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

[Joachim Durchholz via llvm-dev]

Am 14.10.2015 um 16:59 schrieb Krzysztof Parzyszek via llvm-dev:
> No, I don't.  I base my opinion on the notion that people don't do bad
> things not because they are illegal, but because the things are---bad.
> The "do unto others" rule is widely recognized for its universal value
> and for most people it comes naturally.

This is true as long as a social group is coherent. It starts to fail as 
the group becomes larger:

1) Some people accept more rudeness and think they can be more rude than 
is acceptable to other community members. These people follow the "do 
unto others" rule, but they're making the place unfriendly towards those 
who cannot stand that level of rudeness and will leave. Let this happen 
a few times, and over the years, you'll see a downwards spiral.

2) The human mind is very, very clever about finding justifications. The 
offender will continue to find justifications for his behaviour, and 
honestly believe them, even if nobody else does - if the offender is 
made aware of the fact, he'll simply claim that "majority does not make 
right" and *still* feel justified.

3) The "do unto others" rule is not universally accepted, exceptions 
exist. Most notably, they do not aply to people "not in my group". Some 
people simply define their group, and consider "everybody too dumb to 
read the docs" an outsider and harrass them mercilessly. When their 
behaviour is challenged, they fall back to (2), such as "these idiots 
shouldn't be in this group, they can return once they have started 
learning".

> No doubt that in the large enough group of people, these views will
> vary, however the LLVM community is not simply a set of people from the
> larger population.  It concentrates people with certain common
> background (type of education, type of profession, etc.), and with that
> background comes a certain common mindset.

Sorry, but: no, I wouldn't take that as a given.
I have seen geniuses with totally inacceptable social behaviour.
And not all of them have the discipline to restrain themselves from 
participating in a community.

You might not have met these because your peer groups have been lucky 
enough to be self-selected, but it does not work in general.