Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2023 21:40:48 -0400
From: Josh <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Questions about real name policy
Hello KDE community,
I'm not sure if this is the best ML to post it in, but anyway - what is
our current stance on a real name policy? We were recently asked again
in a Matrix channel and the consensus seems to be "we don't know?" From
what I can tell, you *must* use your real name or else our git commit
hooks will reject any pushes. From some precursory web searches, people
say to work around this by putting spaces in the git username field. So
it's allowed, but unofficially? The git commit hook doesn't mention this
work around I think.
I have gotten more than zero complaints/questions about this policy, and
I've only been here for a year. When tracking down something "official",
all I've found is a few mentions on the Community wiki. If we dismissed
the policy, then we should update those commit hooks. These contributors
are starting to make non-trivial commits to projects I care about, so it
would really great if we can accommodate them.
Whatever decision we make, can we document this somewhere so I can link
people to it? Preferably on kde.org, where it it's immutable and
official looking like our code of conduct.
(If the reason is "it's because of relicensing", I have a hard time
tracking down people even when I know their full names. I would prefer
better reasons than that, if possible 😆)
Thanks,
Josh
Hi Josh - and KDE community,
I'm in this even more recently than you, but I hope this short reply is
worthwhile:
I'm speaking here as a person who STRONGLY values online anonymity.
That said, context is _everything._ My father was a state assistant
attorney general and I myself spent an entire year working as an unpaid
legal aide for the lawyers there. From that experience, and now, as a
person who's created a small software company, my response is that your
instincts are good: As you note, the licensing is really important here.
My instincts say that this is clearly and unmistakably a question for a
lawyer who's both informed on the issues and cares about this project,
either because their paid or because they're committed in some other way.
Regards,
Richard
--
Richard Troy, Chief Scientist
Science Tools Corporation
510-717-6942
[email protected], http://ScienceTools.com/
