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Re: Will you withdraw delegations of DD not behaving correctly?



Hi,

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 08:13:23AM +0100, Raphael Hertzog wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> another question to all candidates (this question is inspired by a recent
> event).

Could you comment on what event, exactly, you are talking about?

(Don't feel too compelled to if you believe this would unnecessarily
hurt the privacy or reputation of the people involved...)

> Most of you have answered that it's not possible to regulate the heated
> discussions but it's possible to set a good example. If only the leader
> behaves properly, it will still be difficult to make the climate change.
> But if all the delegates behave properly, and if delegates that do not
> behave properly are withdrawn due to this, we might get better results.
> 
> What do you think of this and would you be ready to withdraw a delegation
> for a delegate that behaved badly towards another DD (even outside of his
> delegated role), that has been warned once by you and that did it again
> later on?

I do not believe that punitive measures are the best way to react to
socially unacceptable behaviour, except in extreme circumstances (i.e.,
multiple unrelated events that show that a particular delegate is
exhibiting socially unacceptable behaviour). What you do if you do that,
is to basically say "be nice, or else *I*'ll be not nice", which is a
perfect way of risking to exhibit socially unacceptable behaviour
yourself (unless you're perfect, but I don't believe in perfection).

I also believe that people, when told in a polite way that they are
being rude, will often apologise or clarify what they meant. A good
example is the recent set of blog posts by Thorsten Glaser on Planet
Debian, who retracted some of his statements after being challenged on
his behaviour by several people.

So, no, I think it's quite unlikely that I'll have to resort to doing
that; but if necessary, I will not refuse to do so.

> Do you think we can draft a code of conduct for Debian and do you think
> you can ensure that it would be respected by delegates?

The best way to come up with a working code of conduct, IMO, is to breed
a set of unwritten social rules that people know they should not violate
too easily, because they'll get publically challenged on that behaviour.
Of course some people will just ignore the social rules anyway, even when
politely challenged by several people; but the listmasters commonly
already ban such people, and that works well.

Having a formal code of conduct will just invite lawyering and more
proceduring by trolls who simply wish to make our lives miserable. I do
not believe it serves any useful purpose.

-- 
The biometric identification system at the gates of the CIA headquarters
works because there's a guard with a large gun making sure no one is
trying to fool the system.
  http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/01/biometrics.html

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