User:Sophivorus/CoC

The discussion is about a set of changes done by the WMF to the Code of Conduct (CoC) as a result of a previous discussion. Some of the changes were minor and caused no controversy, while others sparked debate. Of these, some reached consensus and others didn't. Below is a list of the notable changes with a summary of the corresponding debate and result:


 * New "Expected behavior" section added, containing positive guidelines to complement the negative guidelines of the "Unacceptable behavior" section. This change was well received (though one particular guideline was found vague or unhelpful by 4 non-WMF users), but then another discussion started to determine if the positive guidelines should become a separate document, and clear consensus was reached that yes, so the "Expected behavior" section was finally moved out of the CoC.
 * New unacceptable behavior added: "Publication of non-harassing private communication". This was met with strong resistance by User:Krenair (and to a lesser degree by other users). The main concern was that the given wording hinders publication of useful conversations that the sender could reasonably be expected to agree to publish, such as advice on how to code something, or a summary of a discussion. Finally a new wording was proposed ("Inappropriate or unwanted publication of private communication") as a compromise to address the raised concerns, and received enough (but not complete) support.
 * New paragraph added to the "Unacceptable behavior" section, explaining how the Committee will not consider certain acts as violations of the CoC, even if superficially they may appear so (for example, criticizing racism may offend a racist person, but such criticism will not be considered against the CoC). This new paragraph was generally welcome, but one particular element ("Refusal to explain or debate social justice concepts") required clarification. The main concern was that the given wording may suggest that users must be familiar with social justice concepts. After some talk, it was rewritten thus:

Furthermore, the following changes sparked no controversy:


 * Neuroatypicality was added as a characteristic for which no one should be harassed, discriminated, etc.
 * Flexibility about how project maintainers can respond
 * Several changes to "Unacceptable behavior" section:
 * Addition of explanatory section that explains things the Committee will not consider violations, and how they will take the context of # incidents into account.
 * A new unacceptable behavior was added, prohibiting publication of non-harassing private communications, per being a form of harassment