The Linux Kernel Adopts A Code of Conduct

[euler271]

https://www.newyorker.com/science/el...ux-steps-aside

Good article. Forget all conspiracy theories. It is plain simple.

Yeah, good article. let's take a look, shall we?

Linux’s élite developers, who are overwhelmingly male, tend to share their leader’s aggressive self-confidence.

Apparently to the usual readers of The New Yorker this is bad. And wtf is 'aggressive self-confidence'? a strong self-confidence maybe? who knows...

“Everyone in tech knows about it, but Linus gets a pass,” Megan Squire, a computer-science professor at Elon University, told me, referring to Torvalds’s abusive behavior. “He’s built up this cult of personality, this cult of importance.”

Ok, how is this Megan Squire related at all with the Linux kernel, I'd like to know that. I think they will tell us now why is she relevant in this topic at all.

For a research project, Squire used e-mails from Torvalds to train a computer to recognize insults.

First of all, how is this a good use of your time? is she writing a thesis/paper about the 'white-male programmer toxic environment in tech', probably yes, moving on..

According to Squire’s tabulations, more than a thousand of the twenty-one thousand e-mails Torvalds sent in a four-year period used the word “crap.” “Slut,” “bitch,” and “bastard” were employed much less frequently during that period. Squire told me that she found few examples of gender bias.

Do you see what they did there? The writer is very good, I had to re-read that paragraph to see that period in between 'crap' and the following gender-specific insults. But look, all of those were employed 'much less frequently', how much, the articles does NOT say. I wonder why. Also, I wonder why 'crap' is so common?? It might be because crap can be used along with "[This|your] [code|patch] is *crap*", which Im sure it's used *a lot* by him, because that's basically HIS JOB, and I'm sure putting them all them together was just a coincidence, right??

“He is an equal-opportunity abuser,” she said. Squire added, though, that for non-male programmers the hostility and public humiliation is more isolating. Over time, many women programmers leave the community. “Women throw in the towel first,” she told me. “They say, ‘Why do I need to put up with this?’ ”

Ok, so all this treating equally based on race,gender,etc,etc,etc is basically checked here. he does that already. This 'for non-male programmers the hostility and public humiliation is more isolating' says more about them that it does about Linus' behavior. And that last part is very much true, You dont need to put up with anything if you dont like, that's the whole point of being your own person and being free to choose.

Any women who contribute to Linux point to another open-source project, Python, as a guide for Linux as its faces its #MeToo moment. Guido van Rossum, a white, male programmer from the Netherlands, invented the code for the Python programming language.

Really? 'a white, male programmer'? ok, now that all 'white, male programmers' have a role model in Guido, we can follow his steps, is that it, condescending, random 'journalist'?

In 2015, Sharp advocated for a first-ever code of conduct for Linux developers. At a minimum, they hoped for a code that would ban doxxing—the releasing of personal information online to foment harassment—and threats of violence in the community.

This in particular is funny, because most of us know who are usually the ones who try to dox ppl who disagree with them.

Instead, Torvalds accepted a programming fix provocatively titled “Code of Conflict,” which created a mechanism for filing complaints more generally. In the three years since then, no developers have been disciplined for abusive comments. Sharp, who was employed by Intel at the time, said they carefully avoided Linux kernel work thereafter.

Who is 'they'? They mentioned Intel at the beginning of the article as well, so I can only imagine 'they' is Intel. Let's see, https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pa...ber-2018-Stats , apparently things change drastically in the last couple of years, because Intel now contributes *a lot*, and I'm 100% sure they did that then as well, so 'carefully avoided Linux kernel work thereafter' is false, because I don't see who else can 'they' be referring to, if not Intel, at least following how that paragraph was written.

Complaints will be heard by the foundation’s technical-advisory board, which has ten members, all men.

Nice touch at the end. kudos, Noam Cohen.

[Djhg2000]

Not sure it was mentioned yet (I'm only on page 14, so far) but is anybody surprised it took less than 24 hours after the announcement for the creator of the CoC to set up a GoFundMe page asking for a cool 10k to develop the Proof-of-Concept for "CoC enforcement/management tools"?

"We love FOSS, but only if we're paid for it! We deeply, truly believe in mon ... free software!"

Typical money grab. Wholly foreseeable.

I found the following on the crowdfunding page by Coraline Ehmke:

Over the past several years, code of conduct adoptions by open source projects has become the norm for establishing and communicating community values. However, enforcement of a code of conduct is the real key to creating welcoming and inclusive communities.

