Re: Add Code of Conduct (issue 575620043 by address@hidden)

[Carl Sorensen]

From: Mike Solomon <address@hidden>
Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2020 at 12:27 PM
To: "address@hidden" <address@hidden>, "address@hidden" <address@hidden>, 
"address@hidden" <address@hidden>, "address@hidden" <address@hidden>, 
"address@hidden" <address@hidden>, Carl Sorensen <address@hidden>, 
"address@hidden" <address@hidden>
Cc: "address@hidden" <address@hidden>, "address@hidden" <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: Add Code of Conduct (issue 575620043 by address@hidden)

On 2020/02/05 18:17:25, c_sorensen wrote:
That's a really good point and I see where Carl and David N are coming from. It 
seems like a Code of Conduct is not a good fit at this time. More people in the 
community would need to come around to the idea for it to work.

Maybe what I'll do is touch base in a few months and see if any opinions have 
changed, including of course my own. In the meantime, I would encourage people 
to reflect on LilyPond's shrinking number of contributions and developers and 
consider if a lack of a code of conduct could be one of the reasons it is 
difficult to grow. As a benchmark, one good place to look is the Contributors 
Covenant website. There is a list of communities that have implemented it. Ask 
the maintainers how they feel about it, cite the concerns brought up here, and 
ask if they feel it could, from their outsider perspective, be helpful for 
LilyPond. I know that, personally, I have really appreciated the code of 
conduct in projects that I have contributed to since leaving LilyPond 
development. I have also appreciated the relative ideological and demographic 
diversity of those projects, which has introduced me to perspectives about race 
and gender that are lacking in the LilyPond community.

It could of course also be the case that people are happy with the status quo 
in LilyPond, in which case it (or other things to grow the community in size 
and inclusivity) are not necessary. I personally am saddened by my own leaving, 
the leaving of others, the lack of growth and the lack of diversity, and this 
is one proposal to start changing it, but I understand the objections.

I’d be open to having my mind changed.  I think that the LilyPond community is 
poorer when Mike is not participating in it.

Mike, do you have any specific occurrences that caused you or others to stop 
participating in LilyPond development, and that you feel would be resolved (or 
resolvable) by adopting a code of conduct?  I’d be very interested in hearing 
them (preferably on the list, if you’re comfortable sharing them; or in 
private, if you’re not).

In your writing I sense that you have some troubles with the LilyPond community 
to which I am oblivious.  It’s not uncommon that I would be oblivious to such 
troubles.  I’d like to know more about them.

I think it very unlikely that implementing a Code of Conduct would draw large 
numbers of new contributors to the project.  I can’t imagine that there are 
large numbers of people running around saying “I’m looking for a project with a 
code of conduct to contribute to.”

On the other hand, it’s not unlikely that there are problems in the LilyPond 
community that I have not noticed, and that adopting a Code of Conduct might 
draw previous contributors who noticed problems back in to the LilyPond 
community.

I need to understand the problem before I’m going to be in favor of a change.  
I’d love to be educated (this is a serious statement) about the problems that I 
haven’t noticed.

Thanks,

Carl