Hi everyone,
Thanks to all participants of the meeting for a very constructive and
fruitful discussion!
The discussion was around the motivation and purpose of a code of
conduct for LGM, what style it should have, what procedures we should
have in place for enforcement. The meeting notes can be found at
http://piratepad.net/LGM2014conduct
A plain-text version is also attached for archival purposes.
Main outcomes (marked as bold in the notes)
==
* Do we as a group agree that we should go ahead with preparing a COC
for LGM2015 onwards?
Result: large majority in support, some abstained, none against.
* Can we form a group to prepare a proposed code of conduct over the
next month(s)?
People who volunteer to work on this document:
ginger coons
Femke Snelting
Susan Spencer
Jon Nordby
Steve Conklin
Michael Schumacher
Document should be ready and agreed upon: 1 may
We plan a first iteration of the draft in the coming 2 weeks.
Sincerely,
Femke Snelting
Michael Schumacher
Jon Nordby
LGM2014 Code of Conduct Meeting 04.04.2014
35 people in the room
http://piratepad.net/draftcoc
On the mailinglist question was asked: do we have a code of conduct
discussion sparked on desirability .. style ..
General discussion:
Why we may want a code of conduct, what style, responses to posted draft
LGM should be pleasant experience for everyone
LGM is no longer a small group of friends gathering to talk about their
projects - the community is growing, new people may not know how to act, the
existing community may struggle to adjust to growth.
different people may find different things acceptable - a COC makes it clear to
everyone - this is what we have decided as a group is
appropriate/innappropriate.
setting some guidelines gives the opportunity to feel included
important that a COC is pre-emptive, not set up after problems occur, as in the
case of PyCon.
LGM is a place for sharing ideas and experiences - for that to happen we need
to feel free to express ourselves.
if/when problems occur we will be better set up to deal with them having been
through the process of setting up a COC.
draft could use expansion in following areas:
- specific examples of unacceptable behaviour
- reporting to a single person may be a problem - should be a number of people
responsible
if rules and expectations are clear, other attendees feel empowered to point
out and reduce breaches of those expectations.
People who are designated to receive possible complaints should have a clear
idea of what they are empowered to do about them.
maybe we need to update every year?
stability throughout the year is required - LGM is not just the meeting, there
are other discussions and meetings where these standards should also apply.
there are ways to phrase issues positively - it need not be a list of 'thou
shalt not' s
LGM is a wonderful community, but not magically immune to normal human problems.
every staff member should at least be able to relay, pass on concerns to the
right person.
do not encourage vigilante enforcement of a COC.
emphasis should be on reconciliation, not retribution.
hopefully we can progressively increase the standard of behaviour that we hold
ourselves to.
the reporter of issues should be part of the discussion regarding the
consequences of a complaint.
we must avoid retaliation and public shaming - we're trying to prevent
victimization, our COC should not create it.
there should be a way to offer help when someone feels they may have done
something wrong or offended someone, and they don't know how to proceed.
we should be modest about our ability to fix things ourselves. this document
may help to keep the discussion alive about how mature (or not) we may be, and
the ability to 'fix our own problems'
we are learing about how our group / community functions - writing a coc helps
analyse / construct
once a coc is in place perhaps it is good that for a determined period possible
follow up / consequences are reviewed
it's important that the projects which take part in LGM have the independence
and freedom to choose not to apply this particular code of conduct outside of
LGM.
mailing lists and physical meetings are very different environments with
different forms of interaction (and abuse).
online communication should not be excluded from the COC but a distinction is
there.
our COC was influenced by reading through various existing COCs, like django
etc.
Do we as a group agree that we should go ahead with preparing a COC for LGM2015
onwards?
result: large majority in support, some abstained, none against.
Discussion about draft
we think first object of the code of conduct is the physical meetings but that
we expect that bleeds over (?) / it is respected also in online communication
we should make sure that at the start of LGM2015 we make it clear that there is
a COC, introduce certain people who are the go-to people to contact.
important
