Behavioral standards in the free software community

Behavioral standards in the free software community

Posted Jun 8, 2006 5:00 UTC (Thu) by cventers (subscriber, #31465)
Parent article: Behavioral standards in the free software community

Sometimes I wonder to what extent the Linux kernel model works only for the Linux kernel. I really assume it should be applicable in many other places (though I think it's clear you need a leader like Linus to make it happen).

I happen to like this observation in Documentation/ManagementStyle:

Most people are idiots, and being a manager means you'll have to deal with it, and perhaps more importantly, that _they_ have to deal with _you_.

It turns out that while it's easy to undo technical mistakes, it's not as easy to undo personality disorders. You just have to live with theirs - and yours.

However, in order to prepare yourself as a kernel manager, it's best to remember not to burn any bridges, bomb any innocent villagers, or alienate too many kernel developers. It turns out that alienating people is fairly easy, and un-alienating them is hard. Thus "alienating" immediately falls under the heading of "not reversible", and becomes a no-no according to Chapter 1.

There's just a few simple rules here:
 (1) don't call people d*ckheads (at least not in public)
 (2) learn how to apologize when you forgot rule (1)

The problem with #1 is that it's very easy to do, since you can say "you're a d*ckhead" in millions of different ways (*), sometimes without even realizing it, and almost always with a white-hot conviction that you are right.

And the more convinced you are that you are right (and let's face it, you can call just about _anybody_ a d*ckhead, and you often _will_ be right), the harder it ends up being to apologize afterwards.

To solve this problem, you really only have two options:
 - get really good at apologies  - spread the "love" out so evenly that nobody really ends up feeling like they get unfairly targeted. Make it inventive enough, and they might even be amused.

The option of being unfailingly polite really doesn't exist. Nobody will trust somebody who is so clearly hiding his true character.

In a community like LKML, it seems that people being mean are either tolerated because of their history and value, or they do a very effective job in isolating themselves and reducing their own value and trust from the community.

Hence I think behavioral codes aren't really necessary. I'm also not a woman, and can't speak for any, but I don't think the lack of a behavioral code has much to do with it.

I watch the mailing list of several projects, and it seems to me that while people like to be passionate from time to time, these issues seem to regulate themselves best when left nicely alone.

---

(Log in to post comments)