Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [MAINTAINER TOPIC FOR KS] CoC and Linus position (perhaps undocumented/closed/limited/invite session)

[Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>]

Hi Tim,

On Thursday, 20 September 2018 22:14:31 EEST Tim.Bird@sony.com wrote:
> From: Laurent Pinchart
> > On Thursday, 20 September 2018 16:49:40 EEST Tim.Bird@sony.com wrote:
> ...
> 
> >> The TAB is working out the details of enforcement policy, and a FAQ to go
> >> along with the CoC, that we plan to present at the Maintainers Summit.
> > 
> > May I suggest a (public) forum where everybody could post their concerns ?
> > One big concern is that the new code of conduct was dumped on the
> > community without much warning, dumping a FAQ the same way without
> > consulting the user base could produce a similar feeling.
> > 
> > Discussing the FAQ in public would be best but I understand that would be
> > difficult as it would very well quickly go in all kinds of random
> > directions. A way to report our concerns and feel heard would in my
> > opinion be a good middle ground.
> 
> I think having something to discuss before the Maintainers Summit
> would be a good idea.  My hope is that a FAQ would give the perspective
> of the TAB members on what appear to be the "hot issues" with this change,
> without leading to endless wrangling or bike-shedding.
> 
> I have found people's input on this list to be extremely valuable to find
> out concerns and possible remedies, but this is not the only forum.  (It's
> just more tractable than following LKML, for me, at least.)  But I'd be
> open to other venues.

There has been some useful feedback, but I've found the silence on the mailing 
list pretty deafening compared to the importance of the announcement. It 
screams of private conversations, and I feel some reluctance to speak 
publicly, possibly due to the uncertainty of what will happen now. After the 
Bastille fell, it was wise not to speak out before knowing what the new power 
to be would consider appropriate. Having an official forum to report 
questions, doubts, fears and other feelings (I would say concrete proposals 
too, but that could turn into a bit of a bikeshedding chaos) to help making 
sure the FAQ will address the questions of the community - and not the 
questions that the TAB believes are the important ones, even if the TAB tries 
to do its best - would in my opinion be useful. It could be the ksummit-
discuss mailing list, I just feel that some sort of green light is needed. I 
might be too optimistic though.

To lead by example, I'll ask a question of mines. Since Linus' announcement 
that took many people by surprise (obviously not everybody as the code of 
conduct patch was signed by several TAB members, but by no means by a vast 
majority of the community), all sort of discussions took place in private, and 
rumours have started spreading regarding the events that led to this 
situation. I believe I'm not the only one who would like to be informed about 
the history of this unusual development. While I understand that not all 
information can (or should) always be disclosed, this isn't a case of 
voyeurism, some sort of official story would in my opinion help giving 
cohesion to the Linux kernel community.

-- 
Regards,

Laurent Pinchart