Thank you Brian for your very reasoned response to this!
On Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 4:29 AM Brian Nisbet <[email protected]> wrote: > > Good Afternoon, > > In the last few days there have been a few emails about the draft CoC > documents and, without any hat on, I want to address a few things. > > The RIPE community is special. It's amazing and wonderful and I love it… but > also in so many ways, it is not special at all. It is not immune to the > issues that have cropped up elsewhere and, importantly, also crop up in RIPE. > This may be hard to hear but it's true. There are people who have left our > community due to unwelcome attention, incidents of sexual harassment or > repeatedly being told - through deeds if not words - that they are not > welcome here. > > Worse are the people who could contribute so much to the operation of the > Internet who look at our community, talk with others about it, and simply > shake their heads - "That's not a place for me." > > These are the sad commonalities between communities, these are the ways in > which RIPE is decidedly not special. > > A suitably, carefully, fairly, enforced Code of Conduct is just one of the > many ways of making things better. It sets out the norms of behaviour and, > importantly, it says "If you come here and people act badly towards you – we > want to know about it, we will care, and we will act." If you want, you can > think of it like MANRS or similar. It says that as a community, we have > thought about things, that we acknowledge the issues we have, and we are > working to improve them. > > This is not a court of law. It is a community driven effort, and so, like > every other effort, we put our trust in those who we appoint, while > maintaining the ability to course correct, knowing that there are checks and > balances. In fact, I'm extremely happy for those that need to make reports > that it isn't a court of law, as such courts, in countries around the world, > have been seen to be adversarial towards those who seek justice for things > like sexual assault. They put great hurt on the victims and have a truly > awful record in bringing that justice. But again, this is not a court of law. > > Nor is it a way to attack the correct (or whatever passes for correct) use of > grammar. But it can be a way to improve communications. It can be a way for a > community to clearly say "That isn't a good way to interact, especially if we > want to be open." There are many, many ways to have robust technical > discussion without giving people the impression that their opinions are not > wanted, as has happened many times in the past. And we are getting better at > this as a community, but a CoC will help us more. > > As I have said repeatedly over many years, things happen at RIPE Meetings > that the community does not, or should not, want to happen. The previous > system gave the victims of those things someone to talk to, which is > important, but little more than that. A CoC provides a means of recourse, > which has been proven to work in communities around the world. > > There will be a few growing pains, for sure. There will be people who > prejudge all of this, who decide that this changes the community too much. It > might even cause them to leave. In many cases that will be a great pity and I > hope they stick around - but if this prevents others leaving because they > feel unsafe, or from being subjected to behaviour that all of us agree is > unacceptable, then, well, I know where I'm happier. > > No process is perfect, we're humans, but this is a really, really good next > step (and yes, I would say that, of course). I believe it will make a > difference in who joins our community and for how long they stay. I believe > it will, in some small way, improve the sector in which we all work. And > thankfully my beliefs are backed up by what we've seen in other communities. > > Importantly, we can do other things at the same time and I look forward to > what other new things this community does, and what excellent initiatives it > continues, which will make it better for all. > > I know I will not convince everyone (this is not the first time I've had this > discussion in a community, not even in the RIPE community), and I know that a > lot of people in the community are convinced (or convinced enough) already, > but I didn't want to stay silent on this thread. This is too important for > the community right now, and for the future, for those of us here, and those > of us we hope will join us. > > Thanks, > > Brian > > Brian Nisbet (he/him) > > Service Operations Manager > > HEAnet CLG, Ireland's National Education and Research Network > > 1st Floor, 5 George's Dock, IFSC, Dublin D01 X8N7, Ireland > > +35316609040 [email protected] www.heanet.ie > > Registered in Ireland, No. 275301. CRA No. 20036270 > > -- > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, get a password reminder, or change > your subscription options, please visit: > https://lists.ripe.net/mailman/listinfo/ripe-list -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options, please visit: https://lists.ripe.net/mailman/listinfo/ripe-list
