On Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:02:08 +0100, Lucas Nussbaum wrote: > On 25/03/13 at 16:22 +0000, Steve McIntyre wrote: > > Are we strict enough with our existing contributors? When we're trying > > to work together as best we can to make the Universal Operating System > > happen, what could/should we do with contributors who hinder our work? > > Sometimes that hindrance is inadvertent, sometimes it seems > > deliberate. At other times it looks like we have developers who are > > just not paying attention to what they're doing or who just don't care > > about the goals of the project. Thanks for this question, which I would like to extend a bit. Im my understanding you are pointing to unconstructive behaviour related to technical work. What we also see (and discuss) every now and then is behaviour that is socially questionable or clearly unacceptable (from disrespect for peers to blatant abusive language). I guess we all remember such examples, which have led to demotivation, frustration, hurt feelings, and have driven contributors away. Lucas' reponse already shows an idea that might also be used for these cases: > One small thing that we could improve on is earlier official > communication. For example, in case of seriously problematic behaviour > that could eventually lead to censure or expulsion, official warnings > could be issued to the DD, and Cced to -private@. In some cases, that > could help the DD realize that s/he needs a behaviour change, and also > limit the surprise effect if/when a final decision is taken. What other ideas do you (plural, for all candidates, in case you see the necessity to improve the handling of "social problems") see as viable? Examples that have come up in the past and might or might not be helpful: - Encourage everyone to chime in when they see potentially unacceptable behaviour? In public/private? - Should we try to establish a Code of Conduct for project members? Cf. https://openhatch.org/wiki/Project_codes_of_conduct for examples. If yes, how would we do this, and how could we make sure it gets respected? - Could the CoC for mailing lists (http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct) be used as a starting point / be extended? - Or Enrico's Debian Community Guidelines? http://people.debian.org/~enrico/dcg/index.html - Another recurring topic is the Social Committee, cf. e.g. https://lwn.net/Articles/221077/ (or the ombudsman team mentioned in the article: https://lists.debian.org/debian-project/2007/01/msg00101.html ) Would such a body make sense? With which powers? Short summary: Does Debian need procedures for intervening in cases of dysfunctional social behaviour and which? Thanks to all of you for standing/running in this vote, and for taking the time to answer all these questions! Cheers, gregor -- .''`. Homepage: http://info.comodo.priv.at/ - OpenPGP key 0xBB3A68018649AA06 : :' : Debian GNU/Linux user, admin, and developer - http://www.debian.org/ `. `' Member of VIBE!AT & SPI, fellow of the Free Software Foundation Europe `- NP: Rod Stewart: Smile
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