Community and contribution [was: Re: http://wiki.dlang.org/DIP25]

[Walter Bright via Digitalmars-d]

On 1/2/2015 1:17 PM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling via Digitalmars-d wrote:
> How about a link at the top of the forum.dlang.org page saying something like,
> "Before posting, please read our _community guidelines_" ?  With the page linked
> to containing advice like the above.
>
> I know that there's always been a lot of pride that we've always been able to
> get along without some kind of code of conduct, but ... well, guidelines are not
> the same as a code, and anyway, not having guidance just doesn't scale in my
> experience.

I've been extremely reluctant to have any sort of official conduct code. I 
prefer a gentle nudge on a case by case basis, and just deleting the posts of 
incorrigible trolls.

Leading by example, implicit expectations of good conduct, and peer pressure can 
be amazingly effective.

A code of conduct that says things like "don't harass others, no illegal 
content, etc." are just pointless, patronizing and frankly insulting. If someone 
wants to behave badly, is a code of conduct really going to change their mind?

Caltech, which I attended, was very influential on me in that it is the only 
school in the world that has a real honor system. Nobody else has the guts to 
try it. I've had good success applying the principles of it ever since, and this 
forum is one of them.

Essentially, the default attitude is to trust that people are honest and decent. 
I don't tell them how to be honest and decent, I just assume that they are. It 
works amazingly well.

(At Caltech, for example, exams are not proctored by institute policy. You can 
even take time limited tests home with you and do them when you're ready. The 
number of Fs students get on exams is a pretty good indicator that when they're 
trusted, they rise to the occasion.)

I've noticed that the D community is an unusually honorable and decent group of 
people. Maybe that's due in some part to implicitly expecting them to be so, or 
maybe that's my own hubris. But I am extremely unwilling to risk that by posting 
a "code of conduct" that assumes people need lessons in how to behave.