Few days ago Linus Torvalds added code of conduct to the Linux kernel. And then lot of discussions started.
I had no plans to take part in any of them. But last week I was dragged into one of them and it was not fun. Turned out that people I know and trust when it comes to technical discussions (never met most of them) do not quite understand the need for such.
There are many “code of conduct” documents. Often they differ a lot. I have my own and it is probably the shortest one:
Do not be an asshole. Respect the others.
Simple. I do not care which gender people have when I speak with them (ok, may stare at your boobs or butt once) nor their sexual preferences. Colour of the skin does not matter as most of my friends I first met online without knowing anything about them. Political stuff? As long as we can be friends and do not discuss it I am fine. Etc etc.
It works on conferences. And in projects where I am/was involved.
Someone may say that part of it was shaped by working for corporation (is Red Hat corpo?) due to all those no harassment regulations and trainings. I prefer to think that it is more of how I was raised by parents, family and society.