[llvm-dev] RFC: Introducing an LLVM Community Code of Conduct

Chandler Carruth via llvm-dev llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
Wed Oct 14 02:29:01 PDT 2015


On Wed, Oct 14, 2015 at 2:02 AM Bill Kelly via llvm-dev <
llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

> Tanya Lattner wrote:
> >> On Oct 13, 2015, at 10:23 AM, Bill Kelly via llvm-dev <
> llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> Renato Golin via llvm-dev wrote:
> >>> On 13 October 2015 at 17:16, Kuperstein, Michael M via llvm-dev
> >>> <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
> >>>> The FreeBSD CoC is, IMHO, much better in this respect (
> https://www.freebsd.org/internal/code-of-conduct.html ).
> >>> Nice! This is so succinct and beautiful!
> >>>
> >>> It doesn't need an overseeing foundation to take opaque decisions, and
> >>> focus on what's really important: the code.
> >>>
> >>> I particularly like "Do not make it personal. Do not take it
> >>> personally.". It means *so* much in such a short sentence.
> >>
> >> Agreed!
> >
> > No offense to the FreeBSD CoC, but I really dislike the line
> > “Do not take it personally”. Quite often when someone is offended,
> > the offender will justify their statements by saying “You are just
> > taking it personally”. I find this frequently used towards women
> > (not saying this community necessarily).
>
> I'd agree, "Do not take it personally" could in certain elocutions
> come off as vaguely patronizing.  But I think it does hint at a core
> concept, which the late Christopher Hitchens expressed as follows:
>
>   When someone says "that's offensive" I respond "I'm still waiting
>   to hear your argument."
>
> I would hope to see the above enshrined as a core sentiment in any
> Code of Conduct purporting to address speech on the Internet.
>

The LLVM community is not the Internet at large and need not be. I think
there are many good forums for uncensored debate of controversial and
sensitive topics, but I do *not* think that this particular open source
software project is such a forum. This is a community for technical
discussion about rather mundane and boring topics such as compilers and
software.

As such, I think we can and should (and have historically for all of the
near decade I have interacted with this community) prioritize differently.
We should be polite and respectful, and insist upon that from others.

The correct response to someone on an LLVM forum telling you "that's
offensive" is some variation on "I'm sorry" and your very best attempt
change how you are communicating to avoid repeating the incident.
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