Re: [gentoo-council] Extent of Code of Conduct enforcement

[Ferris McCormick <fmccor@gentoo.org>]

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On Tue, 2008-07-22 at 02:34 -0400, Mark Loeser wrote:
> Donnie Berkholz <dberkholz@gentoo.org> said:
> > Can people be entirely banned from Gentoo?
> 
> It would be ideal, but not technically feasible.
> 
> > - 
 ....................... <snip
> ..........................................
> 
> > - Why would we do it?
> 
> Because they are damaging the community and driving possible
> contributors aways.
> 
Let me respond to this specifically.  I have pretty strong views on
this, and I suspect they might reflect a minority opinion.

I'm going to divide this into two cases, because I think the first one
is easy.  First case is developers who leave or threaten to leave giving
the reason that "XXX (a developer or user) drove them away because
of ...".  Second case is a sponsor who threatens to withdraw support
"unless something is done about XXX."

In the first case, my reaction is absolute.  The developer who threatens
to leave because of someone else is (1) making the judgment call that we
care if he leaves; (2) Is resorting to extortion to get rid of someone
else (or reign someone else in or whatever).  At that point, I'd wish
him well in his future endeavors and start retirement process.  I view
giving in to such a threat as at least as harmful as whatever or whoever
triggered it in the first place.  This is based on my own background and
experiences, and others no doubt react differently.

Now, there is a variation on this:  The developer who resigns, citing
abuse as the reason.  Here, the process has broken down.  Believe it or
not, devrel and userrel will work with problems like this if we know
there are such problems to address.  For example, if you want me
involved, best is to contact me personally or open a bug assigned to me.
If you want someone else, do whatever that person prefers.  It's a
matter of posture --- we should all be prepared to help work out
conflicts, but we should not give in to "He goes or I go." 

The second case is more delicate.  It is still a form of extortion, but
conceivably with merit.  I think the resolution requires negotiation
with the sponsor and the "problem child".  If we can reach no agreement,
I suppose we have to do what seems best for the community.  That will
always be a decision depending on each circumstance.

Probably nothing new here, but I wanted to clarify my opinion a bit.
Regards,
Ferris
-- 
Ferris McCormick (P44646, MI) <fmccor@gentoo.org>
Developer, Gentoo Linux (Devrel, Sparc, Userrel, Trustees)

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