Given the hope for self-managing issues and conflicts within community members before escalating to the CWG I propose we provide some links to useful resources about conflict resolution and mediation. I don't know exactly where this would go initially but thought it could be good to collect any good resources people know of.

I have found these useful in the past:

Conflict Resolution Network: http://www.crnhq.org/pages.php?pID=7
Berkley Uni have a good summary here: http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/guides/managing-hr/interaction/conflict/resolving
Mediate.com has some interesting articles: http://www.mediate.com/resolution.cfm

Just a starting point. I don't think we need to or should be reinventing any wheels so signposting to these kind of resources may be useful?

Comments

kattekrab’s picture

Yes - I think something like this would be useful - and could perhaps live under here somewhere:

https://www.drupal.org/governance/community-working-group

Might we have any volunteers to draft something?

I've recently also been impressed with Tammy Lenski's stuff
http://lenski.com/blog/

lzimmerman’s picture

I think the recent events surrounding Larry Garfield's ban underscore the significance of "the hope for self-managing issues and conflicts within community members before escalating to the CWG."

What concerns me most about Garfield's ban is 1) the insistence on the threat posed by ideas in lieu (so far as I am currently aware) of incidents, and 2) the impression I have gathered that this was a top-down rather than a community-driven action. While I understand that ideas are not always harmless, and that speech alone can be violent, I feel that it is much more difficult to lay down protocol around the banning of community members for their personal beliefs rather than for documented actions. More specifically:

1. From this incident, it appears that ideology can constitute cause for expulsion from the community. If so, must we define incompatible ideologies and methodically ban users who appear to subscribe to them? If not, what defends the expulsion of Garfield in particular when it is fairly likely that others in the community share similar views?

2. While I understand that majority rule has its own dangers, I am in favor of a stronger, self-managing community wherever possible. How can we - as a broad community - deal with colleagues about whom we have grave concerns, without necessarily handing the matter over to a tribunal and removing it from our collective hands? Or, at what point would such a handoff be appropriate (e.g. criminal misconduct, threats, actions constituting CoC violations)?

I see that there are a few conflict-resolution and incident-reporting documents on the CWG page, so maybe that remains a good place for us to organize information.

I think it might be constructive to consolidate any available documents concerning procedure and levels of escalation surrounding violations (philosophical or material) of Drupal's Code of Conduct. Perhaps we can clarify expectations, responsibilities, reporting process, and methods of reprisal where the CWG and the wider Drupal Community converge.

kattekrab’s picture

@lzimmerman - a small correction, Larry Garfield was not "banned". He was asked to step down from leadership positions and leave the community.

The broader question about resourcing members of our community to better understand, and handle conflict, is still open.

The better question, is how to communicate the complexity of the structures and processes we do have. I've seen lots of wild speculation and misinformation floating around, which is frustrating.

rachel_norfolk’s picture

Hi,

As we are looking to place more issues describing the governance of the CWG here (as opposed to the actual activity of the CWG), I’d like to do some “tidying up”.

Can you please describe what actions are needed to close this issue for you?

Thanks

Rachel, CWG

gdemet’s picture

Status: Active » Fixed

The CWG has created and is maintaining an ongoing Reading List of articles that we've found helpful at as part of our overall resources section.

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed - issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.