threads / discuss / 53692

Re: git-for-windows supporting public shaming and repressing community's opinion

Subject: Re: git-for-windows supporting public shaming and repressing community's opinion

## tl;dr

2 messages between Jun 16, 2020 and Jun 16, 2020.

replies: 1people: 2as markdown or json

Kaue Doretto Grecchi· Jun 16, 2020, 20:52 UTC · lore
> It does avoid being directly disrespectful and thus might not technically violate the code of conduct
The repo's code of conduct (Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct) states that:
> Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
> [...]
> Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
> Public or private harassment

So it does violate the CoC and should have been removed like other comments. But it was not only kept there, it was not disputed by the admins even after they deleted 4 other messages following his. I personally think it says something about their bias and this should be addressed, even if we don't consider the issue's motivations.

> Just my own guess here, but I think calling others' arguments "dull
> and kind of childish" is not civil or respectful, and thus that you
> missed the reasons for your being blocked.

Stating that *an argument* is "dull and kind of childish" does not mean I think the same about who wrote it. I was making arguments, the user stated that *I* would be wary of using the word "cock" in one of my projects' name as if I was not mature enough. It's a personal, disrespectful statement that tried to insult and shame me as immature. From my point of view I was blocking for defending myself while trying to address the issue's reasoning.

But for the sake of arguing, let's say I did deserve the block. Why was it made *after* a whole lot of other commentaries and negative votes on the proposal rather than at the moment it was made? Because the block has nothing to do with the comment itself nor a will to enforce the CoC.

Jeff King· Jun 16, 2020, 22:03 UTC · re: Kaue Doretto Grecchi · lore
On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 05:52:02PM -0300, Kaue Doretto Grecchi wrote:
Show 6 quoted lines
> > Just my own guess here, but I think calling others' arguments "dull
> > and kind of childish" is not civil or respectful, and thus that you
> > missed the reasons for your being blocked.
> 
> Stating that *an argument* is "dull and kind of childish" does not
> mean I think the same about who wrote it.

Just to be clear, I think saying something like "your argument is stupid", even though it does not attack the person _directly_, is still not up to the level of communication I'd hope in our community. In particular:

  - it's unconstructive; say what you don't like about the argument in a
    way that can move the discussion forward.
  - it's needlessly inflammatory
> I was making arguments, the
> user stated that *I* would be wary of using the word "cock" in one of
> my projects' name as if I was not mature enough.

I didn't read the original comment that way at all. I read it as a response to the notion that words have different meanings in different contexts. I.e., that while nobody is likely to think the original writer using "cock" meant the male anatomy and not the bird, the word carries enough connotations that one might be careful of using it. Even though the reader can tell you meant one and not the other, it often puts the image of the other in their mind before they get to that point.

Certainly I think one could argue how often this is or isn't the case for "master", or what responsibility writers have to avoid this situation, etc, which might be more constructive directions (though they also risk hitting unconstructive dead-ends on base assumptions, it can sometimes be useful to play out the arguments and get a better understanding).

> It's a personal,
> disrespectful statement that tried to insult and shame me as immature.
> From my point of view I was blocking for defending myself while trying
> to address the issue's reasoning.

I'm sympathetic to that, if that's how you interpreted the comment. In such a case I find it can sometimes be helpful to explain how you perceived the comment. That can help clear up misunderstandings. Or if you did interpret their view correctly, maybe expose the other side more clearly as a jerk, at which point you're probably better off saying "please stop being a jerk" and disengaging (again, in my experience).

That's not always easy, of course.
Show 5 quoted lines
> But for the sake of arguing, let's say I did deserve the block. Why
> was it made *after* a whole lot of other commentaries and negative
> votes on the proposal rather than at the moment it was made? Because
> the block has nothing to do with the comment itself nor a will to
> enforce the CoC.

I'm not sure what you're asking here. Maintainers of projects aren't reading comments in real-time. Nor is their sole job policing comments. It seems reasonable to me that they might not realize action needs to be taken in a thread until the thread as a whole has started moving in an unproductive direction. At which point it may be worth marking any communication in the thread that isn't up to the project's standard.

But perhaps your question was purely rhetorical in order to make the final sentence. I don't agree with the conclusion in your answer, though.

-Peff

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