On Nov 26, 2012, at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool
>> our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make
>> whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our
>> personal names
> 
> Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and
> collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could.
> 
> I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary
> and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so
> things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's
> truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right
> thing is what's keeping people playing nice.


I agree that it is preferred if one can just assume, if I can restate, that some flavor of The Golden Rule [0] is in force in all interactions.  Unfortunately, if reports from past Code4Lib events (mentioned by Bess in her initial note, are these collected somewhere?) and actions at peer events are any guide, it is unsafe to make that assumption.  The policy/code-of-conduct, then, becomes the proactive, affirmative statement of the community.  I don't think we should wait for a reactive stance to try to make things right.  We can (re)set the expectation for anything now going forward.


Peter


[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule
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Peter Murray
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