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Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 02:17:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: Joan Touzet <wohali@apache.org>
To: dev@couchdb.apache.org
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Subject: Re: [REQUES] Review proposed bylaws (Was: Re: [DISCUSS] Project
 bylaws)
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexander Shorin" <kxepal@gmail.com>

> Well, mostly all CoC points could be replaced by single sentence: "Be polite.":

Being polite is insufficiently rich to describe what we expect from
people. I also explained why I didn't use polite in a previous thread
as well (or it might have been IRC, I forget now.)

Proof by counterexample: I have been involved in a private gaming
community for a long time where the only rule was "be polite" / "don't
be an asshole". Recently it has been made painfully clear that, to some
people, being polite means it's OK to be sexist, racist, disparage
people who don't agree with you, villainize foreigners, and worse that 
I won't bring to bear on this list.

This is even worse when people are "polite" on a mailing list but still
harbor ill will behind a surface of politeness. 

> P.S. the word "polite" mentioned zero times on code of conduct page.

See above. Saying "be polite" is only the start of a longer
conversation, one we've been having for years now in various places --
and one that shows that not everyone has the same level of understanding.

I am -1 on any reductionist single-sentence approach as it
will simply leave too many loopholes. We should not be placed in a
position where we must have semantic arguments about what I think 
polite means vs. what you think polite means. Given the difficulties
CouchDB has had as a community over the years, we must necessarily be
explicit in the list of what we do and do not tolerate. If that list
proves insufficient we need to grow it over time.

-Joan