values & principals

[dsernst]

What values does LetsFix embody and promote? What are our principals? At a risk of getting too lost on theory, and losing track of the practical, won't focus on this too much at this point in time. Leaving this as a placeholder to consolidate discussion around this topic.

[dsernst]

(cf. http://docs.meteor.com/#sevenprinciples )

[dsernst]

some ideas:

• open -- anyone & everyone is welcome. the more perspectives the better. "given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow"
• voluntarily -- everything is opt-in. nothing is forced. anyone can walk away at any time
• avoiding the ego -- this is about us, not you / me as individuals
• empowered -- we feel capable to stand up, speak for ourselves, do things for ourselves. “The world needs people who see something that needs to be done and start to do it, without permission or advice. They just start doing it.”
• long-term over short -- try to keep the long-term consequences in mind, and don't merely go for the quick band-aid fixes, kicking the can down the road for future-us to deal with

[iangilman]

These are all great.

This may not be the right place to discuss this, but while we pursue openness, we still need to think about how to deal with disruptive influences. We should be open to people who are trying to help, but we also need a sturdy enough immune system to handle trolls, spammers, etc. One foundation for this is a principle of mutual respect.

[a1949seeker]

That's a bingo!

On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 4:43 PM, iangilman notifications@github.com wrote:

These are all great.

This may not be the right place to discuss this, but while we pursue openness, we still need to think about how to deal with disruptive influences. We should be open to people who are trying to help, but we also need a sturdy enough immune system to handle trolls, spammers, etc. One foundation for this is a principle of mutual respect.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LetsFix/letsfix.net/issues/31#issuecomment-49558936.

[dsernst]

"Mutual respect". Great one! And good points about being responsive to disruptions.

Somewhat along the same lines, I've been thinking a lot about ideas related to freedom of speech. That doesn't quite sound right for a label, but I'm trying to get at an idea of freedom to contribute your personal view, even when it's not shared by the majority. "The right to communicate one's opinions and ideas... to anyone who is willing to hear them."

[iangilman]

Many problems can be productively addressed in multitude of ways. Problem pages should seek to document all of these ways, rather than being a popularity contest for "the best way". That said, we can still sort by popularity, so if you don't know where to start, you don't have to sift through all the options. The other options will still be there, though, not suppressed, so people can find what they must resonate with.

With free speech there's always the tension between suppressing minority opinions and forcing people to hear something they don't want to. The answer, as always, is somewhere in the middle.

[dsernst]

+1

On Saturday, July 26, 2014, iangilman notifications@github.com wrote:

Many problems can be productively addressed in multitude of ways. Problem pages should seek to document all of these ways, rather than being a popularity contest for "the best way". That said, we can still sort by popularity, so if you don't know where to start, you don't have to sift through all the options. The other options will still be there, though, not suppressed, so people can find what they must resonate with.

With free speech there's always the tension between suppressing minority opinions and forcing people to hear something they don't want to. The answer, as always, is somewhere in the middle.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LetsFix/letsfix.net/issues/31#issuecomment-50244580.