[Trilug-policy] The Code of Conduct or a Vision Statement - What's the real issue?

[Daniel Bartholomew]

On Tue, 2007-08-14 at 14:41 -0400, Matt Frye wrote:
> The trilug@ list seems too volatile a place for policy discussion and
> it's META there anyway.  I'm understand that many, many people
> associate with TriLUG object to the idea of a Code of Conduct
> altogether.
> 
> I'm willing to be flexible, but we need to establish some guidelines
> to point to when things go bad.  Don't we?

I've been lurking through the flames on trilug@ and just to come right
out with it: I personally don't have a problem with either a Code of
Conduct -or- a Vision Statement. I'm generally a polite person, so I
don't think my behavior would have to change one way or the other.

To play Devil's advocate --- The main problem people seem to have with
the CoC is that they don't want to change the status quo. They like the
way things are and don't want to see any changes. There's merit to that
argument --- the monthly meetings are well attended and the mailing list
has lots of traffic.

However, if TriLug wants to continue to grow, and to reach new ---
possibly non-traditional --- members, changes or additions could be very
beneficial.

For example, I very much agree with this comment that Andy Oliver made: 

On Mon, 2007-08-13 at 10:50 -0400, Andrew C. Oliver wrote:
> An example was that the occasional female that comes to the trilug 
> meeting is ogled in IRC during the meeting (which can be rather 
> embarrassing to the oglers if she turns out to be a bit younger than 
> they hoped).  Also excessively aggressive sophomoric behavior or 
> postings, not to be sexist but as a broad generalization, tends to
> turn women off the list faster than men.  It is occasionally like your
> average health club which results in a "Bodyworks for women" across
> the street.
> 

To put a personal spin on things: My wife uses Linux and Open Source
Software every day (that is what is on the computers in our house). On
her Ubuntu 7.04 machine she balances her checkbook with GnuCash, writes
letters in OpenOffice, surfs the web with Firefox, plays mp3/oog/flac
music with Rhythmbox, watches movies with mplayer, and on and on and on.
She's not a technical user either --- she's a pure non-technical Linux
Desktop user. This is the exact user-base that Linux needs to capture to
really succeed. The growing desktop Linux user base is also a growth
opportunity for TriLUG.

TriLug, in it's current form, does not appeal to her. Yes, she would
feel out of place at meetings, and would be very offended at some of the
language and behavior present on the trilug@ list. But perhaps more
importantly than that, the current monthly TriLUG meetings are very
technically oriented, and so is the current mailing list. As my wife is
not interested in technical discussions in general, she is not likely to
want to be part of either based on that reason alone and so the
offensive behavior that sometimes goes on in both places is a moot point
since the general subject matter is unappealing to start with.

The question is this: What do we want to do about it?

Here is my proposal:

1) Keep the current mailing list and the current monthly meetings the
same as they currently are. For all of their problems, they are a
valuable resource as they currently exist and might as well be left to
continue as they currently are. The only issue with leaving things as
they are would be that if some behavior is not improved some technically
minded women and men will be offended and not come back. It's a thorny
issue though (as evidenced), so much discussion needs to be had on what
to do. Fortunately my next two ideas aren't controversial.

2) Create a beginners forum geared towards non-technical users with
willing TriLUG'ers as moderators and question answerers. My experience
has been that new users find forums easier than mailing lists. Since
this is a forum strictly for new users, put a Forum Code of Conduct in
place, to remind every participant to be courteous and polite. 

3) Based on interest level, have occasional meetings (separate from the
normal monthly meeting) on topics of interest to beginning desktop users
- similar to the Linux 101 meeting that was held a month or so ago.

Both #2 and #3 should be pitched and promoted as an outreach to
non-traditional, non-data-center, Desktop Linux users. 

My $0.02

Thanks.

-- 
Daniel Bartholomew

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