A Common Sense Code of Conduct

When it comes to software licensing I tend to go with the WTFPL, which is in my opinion the greatest software license ever written:

Claimants and disclaimers

The WTFPL is not watertight because it doesn’t have a warranty clause, which means people could sue you if there’s a bug in the code. So I just add my own in the same style:

Licensed under the WTPL with one additional clause:

1. Don't blame me

So, do whatever the fuck you want to, but don't blame me.

From a technical perspective, the size and clarity of the license tick all possible boxes. But the main reason I use it is political, it’s about the sort of inclusivity people don’t talk about. While the words of software license agreements are recognised by important people in their suits and wigs, they’re not my words; I’m not a lawyer or a judge, I don’t speak that way. It’d be out of character for me to use caps for anything but a shouty rant, I don’t know what “EXPRESS OR IMPLIED” means and if I ever caught myself saying “INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO” I’d have a word with myself. The obtuse weasel wording in the likes of the BSD 2 clause license do not represent the bluntness and honesty that I personally value.

And I reckon judges have a strong enough sense of justice and enough common sense to rule fairly without needing any of that. If people think they’re actually stupid and corrupt, they can sue me.

Conduct Provisions

I don’t like to contribute to software projects that have a code of conduct, because I think conduct is a matter of common sense; if you need rules to judge conduct then you have no business judging code. But worse than just being codified stupidity, they are usually a policy of judgement and exclusion, an agreement to bend the knee to snobbery.

IMO, an agreement to follow conduct rules written by the decorum-obsessed is the opposite of inclusivity. When it’s written in the language of DEI it’s at best a naïve self-contradiction, and at worst an enabler of snakes.

An alternative

That’s the preamble out of the way, let’s get to the article; my take on a decent code of conduct:

https://github.com/bitplane/CFS-CoC/

The common fucking sense code of conduct v1.0

1. Assume good faith
2. Be less of a dick
3. Wind your neck in
4. Be honest
5. Use some fucking common sense

I could elaborate, but I think that’d go against the spirit of it. So here’s the same thing said with different words:

• Assume people are flawed and human, but generally good.
• If you’re getting one over on someone, you’re not being nice. Be nicer.
• Learn to back down, and to give and take apologies. Chill the fuck out.
• Your credibility and integrity matters, don’t waste it.
• The spirit of an action matters more than the letter of a rule. Think.