[CREATE] Code of Conduct

[Susan Spencer]

I think that many people by now have heard that there has been
prolonged harassment in the LGM community which
continued into the LGM 2014 conference at Leipzig.
This harassment reached a peak with physical assault in an elevator,
and there is a witness to the assault.

The University of Leipzig and the LGM sponsors have not been notified
that there was harassment and assault during the conference.

The code of conduct which was suggested as an interim code was not
referenced at the meeting.
It wasn't posted to the community at the meeting, there was no contact
information provided at the meeting,
the community wasn't informed of any procedures to take in case of
incident, the community wasn't informed
of the procedures which would be followed when an incident is reported.
Everything was handled on the fly which resulted in the situation being
handled slowly and with uncertainty as to what to do.
One ad-hoc meeting was held between LGM leadership, the harasser, me,
Steve, and the target.
The results of this meeting have not been communicated to the community,
nor has a clear statement been given to the harasser that these behaviors
are not tolerable in our community.

After the meeting, the harasser tried to intimidate me when he saw me in an
area with few people.
This harasser, who up to now has been my good friend, is a serial bully who
clearly needs help.
He has been removed from the OpenSuse community for serially bulling,
and has been seriously warned about bullying in the OpenClipArt community.

A Code of Conduct is meant to provide 3 things  - statement, definitions,
processes - which are needed for practical reasons.
CoC's must be practical above all else.
Without these 3 elements a chaotic mess results when trouble happens.

We have a clear irrefutable example of this in our own community.

- Susan



On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 6:08 PM, Jon Nordby <jononor at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 21 January 2014 13:25, Tobias Ellinghaus <houz at gmx.de> wrote:
> > But whatever
> > the reason is, not everyone is comfortable with the American (?) way to
> put
> > everything into harmless words. So it is similar to the hugging example:
> may I
> > not tell someone that he is an idiot if that is the case? Not
> necessarily in a
> > derogative way, but just in a discussion. Does the idea that someone
> expresses
> > his disagreement like that make you feel uncomfortable? Well, not being
> able
> > to express me the way I am used to makes ME feel uncomfortable.
>
> If something someone says in a discussion does not make sense, that is
> what you say: X is wrong because Y.
> The same goes if the person does something wrong, say which action you
> believed was wrong, and why.
> Don't call the person an idiot. It might work out most of the time*,
> but expecting others to have a hard skin and
> deflect the comment about their person, and to correctly deduce what
> you *really* meant by it is not a good approach to communication.
> It increases the risk of hurting people and/or to derail the
> conversation. Keep criticism on actions and arguments.
>
> *at least for the person who calls another an idiot...
>
> > So where to draw the line? As I wrote at the first day of this
> discussion I
> > also prefer the "treat others the way you think it is ok, and if it
> turns out
> > that the other person doesn't feel the same then try to adapt and find
> some
> > common ground for social interaction." approach. That is what being a
> social
> > being is about: being able to copy with different social backgrounds,
> adapting
> > and reacting to the situation at hand. And in the worst case avoid that
> person
> > if interaction is not possible.
> The people you interact with decide where they draw the line. Until
> you know what the limits are, presuming that your own definition is
> suitable is risky business.
>
> My 2 øre.
>
> --
> Jon Nordby - www.jonnor.com
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