Yeah, according to her Wikipedia page and some simple logic she's talking about her own code of conduct here. Actually, let's dig a bit deeper into this one.

Looking at the history of that Wikipedia page, there was an edit by 73.209.47.193 on the 18th of September 2018. That edit was to add Linux to the list of projects which have adopted her code of conduct (and listing a few companies which supposedly adopted it as well). The history of that IP shows edits only on the pages Coraline Ada Ehmke and, of course, Contributor Covenant. This leads me to believe that 73.209.47.193 is none other than Coraline Ada Ehmke herself, or at the very least a fan of hers.

But up to now, only the largest open source projects have had access to the kinds of resources that make enforcement fair and manageable.

Well at least to me, a code of conduct that requires such large resources to enforce is either too strict, too complicated or both. The solution isn't to throw more gas on the fire.

CoC Beacon is a project whose goal is to bring this potential to every open source project, large or small. CoC Beacon will provide project maintainers with a complete set of tools for managing their codes of conduct at all stages: setting up their enforcement teams, documenting their processes, reporting incidents, managing incident reports, forming consensus about enforcement decisions, and communicating clearly with reporters and offenders.

That sounds more like a complete private court system than enforcement of what should be a simple, straight-forward guideline document. I'm actually not sure if such a process would even be legal in some countries.

CoC Beacon will be provided in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model to reduce friction for getting started, so that maintainers can focus on managing their projects and communities with a minimum of setup.

Software as a service? She has gone full Microsoft. Never go full Microsoft.

[Hadrian]

Indeed. Unfortunately that's exactly what the forces at play wants here. Divide and conquer.

However, divide and conquer tactics only works if the divide is successful. Since this is a minority push the majority should be able to push back and have this repelled. We need everyone to stay with Linux and oppose the change.

Indeed. From your mouth to God's ears!

[unixfan2001]

Not sure it was mentioned yet (I'm only on page 14, so far) but is anybody surprised it took less than 24 hours after the announcement for the creator of the CoC to set up a GoFundMe page asking for a cool 10k to develop the Proof-of-Concept for "CoC enforcement/management tools"?

"We love FOSS, but only if we're paid for it! We deeply, truly believe in mon ... free software!"

Typical money grab. Wholly foreseeable.

[Djhg2000]

Yes, it looks like a split (fork) is unavoidable.

Indeed. Unfortunately that's exactly what the forces at play wants here. Divide and conquer.

However, divide and conquer tactics only works if the divide is successful. Since this is a minority push the majority should be able to push back and have this repelled. We need everyone to stay with Linux and oppose the change. Just ignore the code of conduct and it will de facto get dropped eventually.

[jacob]

And what would be wrong with being an actual alt right white rights advocate?

It would still be playing identity politics, seeing people as groups, not individuals, and reducing them to assumed identities. As such, it would be nothing but SJWism, no different from the idiot children from your typical American college campus. That's what would be wrong with it.

This is what today's "progressives" don't understand, and neither do the alt-right/tea party folk. There are no white rights any more than black rights or women's rights, there are only citizens' rights. Martin Luther King and his supporters wanted specifically to end discrimination against Blacks in the US, yet they called themselves the Civil Rights Movement, not Black Rights Movement or such. That's no accident. They, unlike today's identitarians, were intelligent people. They knew that freedom and justice don't exist unless they're blind. They knew that equality means that skin colour/sex/religion should never be a factor because if they become instead a key to entitlements under Byzantine affirmative action policies, then it's still discrimination.

[Hadrian]

https://www.newyorker.com/science/el...ux-steps-aside
Good article. Forget all conspiracy theories. It is plain simple.

Fake news.
And how lame is it to "back up" the SJW's war against code-of-merit projects with a SJW newspaper?

[pheldens]

And what would be wrong with being an actual alt right white rights advocate?

[jukk]

https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/after-years-of-abusive-e-mails-the-creator-of-linux-steps-aside

Good article. Forget all conspiracy theories. It is plain simple.

[Hadrian]

Everyone go read this very well written response on the LKML - https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/9/17/1147
[..]
This is the future of the LKML and linux itself.

Yes, sadly.

Your linked response on the LKML however is good and hits the nail on its head.

Should that happen, thanks God for the GPL that allows us to fork and kiss them goodbye!

Yes, it looks like a split (fork) is unavoidable.

And this has been the goal from the beginning, divide et impera.