> Interesting. Does it happen often in practice? Not really, but it does happen occasionally in work places, because if it happens often enough it is basically

> Interesting. Does it happen often in practice? Not really, but it does happen occasionally in work places, because if it happens often enough it is basically the equivalent of bullying(called mobbing at work). > The US doesn't have such laws. Whether you consider the US civilised, is another matter. :) Do you want to exclude contributors from uncivilised countries? It's because I consider US a civilized(and a very litigious) country that I'm sincerely surprised that its laws don't cover such things. > The goal of a CoC is to have a set of rules that the community agrees upon and to foster a certain culture. E.g. no personal attacks, constructive criticism only, be civil in your interaction with others on the project. The consequences of violating the CoC can be to ban the violator from the project. So basically what I described as "shunned" from the community. But previously you said: > Which jurisdiction? How will you find out about my identity? How will you enforce any potential judgment if I'm in Somalia? How much time and money will it cost you to a) get a conviction, and b) try to enforce it? So we agree that CoCs can't serve as substitutes for laws? The HN guidelines are a perfect example because the first half has practical use which is how to submit an article and the 2nd half which is indeed useless. Let's be honest here. What you're looking for is a magic wand that say "if you could please don't be an asshole, that'd be grand thanks" and people would be happily ever after. Right? Well there's no solution for that and CoCs can only serve as to infuriate people who aren't assholes. Just shun them as you would do with or without a CoC.