Here’s an absolute, complete outsider’s view. FWIW. But someone with extensive experience with conflicts in open source communities (chiefly, Drupal). I don’t know Paul, and I don’t know most FIG members. But I know a fair bit about humans, and I have read through this entire thread thanks to insomnia. :P
First, I can empathize with people who say this whole thing smells a bit like a witch-hunt. The fact that a dozen or so accusations are being levelled at this person, and that those accusations are based on subjective reading of comments that were made, and with a dozen or so highly respected PHP community leaders signing on as “Yeah, I agree that this guy sucks,” (this is not said explicitly, but that's how it can be interpreted) can definitely look like this person is being ganged up on, from the outside. However, the fact that this accusation has this many other signatories from leaders in the PHP community who are *not* generally known for causing drama for no reason, saying that this person is being disruptive to their work, demonstrates to me that this person must actually be pretty (actually, majorly) disruptive to other peoples’ work. Why would I say this about someone I don’t know? Because generally speaking, and dating all the way back to formative childhood years, *no one* wants to be a tattle-tale. People will generally try all manner of things before they resort to invoking an “official” conflict resolution body to intervene, including: - Ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away (often for months or years) - Asking nicely, by taking the person aside and saying “Dude, could you please chill out?” - Asking *less* nicely, by taking the person aside and saying “Dude. You need to chill out. Right now.” - Saying those things in the public forum rather than privately, to help communicate the seriousness of the situation and demonstrate community norms. - Asking for help from another respected individual with authority to say those things, preferably in an in-person/real-time discussion to mitigate defensiveness. - etc. And finally, when all else fails, when they are *literally* completely out of ideas on how else to solve it and feeling utterly defeated and hopeless, THEN they will invoke the “official” conflict resolution body (if they haven’t already rage quit the community by then). But it is *never* step one, or even step 7, at least in my 20+ years of community management experience. So, I’m not inclined to believe this is a witch hunt. Rather, I’m inclined to believe that the conflict resolution body probably did everything in their power to avoid this public showdown, knowing it would likely go down exactly as messily as this has. A few people in this thread have acknowledged Paul’s communication style can be off-putting, but have posited that that isn’t actually a problem. That it’s on other people to grow thicker skin, because the technical content of Paul’s messages are intelligent, and often correct. And it’s a meritocracy, after all… Bzzzzt. Nope. No. Wrong. Nuh-uh. It is absolutely, unequivocally, 500% on the person *doing the communicating* to do said communicating in a way that doesn’t alienate and frustrate others, *particularly* in an “official” standards body like this, It is NOT on the person *reading* the communication to take on the extra mental headache to “read between the lines” and try and find the nugget of truth buried somewhere in aggressive/patronizing/whatever words. Those who’ve said that the conduct of members of this group reflect on the group as a whole are absolutely bang on about this. And the fact that you have here a “body trail” of members who’ve left because of this person proves nicely that you do not have a meritocracy here. What you have is a collection of people who have the stamina to yell louder or argue longer than others. And if you want to make that driving cultural value for your community, that is "yelling and arguing over actual technical merit," well, that’s a valid choice to make, I guess… But wouldn’t it make *more* sense to just enforce civil discourse here so that everyone, whether they were a grizzled veteran with 20+ years experience of being yelled at on the internet or a whiz kid fresh out of school with some new, eager ideas, could participate on an equal footing? I also notice that Paul pulls some stats from these discussions, trying to show a mostly 50/50 split among opinions of his conduct. And maybe there is, I have no idea, and I guess no one does until this comes up for a vote. But one thing I know about humans in general is that if Paul is indeed one of the co-founders of this group, and is indeed widely respected for his technical contributions, even from his detractors (and it appears he is), and he *also* has a long-standing history of the way in which he communicates being tolerated (and it appears he has), I can guarantee you you’re not hearing from even half of the people who’ve actually been adversely affected by this person’s behaviour. You’re hearing from the tiny handful of members who *also* have community privilege of some kind, to the point that they feel safe/confident that their speaking out will not result in any permanent career damage. It’s safe to assume that each one of them is speaking on behalf of others (and perhaps many others) who are too intimidated to speak publicly, or long since left FIG and have no idea this discussion is even happening. If I were Paul, I would stop trying to double-down on defending my actions, trying to demonstrate a coalition of people who support me and my behaviour, trying to cast doubt on the CoC process and people involved. Instead, I would sit down and do some serious soul searching. *Really* look at my behaviour and how it has adversely affected others, own that, start apologizing profusely and sincerely, and taking immediate steps to remedy past transgressions and start building trust with the community again. Because I agree with others, regardless of which way this goes down, FIG’s in trouble here. You’re obviously passionate about this group and have contributed to it heavily, helped build it with your own two hands. The way forward starts (and mostly ends) with