[andoon]

My experience says that codes of conduct are written with the express desire of keeping all open source communities left-leaning.

I've talked to many people about the matter and some of them say that open source is supposed to be left-leaning, and that those are its principles. That ignores that right-leaning users should also be able to benefit from open source values (privacy, for example) and contribute code, and that not everybody who uses open source has to be a supporter of the open source principles (for example, I use an open source browser because it's the best, not because I like open source better than closed source).

[IGI-111]

As usual, depends on the contents of the code. That kind of legalese is just tooling to organize discourse.

You won't build an open minded community if its rules mandate righthink. Doesn't mean you can't try and protect people from the kind of stalking and abuse that has happened here.

It's a shame that we have to have more than "be professional and don't be a dick" as community guidelines, but if we have to might as well do it correctly.

[andoon]

Someone who doesn't know that he has to "be professional and don't be a dick" is likely to disregard the code of conduct. And you don't need a code of conduct to kick someone out of a project because he's being unprofessional and/or a dick. Therefore codes of conduct are useless.

[vertex-four]

> And you don't need a code of conduct to kick someone out of a project because he's being unprofessional and/or a dick.

Unfortunately, my experience is that you actually do need to be able to point to something (a) precise and (b) that the community broadly agrees is a valid reason, in order to kick someone out without practically dissolving your community. A code of conduct is simply an agreement which states the community's beliefs on what are valid reasons to kick someone out.

[menacingly]

I agree. It at least feels like it's more a way to showcase your beliefs and give a list of things that may be used to justify actions later, rather than something constructive.

[menacingly]

There definitely is an "oh, we're doing this now" moment when any project or group reaches a size where a code of conduct is published.

It's like wearing a cowboy hat to a meeting. It's not that there's anything wrong with the symbol itself, but it perhaps represents some tedious baggage

[Frondo]

Well, what would a right-leaning code of conduct look like right now? "The Drupal project rejects the rights of gay people to marry each other"? "The Drupal project declares that men and women are better suited to different roles, and men will code and women will do graphic design"?

What are you proposing for a not-left-leaning code of conduct, either neutral or right-leaning?