----- Original Message ----- From: "Alexander Shorin" <[email protected]>
> 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
