[unsungNovelty]

CoC should facilitate free speech and thought without the worry of repurcussions. But in reality it is now a tool to say "I don't like you/your thoughts, so here comes the hammer". I have seen some of the flimsiest excuses used to ban someone. But the same reason doesn't warrant ban on the people the admins like.

If you are actually right, then talk about in the open. Show restraint from name calling. Not everybody is out there with a hidden agenda. Lobste.rs is a great example of this. No shadow banning. Everything has a reason and accountability.

Shoutout to people like JT from the BSD Now podcast as well. I am a fan of his moderation on the Telegram channel. Atleast as far as I have witnessed, I have seen some of the controversial topics going on and on but not banned for difference of opinions. A lot of de-escalation and patience. It would've been so easy for him to just do some Hammering. But that's not how it goes most of the time.

We need more spaces like this.

[znpy]

Completely bogus argument. The core of the issue is that non-technical topics were brought into technical environments, creating heaps of drama, and then the concept of code of conduct was created to try and stir that drama.

It’s basically addressing the symptoms rather than curing the disease: if you want to do foss, you have to accept you might be collaborating with somebody whose ideas are completely antithetical to yours. Any other approach is not free, and is not open.

[unsungNovelty]

> Completely bogus argument. The core of the issue is that non-technical topics were brought into technical environments, creating heaps of drama, and then the concept of code of conduct was created to try and stir that drama.

Yes. Looks like I didn't clarify my point in the main post. I don't think CoC is helping anyone. It is better to be without it.

I was talking about how CoC's was being applied at present and how it was first introduced. If you've been around since at least early 2000s with flamewars, then you know why CoC came about. It was not a pretty sight. A lot of communities were like 4chan. Unfiltered and with people getting banned when nobody is backing down from an argument. I wasn't rallying for CoC to be made better. But I understand where it came from at the same time.

[znpy]

> then you know why CoC came about

I've been on the Internet when flamewars were common, and CoC weren't a thing yet.

CoC (along with committees) are a very recent thing. They weren't introduced until certain people started exercising moral blackmail onto projects, people and organizations by pushing political topics into technical discussions.

Back in the days of flamewars there were a few rules and pretty much just moderators to enforce them.

Rules were simple, you were usually banned if your messages were either not civil (and here again, the bar was high), if your contributions were comically off-topic or if you spammed the forum/newsgroup/mailing list.

[brazukadev]

What free speech do you expect in a free software project? There is a big chance that discussion is totally off topic and anyone managing a community knows that, for you to not be allowed to destroy it, you should be booted.

[unsungNovelty]

Free speech as in right to opinion without worrying about being silenced. Dead simple. On merit. It's not off-topic all the time. Right now, moderation is unfair and used to silence people.

And it's not just OSS projects you know? There are OSS related communities like Linux / BSD and many many other projects/communities. CoC unfairness is all over there too.

[brazukadev]

I don't care about your opinion when I'm reporting or fixing a bug in a open source project, go preach somewhere else.