3 ms·

I think it's great to have a set of ground rules and expectations when interacting with people you might not have a completely defined personal relationship but

I think it's great to have a set of ground rules and expectations when interacting with people you might not have a completely defined personal relationship but here is where any kind of agreement/code kinda falls apart: " Sexist, racist, and other discriminatory jokes are not welcome". What is sexist language? In the recent Pycon incident was the "dongle joke" sexist language? I don't think so. It's a joke about the male anatomy that should be equally accessible to men and women. Is a joke about blondes being stupid sexist? Yes, probably. What I'm saying is language like "sexist" or "offensive" is highly subjective and it's impossible for everyone to agree on the correct definitions. The unavoidable fact of life is that a documented agreement cannot possibly protect everyone from being offended at some point in their professional lives. I feel like any kind of documented code of conduct should also include a section on how to deal with feeling offended. Something like this: "Despite these rough guidelines, we are all imperfect human beings that experience discrimination and offensive language in sometimes drastically different ways so it's important not to overreact to what you may perceive to be offensive or discriminatory actions. Ask yourself if the act in question is motivated by malevolent intentions. Chances are that it's not and that they simply have a different definition of what is acceptable in a professional setting. Informing the person of your discomfort with their actions and/or language will go a long way towards removing any future discomfort while interacting with that individual."

walshemj 14y ago
Good idea but with my consitutional/wonk hat on probably needs some form of appeal system to make it fit the principals of natural justice. IE if you are charged with bringing Django into disrepute and say are banned from attending a conference you have to have some way of appealing the sentence. Maybe have some suitable body of say 3 people from within the Django community to be an appeals panel.
heliostatic 14y ago
I understand what you're saying here, but I think you've got it backwards, even taking PyCon into account. I think we both agree that it's best to assume everybody is acting in good faith (you say as much in your proposed changes). As such, why not: "Despite these rough guidelines, we are all imperfect human beings that experience discrimination and offensive language in sometimes drastically different ways so it's important to be aware that you might say something with good intentions that nevertheless offends or upsets another member of the community. In these cases, rather than explaining to that person why they ought not be upset, apologize, try to understand why your comment upset them, and move on."

walshemj 14y ago

Good idea but with my consitutional/wonk hat on probably needs some form of appeal system to make it fit the principals of natural justice. IE if you are charged with bringing Django into disrepute and say are banned from attending a conference you have to have some way of appealing the sentence. Maybe have some suitable body of say 3 people from within the Django community to be an appeals panel.

heliostatic 14y ago

I understand what you're saying here, but I think you've got it backwards, even taking PyCon into account. I think we both agree that it's best to assume everybody is acting in good faith (you say as much in your proposed changes). As such, why not: "Despite these rough guidelines, we are all imperfect human beings that experience discrimination and offensive language in sometimes drastically different ways so it's important to be aware that you might say something with good intentions that nevertheless offends or upsets another member of the community. In these cases, rather than explaining to that person why they ought not be upset, apologize, try to understand why your comment upset them, and move on."