> On Jan 5, 2016, at 10:03 AM, Paul M. Jones <pmjone...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On Jan 5, 2016, at 09:55, Ben Ramsey <b...@benramsey.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jan 4, 2016, at 10:29 PM, Paul M. Jones <pmjone...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> If there's an accusation, then *due process* needs to be applied. If it 
>>> rises to the level of needing *due process* then the police should be 
>>> involved. There's no need, *none at all*, for a star chamber *or* a mob to 
>>> be an amenable authority to salve someone's hurt feelings and ban someone 
>>> else, not even in a temporary capacity.
>> 
>> Isn’t this RFC setting up the due process?
> 
> (/me shakes head)
> 
> No rights of the accused, for one. Opaque star chamber for another. Vague and 
> indefinable terms for a third. It's a *political* action designed with a 
> *political* intent, to enforce *political* in-group at the expense of a 
> *political* out-group.

I think “no rights of the accused” is a fair criticism. I think Larry brought 
up a valid criticism when he said:

> I am a firm believer in the right to face one's accusers.

Let’s assume for a moment we need a code of conduct and/or diversity statement; 
we want to set up rules to govern ourselves in the event that a situation 
arises when someone is legitimately facing harassment in our community. Let’s 
assume the harassment is not life-threatening, nor is it threatening bodily 
harm, so law enforcement isn’t a viable course of action.

What should those governance rules look like for our community?

Anthony has already proposed one form of rules. There is some good criticism of 
these rules: they are too vague, they do not provide protections for the 
accused, too much power is given to a small body, the “public spaces” clause is 
too far-reaching, the rules can be used to silence speech that is unfavorable 
even if it isn’t harassment.

There are groups of excellent programmers who would benefit our community with 
their ideas and contributions, but they feel marginalized and are not 
comfortable taking part in our community without an indication that they are 
welcome to participate and that we are a safe community for them. Should we 
have any form of statement or guidelines to show we are welcoming to all 
people? If we are welcoming to all people, how do we resolve conflicts within 
our community, and how do we enforce resolutions?

Nate pointed to Paul’s “Be Nice” statement for the Solar Framework. I think 
that’s a good start for such a welcoming statement, but what happens when 
someone is not being nice? What is an appropriate course of action?

-Ben

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