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Date:   Wed, 10 Oct 2018 18:33:19 -0400
From:   "Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com>
To:     Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>
Cc:     Frank Rowand <frowand.list@gmail.com>,
        Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>,
        ksummit-discuss@lists.linuxfoundation.org,
        James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@hansenpartnership.com>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [PATCH] code-of-conduct: Remove explicit list
 of discrimination factors
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Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>:
> > The words removed by this patch are a political statement.
> 
> Choosing not to say those words is a political statement.

The situation is not symmetrical.  Choosing the protected classes
in the CoC is a *change* in its implied politics. 

It's a change that is, obviously from LKML traffic, very contentious.
If this were a tpurely technical matter, it would be described as
not backwards-compatible.

It's a change that, I submit, should not have been made without a clear
consensus *in favor* of the change.

Our culture has a process for this. It's called RFCs. If we want to
designate protected classes to be called out in conductt guidelines,
an RFC should be floated first and the change should be made only
if rough consensus has been achieved.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

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