On Codes on Conduct Allan MacGregor 1 day ago https://medium.com/@allanmacgregor/on-codes-on-conduct-37f3247b5e49 Recently, there has been a lot of controversy and discussion surrounding the adoption of a code of conduct for the PHP project; there has been endless back and forth between proponents and opponents of the motion. I’ve debated if I should publish my opinions on the subject or simply remain quite and hope for the best; however as emails from the internals list continued to flood my inbox, I found it harder and harder to just sit idly silent. The following article(s) are heavily opinionated and there is a very good chance that you will disagree with my position and my arguments, the topic by is very nature is extremely contentious and of a sensitive nature. However, they say that disagreement fosters communication and the exchange of ideas; and I’m hoping that is true in this case. With that said, let’s jump into the topic at hand and start talking about code of conduct. [...] Unfortunately, as most things in the real world it is not as simple as it sounds and we need to at least be aware of the consequences, side effects, and political baggage documents like a code of conduct can have. Let’s start by taking a closer look to the Code of Conduct original proposed for the PHP project: contributor-covenant.org [...] If we are truly talking about creating a welcoming and open community, then we need to listen and address the concerns of detractors as much as we do for the proponents of the CoC; after all, the goal is equality and fairness; is it not? Even without accounting for this scenario, getting banned from contribution under the accusation of misconduct could cause problems in the real world and their work; you could get you banned from conferences, affect publishing deals, in short, it could royally mess up with your career. As it stands, the current proposal for the Code of Conduct has hit an impasse; the more the discussion seems to go on, the more it seems that the proposal is attempting to setup a mini-judicial system; and speaking candidly, the PHP community is not capable of pulling this off. [...]