4 ms·
Codes of Conduct are always good, zero-tolerance polices on the other hand are usually a bit extreme. What starts out as well intentioned zero-tolerance policy
by fleitz 14y ago
Codes of Conduct are always good, zero-tolerance polices on the other hand are usually a bit extreme.
What starts out as well intentioned zero-tolerance policy usually ends up in absurdity. Like zero-tolerance policies in schools that started as banning weapons and now prevent students from bringing meals that need to be eaten with knife and fork. Hopefully they are able to keep the zero-tolerance policy to mean what everyone thinks it means now.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- jnoller 14y agoI've got two kids in school. I know the pain of the inane zero tolerance policies such as those. However, harassment in any form, when corroborated, is just unacceptable.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- eikenberry 14y ago> "harassment in any form" This is the crux of the main problem with zero tolerance stances. That "in any form" gets interpreted in the widest possible way possible beyond the point of absurdity. This is because it is an absolute stance in a realm which is inherently subjective and relative to the various points of view involved. > "when corroborated" I think this helps with this a bit, as it requires at least one (hopefully more) other subjective view on whether it was harassment or not. Hopefully it will be enough.
- unalone 14y agoCodes of Conduct, I think, are good for some things, like actual conduct, and bad for other things, like assuaging people's irrational fears of possible violence. Which is what school policies are, basically.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- throwit1979 14y agoThe issue with the LCA thread is that in modern socialization, being rationally thoughtful is unacceptable if the discussion is taken to be "insensitive". Geeks often don't understand that trying to arrive at the truth on certain topics is fraught with the risk of social suicide.
- unalone 14y agoBecause the poster above you deleted his comment, can you explain what the LCA thread is, and what was so problematic about it? I'm curious what the discussion was here.
- throwit1979 14y agoThe GP suggested that any conference with standards adjudicated by Valerie Auroura(1) would not be a conference worth going to, as it would involve a nonzero risk of being the victim of a witch hunt. [1] c.f. http://adainitiative.org/2012/10/open-source-software-open-to-all/ http://adainitiative.org/2012/10/open-source-software-open-t...
- unalone 14y agoInteresting! This is a less cut-and-dry debate than the one that's been going on throughout the rest of the thread. At the very least, Ts'o's comment was voiced in an inappropriate forum and I'd expect him to at least acknowledge he was wrong. I'd feel uncomfortable asking him to speak at a conference myself, if I was the conference-organizing sort. The "insensitive"/"social suicide" thing is tricky. Thing is, there are places and contexts for those discussions to take place, and simply bringing them up because you have an opinion on them that you'd like to voice isn't exactly appropriate. In some ways, it can be a very offensive behavior: the term "mansplaining", which I'm sure is controversial around these parts, is useful to describe how some men think their opinion on things (like rape) ought to be important and listened-to, simply because, well, their opinion deserves to be respected! And in some cases they'll voice this opinion, however half-heartedly thought out, to people who have given this topic much more consideration and who are considerably more well-versed in both the statistics and the opinions that revolve around the subject.