I may just add one little thought to this otherwise excellent argument... Please consider the goal of avoiding to have "victims". "supporting victims" is too late. The damage is done. PS. Pro forma: I'm volunteering as well. Having a small team avoids having to stay at a desk for 3 days and allows the team members to see talks too. On 30 October 2015 at 14:47, Jens Finkhäuser <jens@unwesen.de> wrote:
I think the support for victims of abuse is far more important than writing down rules. Completely agreed. There's only one counter argument, and that is
On Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 01:50:37PM +0100, Pieter Hintjens wrote: that this kind of thing is a leadership problem.
https://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_i... explains it quite well, though the title states "it's a men's issue". While true, the IMHO most interesting part is towards the end, where Katz argues that in any organizations, effective leadership defines community behaviour, and in the case of sexism, effectively decides how it's treated.
For a conference, without any doubt, the "leadership" is the organization team and the speakers. If they - merely by appearing next to it - endorse a written code of conduct, that sets a tone for the community.
As such I'd argue that it's vital a) a code of conduct exist, and b) it's communicated and endorsed by the FOSDEM organizers.
*Beyond that* it may not have much tangible benefit, and all other truly worthwhile effort should go towards supporting victims, just as you say. I'd just not want to see the written code of conduct fall by the wayside because it's regarded as largely decorative.
It's not. It's the thing anyone can point to when they say "you behave in a way the community does not tolerate".
FWIW, I realize I may be replying to this email, but it's not you, Pieter, that I argue with. It's just an argument why a code of conduct is necessary, even if it's "just some text".
I hadn't thought of volunteering before, truth be told I wasn't sure I'd attend the next FOSDEM. But if this thing should fail due to lack of volunteers, I'd feel terrible. So if you need someone to help out with responding to incidents, count me in.
Jens
-- 1.21 Jiggabytes of memory ought to be enough for anybody.