Ubuntu Code of Conduct: omissions and suggestions

[Mark Shuttleworth]

I'd be happy for the CC to nominate someone (he who files the bug ;)) to
draft up a proposed revision of the CC which addresses most of these items.

I'd like to keep the administrative processes out of the CoC itself (it
can refer to them by URL) so things like who handles what when and
contact addresses etc should be wiki / web pages. Similarly, I don't
think 'common but unacceptable behaviour' belongs inside the code, but
it could be referred to, allowing that portion to evolve more naturally.
In principle, organising that information in a single place is very helpful.

I think the code of conduct is intrinsically anti-harassment, c.f. the
definition of respect. My sense is the origin of that issue is political
correctness to which I have no desire to pander. I dare someone to
defend harassment to the CC on the basis that it 'is allowed by the code
of conduct'. That's an obvious nonsense.

Otherwise, +1

Mark

On 06/04/16 07:09, Daniel Holbach wrote:
> Hello,
>
> CCing the Community Council.
>
> Have a great day,
>  Daniel
>
>
>
> On 05.04.2016 17:16, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
>> Hi folks
>>
>> When Ubuntu’s Code of Conduct 
>> <http://www.ubuntu.com/about/about-ubuntu/conduct> was published
>> in 2005, it was groundbreaking. Few other open-source projects had
>> one. It was far from perfect, but it had real benefits — most of
>> all in establishing expectations, and rarely also in providing the
>> authority to remove counterproductive project members.
>>
>> The Code had a minor update in 2009, 
>> <https://mako.cc/copyrighteous/updating-the-ubuntu-code-of-conduct>
>>
>>
> and a major revision in 2012. Since then, tens of thousands of other
>> open-source projects have discussed and adopted their own codes of 
>> conduct. So it’s no surprise that the state of the art has
>> advanced.
>>
>> By today’s standards, Ubuntu’s code of conduct falls short in four 
>> notable areas, as identified on the Geek Feminism wiki: 
>> <http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Code_of_conduct_evaluations>
>>
>> 1.  No descriptions of common but unacceptable behavior. This
>> means, for example, that the Ubuntu IRC Council has had to provide
>> their own descriptions, even of things that don’t apply just to
>> IRC. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IRC/Guidelines>
>>
>> 2.  No reporting instructions with contact information. This is
>> perhaps the most glaring omission (and what motivated me to write
>> today).
>>
>> 3.  No information about enforcement. Version 1.0 said “the Ubuntu 
>> Community Council will arbitrate in any dispute”, with 1.1 adding 
>> “Ubuntu governance bodies”, but 2.0 removed both of these. 
>> <https://launchpad.net/codeofconduct> Matthew Garrett made a start 
>> on defining the enforcement process in 2007, but it didn’t go 
>> anywhere. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CodeOfConductDisputeResolution> 
>> The current process may be precise and well-known to the Community 
>> team, but defining it in the Code itself would be much more 
>> reassuring to potential reporters.
>>
>> 4.  No clear demarcation between an anti-harassment policy and
>> more general community guidelines. And more pertinently, no clear 
>> anti-harassment policy at all.
>>
>> I would add a fifth issue:
>>
>> 5.  Needless bureaucracy of “signing” the Code. Firstly, this is 
>> difficult to do: for example, step 1 is “Register an OpenPGP key”. 
>> Secondly, it introduces weird questions about what happens if a 
>> miscreant never signed the Code, or signed only an old version.
>> And thirdly, it’s unnecessary: Ubuntu governing bodies should be
>> able to sanction anyone using Ubuntu project forums or
>> infrastructure whether they have signed a document or not. For
>> example, I have never signed the Code (I tried once, but Launchpad
>> lost my GPG keys), but I would expect to be held to it regardless,
>> merely because I communicate on project channels and mailing
>> lists.
>>
>> Personally, I think the Ubuntu project would benefit from a
>> revision that addressed these five issues.
>>
>> Good reading on modern codes of conduct:
>>
>> *   “Codes of conduct and the trade-offs of copyleft” by Sumana 
>> Harihareswara 
>> <http://crookedtimber.org/2015/04/10/codes-of-conduct-and-the-trade-offs-of-copyleft/>
>>
>>  *   The “Codes of Conduct” section from Karl Fogel’s “Producing
>> open source software” 
>> <http://producingoss.com/en/producingoss.html#code-of-conduct>
>>
>> *   “HOWTO design a code of conduct for your community” by the Ada 
>> Initiative 
>> <http://adainitiative.org/2014/02/18/howto-design-a-code-of-conduct-for-your-community/>
>>
>>  *   “The complex reality of adopting a meaningful code of conduct”
>> by Christie Koehler 
>> <https://subfictional.com/2016/01/25/the-complex-reality-of-adopting-a-meaningful-code-of-conduct/>
>>
>>
>>