I'm pleased to finally be able to propose a Community Team delegation
for discussion. During the last year it has become clear that we can
accomplish more at lower emotional cost when we have the Community Team,
Account Managers and DPL working together, supporting each other. It's
become clear that the Community Team does need a project-level
mission/mandate.
I'd like to thank everyone who has served on the Antiharassment and
Community Team over the years.
I've read work from almost all of you as it crossed the DPL archives.
And you all have made Debian a better place.
I'd also like to thank those who have agreed to serve on the community
team.
I'd particularly like to thank Steve for his leadership role in the CT
this year. We had a number of transitions, and Steve has gone from the
newest member of the team to the most senior member.
During that time he's worked to recruit and build the team as well as
worked with the other members of the team to help define the mission.
I think the set of names I'm putting forward is very strong, but I'm
pleased that the team's recruiting efforts continue, and my successor
will likely be updating the delegation to make things even better in the
near future.
We have been talking a lot about recruiting. Some of that is because
the community team has had high turnover over the years because it is
emotionally demanding. And so thinking about how we'll build a
sustainable team has been important; that's been an issue that has been
near the top of the list whenever I've talked to past members of the
Antiharassment team.
But more importantly we've been thinking about sustainability across a
number of fronts.
I think that's good.
I think we should talk more about sustainability in our delegations.
How will we build teams that grow and evolve as the project grows and
evolves? How will we create a climate where people can step away
leaving things in good hands as their efforts change.
I can't think of a better team to start working those important concepts
into how we think about delegation, both because it is important, and
because I think they have a lot to say about how to do it right.
The Draft Delegation Text
=========================
I propose delegating the following developers as members of the
Community Team.:
- Pierre-Elliott Bécue (peb)
- Luke Faraone (lfaraone)
- Steve McIntyre (93sam)
- Jean-Philippe Mengual (jpmengual)
The Community team replaces the Antiharassment team, which was not
delegated.
This delegation is not time-limited. It stands until updated or removed
by the current or future DPL.
I did consult the delegation advisory group in this delegation; I
believe there are no open unresolved issues raised by the group.
Delegation Text
===============
Name: Community Team
Rationale:
The goal of the Community Team (CT) is to help Debian be a welcoming
place, focusing on response to difficult or contentious
communications, as well as other negative experiences and Code of
Conduct violations. It aims to encourage and foster a respectful,
productive, and inclusive atmosphere throughout the Debian community.
The responsibilities of the team are:
* To respond to concerns raised by members of the project or people
interacting with them, working with individuals to help them.
* To work with teams responsible for communications channels within
the community such as listmasters, the owner of the Bug Tracking
System, administrators of Debian Planet and others to provide
advice; where desired by these teams, helping to deal with
contentious and difficult issues that impact the community.
* To work with the DPL, Debian Account Managers and others to provide
advice on interpreting the Code of Conduct. Such advice may form
the basis of interpretations of the Code of Conduct that help teams
in the project set policy around community standards.
* To coordinate responses (both inside and outside the project) to
ongoing harassment of the Debian community as a whole or portions
there-of; including working with additional volunteers when the
community team's members are insufficient.
* To work with event organisers to make sure that Debian Events have
adequate incident response teams to respond to any concerns.
* To write reports to other teams such as the Planet Admins,
Listmasters, or Debian Account Managers in response to extreme
incidents or repeated patterns of problematic behavior.
The team recognises that technical development can lead to arguments
and passionate discussions. Where desired, the team will work with
contributors to help them express disagreement without violating the
CoC. When people do breach the CoC, the team will give guidance on
better ways to interact in the future. We will attempt to consult with
those on all sides of issues when possible. Nevertheless, protection
of the vulnerable and the community as a whole is the ultimate goal of
the team.
If things do not work out, and in cases with a pattern of repeating
problems, the team will raise concerns with other teams as
appropriate.
Maintaining the respect of the community is critical. The most
important facet of this is responding in a timely manner when reports
are brought to the team's attention. Other important examples
include sensitivity to conflict of interest and balancing tradeoffs
around confidentiality .
The Community Team role has traditionally been emotionally challenging
and resulting in high turnover. Because of this potentially high
turnover, recruiting new members is even more important for the CT than
for some other delegations. The DPL and CT will work together to have a
robust, diverse group of volunteers available to join the CT and help
out when more effort is required.
This delegation grants no explicit power to the Community Team to
enforce decisions; the power granted by this delegation is advisory.
However, other teams may work with the Community Team as they choose
and may allow the community team to have power within their channels.
As an example, at the time of this delegation, some community team
members are involved in list moderation. Within the rules established
by listmaster for the use of this moderation power, it is appropriate
for community team members to use such power in furtherance of the
Community Team mission.
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