Discussion
One of the reasons why Codes of Conduct are so important is the right of Freedom of Association in Safety.
Takes about COCs taking away developers rights show why Freedom of Speech needs to be twinned with Freedom of Association.
Those takes are massive red flags to folks who are marginalised.
We learn those red flags for a reason.
Like my dude, your rights end where you are harming others safety.
But that's fine, we'll form our own groups and you have the freedom to not join us.
@onepict (context, am BDFL of a project without any other contributers just yet) to me it's also a question of when to go for a different governance model? as soon as the first being shows up with a typo change?
Also how to ensure the long term health of the project once handed off to the community? Cause I've seen enough projects which were dear to me get ruined by "the majority" that didn't care.
So how to not hand the project to beings who ruine it?
Am genuinly lost on those issues.
@littlerao I think it is a case of taking your time and being frank and open about your values.
Some of the current issues we have in the wider FOSS world is that projects are encouraged to welcome everyone and work together.
Being prepared to enforce your boundaries is also important. A code of conduct is useless without the will to enforce it.
Much like with LLM users I've found folks against COCs will at some point raise an objection to them.
My project has been there too, it's not easy.
@littlerao @librecast (small project I'm a part of) started on GitHub with the contributor covenant version 1.
We've had a couple of folks contributing and some stay around and some don't. Even that initial version filtered folks out.
But having a stance is important even from the start. Looking at other projects governance is interesting, and we're getting front row seats with the current LLM stuff to see how that holds up.
@littlerao @librecast The only advice I can give you is take your time. Contributions are great, but at this point in time, you have the idea. It's your code, and political outlook in life that's going into your project.
So collaborate with other folks yes, but consider where they stand.
@onepict thanks. I don't have a CoC yet but have chosen the Cooperative non-violent public license for it already as I see issues with all open source licenses (like unlimited commercial exploitation of mega corp and allowing unethical use of the project) and wanna limit that.
I didn't look much into CoC yet, also cause I never really had any contributors so far, so didn't have the need to spend my rare clear time with that.
@onepict I'm a maintainer (the main one ig) on another project, I wanna move that away from github and also build up a healthy community around it that isn't hidden behind a proprietary platform (shitcord)... but idk how to do that without killing the project and I'm aware of my lack of social skill and idk how to pull that off in the best way.
@littlerao You could consider a code forge like @Codeberg
Codeberg uses @forgejo which has an importer tool on it's website. It's also #NoAI
You can also choose some tags and post a little about your project. We're on a network where we've got varying amounts of spoons.
It's not so much "if you build it they will come", more like state your values and some folks will ask questions.
@littlerao Being open about your reasons is still a good thing.
We knew it was a risk closing our Matrix Room but we did write about it. Most folks understood, it did cost us, but it also helped us.
Folks on here do appreciate honesty.
@onepict Great presentation, and kudos to @dentangle for giving it. I have a few of my own shorthands for specific ideas, and the telnet-vs-ssh section reminded me of one of them, which I think you'll both get a kick out of.
@MaddieM4 @dentangle Tumblr has always had such a plethora of takes that give me the giggles.
"Choosing not to play the game is also a move. You cannot escape politics.
Does your new project have a Code of Conduct? [...] What actions will you take to protect your users? How will governance work in your project? By default, as the founder, you have the role of BDFL. Will you retain that role, or take steps to involve the community in your project’s governance? Politics prevades all facets of our technical spaces."
https://librecast.net/fluconf-2025/#tech-is-political
Librecast - Decentralisation and Privacy with Multicast