you. On Tuesday, 5 July 2016 10:57:49 UTC-7, pmjones wrote: > > Dear Voting Representatives, > > My name is Paul M. Jones; I am one of the founders of this group. Along > with Nate Abele, I am the longest continuously-serving Voting > Representative in the FIG, and by some measures the most productive person > here. My seven years of commitment and dedication to the productive ends of > this group, along with the technical ability and professional endurance to > achieve those ends, is unquestioned. I was the primary driving force behind > PSR-1, PSR-2, and PSR-4; their wide adoption has contributed greatly to the > legitimacy the FIG currently enjoys. I am recorded as the coordinator or > sponsor on other PSRs as well. I assisted in creating some of the bylaws > that are intended to guide the members of this group, including a prominent > role in writing the voting rules themselves. I helped to vote in a number > of the current FIG members, and sponsored the membership of Graham Daniels. > > Some people in this group and in the wider community would like to revoke > my status as a Voting Representative. Here is a summary of the complaint > against me, as written by Larry Garfield: > > > The net result [of Paul Jones' behavior on the FIG list] is people being > driven away from FIG, including leading members of the PHP Community. ... > > > > Such behavior contributes to a toxic and hostile atmosphere in and > around FIG, discourages participation, and generally contributes to a > flippant and contemptuous attitude towards FIG in the community at large. > > -- < > https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!msg/php-fig/w38tCU4mdgU/ww0kKM0vAAAJ> > > > > Given the concentration on "community" in Larry's summary, the resulting > conversations around the complaint have been informative. Specifically, > the comments on this thread and on Reddit (which by any measure is a place > where "the community at large" speaks out) demonstrate quite a divide in > "the PHP Community" to which the complaint appeals. > > -- < > https://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/4piv4i/phpfig_drama_continues_as_the_group_publicly/?limit=500> > > > > On the one hand, there are the initial 20 complainants (some of them > Voting Representatives and others community members). Collaborating with > the secretaries as an aid and a shield, they prepared and honed their > action against me over the course of a month or more. They were thereafter > joined by other commenters here on this thread (I number them between 5 and > 9) and on Reddit (I counted 6 that are at least roughly in agreement with > the complaint) over the past two weeks. Call it from 31 to 35 in favor my > removal. > > On the other hand, with no advance notice of the action against me, a mix > of current and former Voting Representatives (along with other prestigious > members of the wider community) spoke up either to refute the points in the > complaint or to rebuke the very act of the complaint. On this thread, the > "opposed" number about 20, and on Reddit they number roughly 15, for a > total of around 35 opposed to my removal. > > If you take those numbers as even a remotely representative sample, they > show that the community is thoroughly divided regarding the complaint. > About half feel it is well-founded, and the other half for various reasons > feel it is not. > > To be clear, only some of those "opposed" have spoken specifically in > defense of me personally. Others have spoken on principle against the > nature of the complaint or the proposed punishment. Some of them believe > that, by the fact of entertaining my removal on the basis of the evidence > given, the FIG brings disrepute on itself. They feel that the very nature > of the complaint, and its pursuit, contributes to "a toxic and hostile > atmosphere" and "discourages participation." > > What this should tell you is that there is no such thing as a single, > unified, marching-in-lockstep community. When you hear a claim that my > continued membership in this group "discourages participation, and > generally contributes to a flippant and contemptuous attitude towards FIG > in the community at large", you should consider it (at best) as a > fundamental misunderstanding of what "the community at large" is like. For > good or bad, there is a significant part of "the community at large" that > disagrees with the complaint in some fashion. > > As such, you can see that the complaint appeals to only one portion of > "the PHP Community" -- perhaps a portion with which the complainants > themselves identify. But there is another substantial portion, maybe as > much as half, to whom the complaint does not appeal. This, along with the > comments of those who see little-to-nothing objectionable revealed by the > evidence raised against me, should give you reason enough to vote *against* > my removal. > > Finally, as to the punishment sought, the complainants apparently wish to > "request a replacement Voting Representative" for the Aura project. > (Because there is a ready replacement, the Aura project itself is not a > candidate for being expelled.) > > As far as I can tell, this punishment does not provide a remedy for the > various elements of the complaint. It neither removes my voice from the > mailing list, nor does it remove the influence of Aura from the group. I am > left to imagine, then, that there is some other purpose toward which this > punishment is designed. Maybe it is intended only to be symbolic, or > perhaps it is a stepping-stone toward some other undisclosed end. > > The complainants should specify how removing me as a Voting Representative > will salve their woes. If they do not, or if their purpose is not to your > liking, then you should consider voting *against* my removal. > > With that, I leave the fate of my status as a Voting Representative in > your hands. Regardless of the result, I thank you for your time and > attention. > > > -- > > Paul M. Jones > http://paul-m-jones.com > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PHP Framework Interoperability Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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