[Osmf-talk] Proposal - OSMF Should Adopt a Code of Conduct

[Rafael Avila Coya]

Hi Eugene:

The difference between small coding high-tech projects and a worldwide 
community of millions of non-techy people like Wikimedia or OSM was 
already very well explained by Simon Poole (and by some others too) in 
the first reply to Clifford Snow, that I recall here for you:

"Hi Clifford

I find it interesting that you choose to not include the organisation 
most similar in mission to the OSMF (the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF)) in 
your list, particularly given the OSMF is clearly not an "Open Source" 
organisation (with exception of a short stint by Andy Allan immediately 
prior the licence change to finish the redaction software, I'm not aware 
of the OSMF ever contracting for, distributing, or overseeing the 
development of any software at all).

The WMF is of particular interest, not just because they, at least in 
theory, have a similar role in their overall movement as the OSMF, but 
because they have multiple CoC or similar documents tailor made for the 
venue, activity and groups that they concern. Taking particular care on 
the hand to allow people working together on a specific task do so in a 
friendly non-discriminatory environment (in our case this would be 
mainly the working groups) and on the other hand being careful not to 
stifle debate and critical discussion of matters that concern policies, 
elections and the central organisation  (in our case the OSMF).

Now I do make the admission that for somebody that has never been 
involved in OSM in an active way before, being dropped on to this 
mailing list has to be bewildering, which goes for any mailing list in 
times of high traffic, but to turn it in to an essentially moderated 
list on which you don't dare raise issues or say your mind because you 
might frighten somebody away that doesn't have the context of the 
discussion yet, cannot be the solution. Maybe we should simply revive 
osmf-announce and not automatically subscribe everybody to this list, 
though I'm sure that will simply result in people complaining that they 
are being cut out of important discussions.

That, very seldom, we have events in which unacceptable language is 
used, I count three in seven years of OSM (the major one being two 
Americans calling each other names on talk-diversity,). is the risk that 
we take by providing open communication forums, no CoC will stop that 
happening, except of we turn this list in to fully moderated. But that 
risk is by far outweighed by the benefits.

Simon".

So being a community of millions of very diverse worldwide people is 
quite the point if we insist to compare our community with groups of 
developers that you could usually accommodate in a small room.

Cheers,

Rafael.

On 24/09/18 15:46, Eugene Alvin Villar wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 8:10 PM Rafael Avila Coya, <ravilacoya at gmail.com 
> <mailto:ravilacoya at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>     And once again, you miss (on purpose?) that OSM is not a coding
>     project,
>     but a worldwide community, quite a different thing.
> 
> 
> Coding projects do not adopt code of conducts simply because other 
> coding projects have adopted them but because they want to foster a 
> community around their projects that is diverse and welcoming to people 
> within and who have not yet joined the project. (And, yes, it's 
> certainly worth discussing whether a CoC is an appropriate tool to 
> achieve that goal.)
> 
> But the fact that OSM is not a coding project is entirely beside the 
> point. I do not think dismissing the idea of OSM adopting a CoC just 
> because we aren't a coding project is a logical conclusion because CoCs 
> aren't specifically tied to coding projects.
>