" communications. If you are uncomfortable with this policy, you are encouraged to find a more suitable community to join. >> for enforcement, and add it to your README or in another visible, appropriate >> place. Consider if your project team has the willingness and maturity to >> follow through on your enforcement procedures. A "community" that requires any significant policing, particularly clandestine policing, has lost its way - the tyranny of the majority is not the healthiest way, in the opinion of some members - speak clearly, speak the truth, and seek a fair response; if you don't receive a fair response, another community might be much less work for you, even if it provides less opportunities for emotional growth for you. -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
