Wouter Verhelst writes ("Re: Result of the Code of Conduct BOF at Debconf [and 1 more messages]"): > Op 15-08-13 11:48, Ian Jackson schreef: > > I think the existing draft is far too long. I'd like to propose > > something much shorter: ... > > Debian code of conduct > > ---------------------- ...> > > > Debian expects everyone to help keep our community welcoming and fun: > > > > * Be respectful. > > > > * Assume good faith. ... > It has always been my intention to have the section headers in the draft > that I'd sent around be normative, with the text in between be > "explanations"; people who read the titles (and skip everything else) > should understand at a basic level what we expect. We may wish to make > this clear through markup.
I think that's a very odd thing to do. A document which was mostly non-normative text would be very strange. I appreciate that a lot of people have contributed to various parts of the wording. But I think that adding the extra "explanation" actually weakens the document. It also makes it harder to get agreement, because in principle we need to thrash out all those details. I have refrained from getting into the detailed nitty gritty of the wording of the longer CoC draft, but if I were to review it with a careful eye I think I would find a lot to quibble with. And in Debian every complaint about a document tends to be met by adding new wording to clarify things. That may be appropriate in a technical document, but for a political statement like this one I think it's harmful. We should err on deleting text. I think the example of the diversity statement is a good one. Ian. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-project-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/21113.16063.668764.373...@chiark.greenend.org.uk