Nathan Sidwell <nat...@acm.org>:
> The choice to /not/ have a policy for ejecting jerks has serious costs. One
> of those costs is the kind of rancorous dispute that has been
> burning like a brushfire on this list the last few weeks.
The situation isn't that symmetrical. The brushfire didn't happen when it
was a norm here that off-list behavior was not the list's business. It
only came about when some people decided that norm should no longer apply.
I'm not judging RMS's behavior (or anyone else's) one way or
another. I am simply pointing out that there is a Schelling point in
possible community norms that is well expressed as "you shall judge by
the code alone". This list is not full of contention from affirming
that norm, but from some peoples' attempt to repudiate it.
(For those of you unfamilar with the concept, a Schelling point is
one of natural equilibrium in a two- or molti-player game, such that
when you move away from it all parties' decision costs go way up.)
--
<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>
