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Personally, I question the need for CoCs. It seemed they simply started appearing everywhere one day as if following some sort of trend. People organize togeth

Personally, I question the need for CoCs. It seemed they simply started appearing everywhere one day as if following some sort of trend. People organize together everyday in numerous different professional, community and private settings…with no need for a special set of governing rules for behavior.

immibis 2y ago
The main purpose of a CoC is to point to it when you want to ban someone. It's an accountability sink - instead of saying you want to ban someone, you say you have to ban them because they violated the written rules. The rules, of course, must be written vaguely enough that anyone you might want to ban is violating at least one. It's okay if people you don't want to ban also violate them, because you won't bring it up. It can also be used as an accountability sink in cases where someone clearly should be banned but you don't have enough courage to say you are banning them because you think they should be. In this case you can also point to the rules. However, if the person who should be banned is sneaky enough, he didn't break any of them. You ban him anyway.
- flappyeagle 2y ago
  Best use of the term accountability sink I’ve seen out in the wild.
rockskon 2y ago
As is the case of most abrupt social changes with no seeming environmental impetus - someone aggressive and powerful found a means of exerting their influence to push their desired social change. And so they did with CoCs.
- WorkerBee28474 2y ago
  It may be that someone aggressive who wanted to be powerful found a means of gaining influence through latching onto and pushing a pointless but sellable social change. It's a kind of slow-moving elite on elite violence.
rectang 2y ago
CoCs arose because of endemic abuses that were not organically curbed, sadly.
- HarryHirsch 2y ago
  Not sure one should believe that - everyone with even mild experience of public spaces knows that at the end of the day rules are enforced by people. Doesn't matter if you pour a few liters of woke over the system, it's still the same system. I'm ready to believe in a conspiracy theory around codes of conduct, actually.
  - paulryanrogers 2y ago
    Making unspoken rules public saves everyone time and heartache. Except perhaps where there are too many contrarians, folks looking for a problem, authors who are being intentionally vague, or acts of malicious compliance.
    - HarryHirsch 2y ago
      And yet in real life it looks like this: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/us/hamline-university-islam-prophet-muhammad.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/us/hamline-university-isl... A member of the Somalian community instrumentalizing anti-black and anti-Muslim feelings to boost the standing of his own group, and the Code of Conduct fails to protect academic freedom. Well done!
      - paulryanrogers 2y ago
        Congrats on finding an exception? Would it have been easier to diagnose if such rules were unwritten? I still prefer communities that document their rules and expectations over those that don't.
        rectang 2y ago
        With many people who would be at risk for an enforcement action, odds are they will complain mightily whether the rules are implicit or explicit. It’s not that the rules are codified or not, it’s rules of any kind being applied to them that they find objectionable. This isn’t universal as some people may be grateful if you approach them tactfully and let them know that others are having difficulty with them, as they may not have realized. To be frank if someone has driven others away I feel an obligation to to the rest of the group not to shrink from addressing the matter. People whose participation is a net negative because other valued participants flee from them shouldn’t get endless opportunities to make others miserable.

immibis 2y ago

The main purpose of a CoC is to point to it when you want to ban someone. It's an accountability sink - instead of saying you want to ban someone, you say you have to ban them because they violated the written rules. The rules, of course, must be written vaguely enough that anyone you might want to ban is violating at least one. It's okay if people you don't want to ban also violate them, because you won't bring it up. It can also be used as an accountability sink in cases where someone clearly should be banned but you don't have enough courage to say you are banning them because you think they should be. In this case you can also point to the rules. However, if the person who should be banned is sneaky enough, he didn't break any of them. You ban him anyway.

flappyeagle 2y ago
Best use of the term accountability sink I’ve seen out in the wild.

rockskon 2y ago

As is the case of most abrupt social changes with no seeming environmental impetus - someone aggressive and powerful found a means of exerting their influence to push their desired social change. And so they did with CoCs.

WorkerBee28474 2y ago
It may be that someone aggressive who wanted to be powerful found a means of gaining influence through latching onto and pushing a pointless but sellable social change. It's a kind of slow-moving elite on elite violence.

rectang 2y ago

CoCs arose because of endemic abuses that were not organically curbed, sadly.

HarryHirsch 2y ago
Not sure one should believe that - everyone with even mild experience of public spaces knows that at the end of the day rules are enforced by people. Doesn't matter if you pour a few liters of woke over the system, it's still the same system. I'm ready to believe in a conspiracy theory around codes of conduct, actually.
- paulryanrogers 2y ago
  Making unspoken rules public saves everyone time and heartache. Except perhaps where there are too many contrarians, folks looking for a problem, authors who are being intentionally vague, or acts of malicious compliance.
  - HarryHirsch 2y ago
    And yet in real life it looks like this: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/us/hamline-university-islam-prophet-muhammad.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/us/hamline-university-isl... A member of the Somalian community instrumentalizing anti-black and anti-Muslim feelings to boost the standing of his own group, and the Code of Conduct fails to protect academic freedom. Well done!
    - paulryanrogers 2y ago
      Congrats on finding an exception? Would it have been easier to diagnose if such rules were unwritten? I still prefer communities that document their rules and expectations over those that don't.
      - rectang 2y ago
        With many people who would be at risk for an enforcement action, odds are they will complain mightily whether the rules are implicit or explicit. It’s not that the rules are codified or not, it’s rules of any kind being applied to them that they find objectionable. This isn’t universal as some people may be grateful if you approach them tactfully and let them know that others are having difficulty with them, as they may not have realized. To be frank if someone has driven others away I feel an obligation to to the rest of the group not to shrink from addressing the matter. People whose participation is a net negative because other valued participants flee from them shouldn’t get endless opportunities to make others miserable.