I am in general very pro code-of-conduct. Still, this call to build something better has interesting thoughts in it https://shiromarieke.github.io/coc.html
But I'm not sure what something better would be yet, so ATM I think having a CoC is best
@cwebber My personal experience with various projects is that often the CoC is generally unevenly applied and certain people seem almost exempt from the rules. A big thing is that trans people are often thrown under the bus when a TERF comes around.
The CoC ultimately is only as good as the community's will to enforce it. I think it's up to people to consider forking a project if they believe strongly the project is not upholding the values they claim to.
@cwebber The CoC's sort of "model" doesn't really address existing community issues effectively. All it can do is be a prophylatic measure against such issues from taking hold, if they haven't already.
But if it already has, the CoC is as good as dead from day zero. I don't believe any CoC can fix that.
The CoC is like a vaccine, not an antibiotic.
@Elizafox This is in contrast to a copyright license which must be legally precise, because it's enforced in court. CoCs are generally community normative documents.
@cwebber Overly precise documents are not the answer.
Anyone who is looking for loopholes to abuse others doesn't belong in the organisation. I'm not sure what language best covers this, but it should never be tolerated.
@cwebber There is also a danger in playing fast and loose with a CoC that becomes so vague even minor accidents can become grounds to throw someone out. On the other hand, abuse of CoC's does sometimes happen (but before the CoC, people were just unjustly thrown out under bogus pretenses anyway; it's just a new form of cover).
@Elizafox IME a CoC has been a document we can point to when someone is behaving in a way we consider unacceptable in our community... "change your behavior or leave".
A lot of recent calls have been made to make CoCs explicit in what is/isn't allowed and define enforcement paths. But it's hard to know what you'll run up against in advance and I have had "well the CoC didn't explicitly say this was bad so I'm fine!" experiences (no, it's still not ok). I'm not sure preciseness is best.