[llvm-dev] RFC: Introducing an LLVM Community Code of Conduct

Renato Golin via llvm-dev
2015-10-13T16:34:25Z

On 13 October 2015 at 17:09, Rafael Espíndola <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org>
wrote:
> I assume the end objective of such  a policy is to have more effective
> communications, so it would be nice to have some examples to avoid it
> instead hampering communications by pushing unnecessary political
> correctness.

+2!!!


> * Small, on the side jokes are OK if people are not offended. I don't
> think any Canadian is offended by "Canadian Cross compiler". If I
am
> wrong, complain. Assume an honest mistake instead of intention to
> offend.

You mean the cross compiler that instead of saying "error:" says,
"sorry sir, you may have made a mistake here:"?


> * In a similar case, "cargo cult" refers to a set of existing
beliefs.
> Using that in the context of software development is not intended as
> an offence to, for example, any llvm developer that believes in John
> Frum.

I have no idea what that is, but I find it interesting that Google
renamed "bro" to "br" for the compression file because
"bro" was too
"offensive". I found "bro" quite ingenuous.


> * Probably most important, terseness in relevant comments about *code*
> is OK. Saying that something is "wrong", "undesirable"
or "broken" is
> clearest way to convey that information.

+1

I'll add another point that a friend just made about this subject:

* Calling out bad behaviour on people is a way to invoke self-reflect,
not to offend. If I say you're being coercive, it's probably because I
felt pushed without technical reasons, so you may need to evaluate
your behaviour, instead of calling out "bad word!" and applying the
code of conduct to ban me.

If we create rules for *apparent* abusive behaviour but don't take
into account for the *implicit* ones, we will end up punishing the
wrong people.

I always though of the LLVM community as relaxed and understanding,
and to see that we *need* such strict rules makes me sad... I was
still hoping we didn't...

cheers,
--renato