CODE_OF_CONDUCT.adoc

From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-09-20 17:22:49

The subject of a code of conduct has come up a few times, and I think it is
worth having a discussion. I hope that everyone will find the following
statements uncontroversial:

1. Social spaces have rules, either stated or implied
2. Rules need to state clearly what is allowed and what is disallowed, so
that people who may be interested in joining can determine if the culture
is the right fit.
3. Rules need to be enforced
4. The Boost mailing lists already have rules
5. The rules for the mailing list are outdated
6. The rules for the mailing list are not particularly visible

There is value in refreshing the rules for the Boost mailing list, which
are currently described here:

https://www.boost.org/community/policy.html

I think we should do the following:

* Update the rules to be relevant for 2024
* Make the rules visible on the sign-up and administration page for the
mailing lists (at https://lists.boost.org)
* Consider renaming the rules to something other than "Boost Discussion
Policy"
* Send a periodic announcement to the mailing lists reminding everyone of
the rules. These could be timed to coincide with the releases (three times
per year)

The community needs to discuss the things above and come to a consensus.
And we need to make a final decision on what the changes will look like
given the feedback. I don't know that the review process is right for this,
because it will likely be an iterative process where we all work on a
"shared document" to make edits.

The nice thing is that we don't need to wait for the outcome of the Boost
Asset Stewardship review to do this, because the content of the website and
mailing lists is not controlled by the Boost Foundation, the C++ Alliance,
or the proposed Steering Committee. And even before the need to decide
which revision of the updated rules will be accepted by the project,
discussion can take place with no governing body.

There is one hiccup though. Where do we discuss this? The mailing list is
one possibility. However, anyone who joins the mailing list late, or is not
a member of the mailing list, has the problem that the visibility of the
discussion is not very great. They would have to use the archives, and the
archives are not very pleasant. One cannot see the entire discussion as a
single page. And if someone changes the subject, then new related threads
of conversation become more difficult to find.

And at the end of the day, our workflow requires GitHub issues to triage
and assign work items to staff.

Therefore, here is a GitHub issue for this. Everyone can feel free to
participate in a discussion there. Alternatively, if you feel that the
mailing list is a better place, then reply to this post and have a
discussion here. There might be two discussions. Or one. Or none (hopefully
not). And when we are done we can compare the pros and cons of GItHub
issues versus the mailing list. There could be value here. This is the
issue:

https://github.com/boostorg/website-v2/issues/1269

What do you think?

Thanks