[openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website] Let's adopt the Contributor Covenant code of conduct (#1299)

Jody Bruchon notifications at github.com
Wed Dec 6 06:29:41 UTC 2017


I realize this discussion has been open for over a year with no resolution. I found [an excellent article](http://dancerscode.com/blog/why-the-open-code-of-conduct-isnt-for-me/) that illustrates a lot of the problems seen in proposed codes of conduct. The most troublesome part of them is that they are highly subjective, vaguely worded, and prone to exploitation through what's known as ["rules lawyering."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_lawyer) In fact, I have observed that the underlying intent of several proposals to "adopt a code of conduct" is to enable the use of said lawyering to enforce ideological conformity.

I have yet to see a project that received any "adopt a code of conduct" suggestion that actually needed said code of conduct. It's often a fix for a problem that does not exist. When was the last time you had a serious issue on this project that would have been resolved better if you were bound by a code of conduct? Are you **really** prepared to argue *ad nauseam* about code of conduct semantics when a conflict arises instead of working towards a clean resolution of the conflict?

In essence, codes of conduct are a great way to chase off good developers and slowly kill off the project. I am not a contributor to this project so I'm not familiar with the political dynamics within it, but [if you search up Opalgate](https://github.com/opal/opal/issues/941) you can [confirm for yourself](https://web.archive.org/web/20150620131948/http://nocodeofconduct.com/post/121966770584/on-opalgate) how things go to pot when such codes of conduct are pushed in and the politics vultures start circling.

If you insist on adopting a code of conduct, consider [NCoC](https://github.com/domgetter/NCoC/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) or the previously mentioned [ciafwywcoc](https://github.com/ciafwywcoc/ciafwywcoc). Better yet, consider that anyone who'd be far enough out of line to make you feel the NEED to adopt a code of conduct should probably be booted from the project instead...and at that point the problem literally goes away and the adults can keep banging away at their keyboards and having civil disagreements without walking on eggshells.

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