Hello list,
On Wed, Oct 2, 2024 at 7:40 AM David Hendricks via coreboot < coreboot@coreboot.org> wrote:
Dear coreboot community members,
Recently there was some unpleasant activity on Gerrit which violated our community’s guidelines regarding respectful conduct. In this case the coreboot leadership team determined that the behavior in question fit a long pattern about which the individual had been previously warned. As a result we have decided to remove Nico from our community for a period of 1 year. We hope this will be a sufficient cooling off period and that we will not need to take more drastic steps in the future.
David, I see you are one of the three members of the leadership team [1]. Could you please provide the following, privately if necessary?
- the minutes for the meeting in which the decision was made (which might contain references to the documents below; if the meeting minutes are not available, I would like to know why) - links to the aforementioned "unpleasant activity on Gerrit" - the guidelines from [2] or [3] (I could not find a document called "community guidelines") that were violated
Not knowing what happened nor why makes me afraid to contribute, lest the same fate befall me as well. Especially considering that Nico has been a role model for me as I was learning the ropes of firmware development, so most of the things about coreboot as well as authoring and reviewing changes I have learned from him.
As we've said in the past, we trust that developers in our community are acting in good faith and can generally resolve issues on their own. In cases where two sides cannot reach an agreement, for example in a code review, we expect all engagement to be respectful and to help drive toward a solution. For technical matters this often means starting a mailing list discussion, bringing an issue up during the coreboot leadership meeting, starting a task force to tackle a large problem, or other means of gathering input and collaborating.
Personal matters should be brought to the leadership team directly. We'll listen to any complaints or frustrations, but cannot tolerate personal attacks made on Gerrit, the mailing list, or other forums. It is always required that we treat others in a professional manner and communicate with respect, regardless of how strongly we may feel about a particular issue.
A tiny remark about professional manner: when interacting with others I know, I like sprinkling a bit of humour in my messages, but without being disrespectful towards anyone (no dark humour and no making fun of others) or compromising my knowledge/abilities (do not overdo it and consider that not everyone might get it). I believe this does not make me unprofessional, but I am happy to listen in case anyone disagrees.
Other than that, I agree with the above, but I also believe it is important to be aware that misunderstandings can and will happen, especially considering that people from all over the world can contribute, each with their own culture and tradition. Not everyone is a native English speaker (even if it does not seem like it, I am not). Not everyone is capable of noticing when a discussion is getting too heated/tense, let alone do something to end it before it is too late (I am trying to get better at this). Not everyone communicates the same way, e.g. autistic people tend to communicate in direct and literal ways that can be misinterpreted by non-autistic people [4] (I am autistic, I have had this happen before), whereas other autistic people have no issues with this communication style.
I believe that the information in [4] (especially the list of 12 rules) is valuable and I would appreciate having them integrated into our own guidelines, although I agree they should be guidelines rather than strictly-enforced rules: misunderstandings are *still* inevitable and will happen. In case of a misunderstanding, I think the most sensible way to proceed is for someone (preferably one of the participants) to notice that "something feels wrong" and remain calm, disengaging from the discussion if needed (e.g. wait before replying to an email or review comment). If possible, try to bring it up without pointing fingers, e.g. "I feel this discussion is heating up: is there anything I can do to help, or am I reading into things?" or (quoting a response) "This sounded quite rude to me, was it intentional?". This requires being able to recognise that tension is building up and restraining one's impulses; I understand this is not trivial to accomplish, especially if one is susceptible to getting angry (e.g. me).
If anybody feels that a discussion has become too heated, or that somebody is not being treated respectfully, or are simply unsure of how to proceed in a difficult situation, please reach out to the coreboot leadership and we will chart a path forward together. _______________________________________________ coreboot mailing list -- coreboot@coreboot.org To unsubscribe send an email to coreboot-leave@coreboot.org
Best regards, Angel
[1]: https://www.coreboot.org/leadership.html [2]: https://doc.coreboot.org/community/code_of_conduct.html [3]: https://doc.coreboot.org/contributing/gerrit_guidelines.html [4]: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/socialinclusion/projects/letstalkaboutdisabil...