Are Codes of Conduct a threat to open source projects?



Codes of Conduct have often been pushed to create "safer" environments, while opponents sometimes find such codes repressive and suffocating. But are Codes of Conduct a real danger to the development of open source software?

One developer, fearing for the loss of his job, posted his anonymous response to what he thinks are dangerous Codes of Conduct.

From the anonymous developer's post on Google Drive:

Hello. I'm a professional web developer, but you can't verify that by looking at this page. I'm afraid to post this content under my real name because I'm around people who would try to get me fired from a job I love, or worse. Still, I need to get something off my chest in a space I control. I've been in web development for nearly seven of the ten years that I've been barking orders at silicon, and the undisciplined chaos in the web development community is enough to make me question my career choice. It's not code that bothers me, its people who confuse innovation with fashion, and opinions with infrastructure. Religious wars in software used to be about a fat bearded man named He-macs wrestling a pencil-neck named Vimmy over what text editor to use, but now FOSS devs are concerned about making sure marginalized human beings feel "welcome," as if someone was trying to physically block newcomers. That opens the door to social justice and other buzzwords that prigs use to feel better about themselves, and utopian visions documented in "Codes of Conduct," or CoC. I resent that I've actually been scared into hiding who I am just so I can speak my mind. I feel like I am not allowed to enjoy writing code anymore because communities want to tell me everything from how to think about problems to how to address women. I feel used, and controlled. I hate it, and I don't understand why you are doing this to me. I know I'm not alone in what I think, but I sure do feel alone because none of my colleagues at my day job are going to risk their careers getting up and challenging you. I don't know who or where they are because they are just as freaked out about speaking up as I am. I want to stand up and say something, and right now this is the only way I know how where I get to keep my job. Privilege has absolutely nothing to do with keeping anyone down in software. Do not tell me that you are facing some sort of obstacle to learning or finding opportunity when you have an Internet connection. If you are in computer science you are lucky enough to have more opportunities than you can even fathom. Instead of counting your blessings and taking on the challenges facing you, you squander your own intellect trying to bully people who disagree with you. More at Google Drive

The post by the anonymous developer comes at an interesting time since a new movement has arisen to prevent the institution of Codes of Conduct in open source projects by flatly stating that there will No Code of Conduct.

Here's a sample of the No Code of Conduct (NCoC) on GitHub:

No Code Of Conduct is a groundbreaking new idea. Designed to help you find communities and projects that will not get stuck endlessly debating how members should behave in their communities, only to be found to never be fully resolved to anyone's liking. What if… we all agreed? We are all adults. Capable of having adult discussions. We accept everyone's contributions, we don't care if you're liberal or conservative, black or white, straight or gay, or anything in between! In fact, we won't bring it up, or ask. We simply do not care. Nothing else matters! Q: What if, this makes me feel discriminated against? If you feel this way simply because we do not have a code of conduct, it is hard for anyone to relate to you. This is not intended to discriminate against anyone. Simply because we don't babysit people on our site to make sure they treat you with respect, does not mean we hope you feel unwelcome, or that you are treated without respect. That is just not something we have time for. More at GitHub

The post by the anonymous developer caught the attention of Linux redditors and they shared their thoughts about the issue of Codes of Conduct in open source software: