* Steve McIntyre: " Community Team - where we want to go" (Wed, 9 Oct 2019
22:26:39 +0100):
Hi!
> Within the team, we've brainstormed about this and come up with the
> following to describe our role and responsibilities. We'd like to
> discuss it now with the rest of the project. Feedback welcome please!
Like others I have some concerns whenever it comes to "responsibilities". I
would feel a lot more comfortable if this term could be replaced by "team
agenda".
> Name: Community Team
> ====================
>
> Role
> ====
>
> 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 team itself has no direct powers to enforce any decision, and
> merely acts as an advisory body. It will aim to respond in a timely
> matter when consulted, and to do so in a consistent way. The (CT) is
> the team responsible for interpreting the Code of Conduct (CoC) when
> necessary.
This sounds like the team would represent the last resort when it comes to
interpretation of the CoC. In my understanding the interpretation of the CoC
may be an important tool for the work inside the team, but there is in no way a
project wide responsibility assigned.
> The team will respond to concerns raised by members of the project or
> people interacting with them, working with individuals to help
> them. 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.
>
> Members of the community should feel empowered to seek counsel when
> they have doubts about the CoC, or when they feel it is being
> violated. The team normally acts reactively, but might also try to
> intervene when individual members witness a problematic situation.
>
> Finally, the CT will also work in combination with event organisers to
> deploy incident response teams on the ground and ensure that the CoC
> is observed for Debian events.
For me it is beyond the tasks of the team to *ensure* the observation of the
CoC on Debian events. This sounds again like an official assignment that in
reality doesn't exist.
> We break this down in more concrete terms:
>
> Responsibilities include
> ========================
Please make this unambigous. From what I see (I am not a native speaker) the
term "responsibility" comprises a wide spectrum of meanings like:
accountability, liability, charge, ownership, stewardship, duty, obligation,
business, etc.. I would personally feel much better with a term like 'self
identified tasks of the team'.
> * Interpreting the Code of Conduct;
>
> * Responding in a timely manner to incidents reported by members of
> the Debian community and those interacting with the Debian project;
>
> * Contacting individual contributors about their behavior when it is
> considered to be in violation of the Debian Code of Conduct;
>
> * Providing support and guidance for event incident response teams;
>
> * Offering advice and guidance for policies and implementation around
> community standards and guidelines;
>
> * Being available as a resource for those looking for content review
> of communications or who have questions about how possible actions
> may fit with the Code of Conduct;
>
> * In extreme incidents or after repeated harmful behaviour or Code of
> Conduct violations, writing reports for relevant teams (e.g. Planet
> admins, listmasters, DAM), to summarise relevant incidents along
> with analysis and suggested possible courses of action; and
>
> * Where there might be a Conflict of Interest, individual members of
> the team will be expected to inform the rest of the team, about it
> and recuse themselves from relevant discussion.
>
> Examples of team activities
> ===========================
>
> * Releasing regular reports on incidents reported and the responses
> of the team;
>
> * Providing recommendations on communications when recommendations
> are sought by members of the community;
>
> * Quick response time alerting reporters that action might be taken;
>
> * Holding regular meetings (and emergency meetings, when relevant),
> to discuss incidents reported and actions to be taken;
>
> * Writing and providing reports to other teams concerning incidents
> or habitual behaviors; and
>
> * Proactively writing emails to those who habitually make the
> community a hostile place, informing them that their behavior is
> harmful to the community, that action may be taken in the future,
> and that the Community team is a resource to provide explanation or
> guidance.
What does mean "that action may be taken in the future"? Which actions in which
context does the team want to perform? Is this a pure informal step about
actions of other teams? I think the following negative list is not the way to
go, but a clear statement should be made.
> Examples of things the team does *not* do
> =========================================
>
> * Remove blogs from community forums like Planet Debian
>
> * Ban users and contributors from email lists or other communication
> channels;
>
> * Take preventative action on mailing lists when an incident report
> does not come in, excluding general reminders to email lists about
> the Code of Conduct;
>
> * Mediate communications or conversations between individuals; or
>
> * Take punitive measures or actions against members of the Community.
>
> Members of the Community Team may of course participate in discussions
> as individual contributors to the Debian Project, and will not always
> be expressing the views of the Community Team.
--
Mathias Behrle
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