Maintainers behind the Ruby programming language have revised the project's Code of Conduct on GitHub to remove tolerating opposing viewpoints as a prerequisite.
The decision comes after a community member was seen posting a joke that many deemed sexist and ageist.
Tolerance for opposing views no longer enforced
Ruby's Code of Conduct has historically stated that community members maintain regard and tolerance for each other's viewpoints, even if they aren't always in agreement:
But, on September 29th, in a pull request titled, "Remove abuse enabling language," software engineer Jake Herrington proposed that Ruby's Code of Conduct be revised to ensure everyone in the community feels safe.
Herrington's initially proposed change to the code was minimal: changing that participants should "always assume good intentions" when interpreting words and actions of others to "participants should speak and act with good intentions, but understand that intent and impact are not equivalent."
But, a pseudonymous GitHub member urged that the document be further revised to take out the line on opposing viewpoints.
"Some people may have views that when expressed, may be harmful to the interest of particular groups of people like big corporations. This has to be taken into account," suggested the user.
The following day, Ruby's documentation was further updated to convey the suggested language, as confirmed by BleepingComputer:
The change is now live on the Ruby website.
Herrington's rationale behind the swift move is based on a recent action of a community member. In the Ruby mailing list, the member is seen posting a note on how Ruby's Date.today method behaves, along with a sexist remark.
A Twitter thread by Ruby Lead and Square's Global Neurodiversity Chair, Brandon Weaver explains what caused these changes to be made.
Ruby's decision attracts polarized views
Many urged that the mailing list moderators step up and figure out a solution to prevent such a behavior in the future:
"Who is responsible for this mailing list? If it's not appropriately moderated I will suggest removing references to it from [the Ruby Mailing Lists page] today," expressed developer Olivier Lacan.
And, to a large extent, most Ruby community members have welcomed the subtle but noteworthy revisions to the Code of Conduct.
"Just wanna say thanks for publicly denouncing this behavior. What's going on in there right now is absolutely disgusting and shameful," tweeted Ruby developer Jemma Issroff.
But, not everyone is pleased with this approach, as seen in different places:
In the GitHub thread started by Herrington, user Brian Spilner argued that as a consequence there may be no more room for any kind of jokes, as someone is bound to get offended:
"As a consequence, there will be no more space for any kind of humor (cause someone could feel shocked)... no more general criticism (cause some ppl might feel too offended) unless we use the perfect working for that... but hang on: what if some ppl still feel offended even IF we use the right words? Do they loose [sic] the right to feel offended in that case?"
Later, a debate emerged on Y Combinator's Hacker News leaving netizens divided:
"So in the name of being inclusive, they're bullying someone who is not a native English speaker for not knowing the nuances of political correctness in a foreign culture? Cool cool," posted a pseudonymous user.
But, the Ruby community is pretty clear on what constitutes acceptable behavior, and that advanced technical knowledge is no excuse for poor conduct.
Ruby's mailing list guidelines also advise to always be friendly, considerate, tactful, and tasteful, so as to keep the environment hospitable and safe for everyone.
"To be honest, I think that catering to 'fire-breathing' wizards is a bad policy. I don't care what technical knowledge or context someone brings to a conversation, it shouldn't be codified in conduct docs that Ruby 'caters' to jerks," says Herrington.
"That behavior certainly doesn't reflect the values that attracted me to the Ruby community in the first place."
"For the sake of clarity, it is the community that keeps me in the Ruby space. If those values aren't being lived, then why would I pick Ruby over other technically viable tools in the same space?" continues Herrington.
No matter what changes are ultimately included in the new Code of Conduct, the debate on the matter has become so polarized that there will always be someone who is upset with the outcome.
Update—Oct 3rd, 2:40 AM ET: Replaced links to tweets with archived copies as the tweets were restricted or removed after the publication of this article.
Comments
DrkKnight - 2 years ago
Well I guess the wokeness finally made it's way to software, no surprise, someone got their little feelings hurt and couldn't deal with it.
wacstech - 2 years ago
The is wokeness started with Firefox several yrs ago. Just going to get worse from this point forward.
DrkKnight - 2 years ago
Really doesn't matter to me , I am gonna speak my mind no matter what , don't like it? go grab your blanket and sit in a corner somewhere. I really do not know when the entire world got so thin skinned.
We have raised an entire generation of sissies.
h_b_s - 2 years ago
"Really doesn't matter to me , I am gonna speak my mind no matter what , don't like it? go grab your blanket and sit in a corner somewhere. I really do not know when the entire world got so thin skinned.
We have raised an entire generation of sissies."
Then you might as well sissy that walk, because the rest of us don't have to take the abuse.
Knight_of_BAAWA - 2 years ago
The problem is that some people confuse "truth" with "abuse" just because truth makes them feel bad.
DrkKnight - 2 years ago
Oh really ......... Did Mark Zuckerberg give you that line @h_b_s?
Social media does not and never will dictate my life, tell me what I can and cannot say and or think.
See that's the problem, the kids that were never socially accepted in real life twenty years ago are trying to dictate how we live and think today through social media. Facebook and Instagram lead and every one else is supposed to follow , right? Problem is your not brainwashing anyone but yourselves. Everyone else that has warded off social media still socializes in person and laughs at what social media is trying to accomplish.
Meanwhile young girls become socially disconnected at best , at worst commit suicide because of social media apps all in the name of the almighty Zuckerberg's algorithms and his billions which is not enough for him , he needs more. How many more lives is he going to destroy before everyone wakes up? How many more racial wars is he going to start before people wake up? How many more elections is he going to rig before everyone says enough?
Yeah , inclusion , a word only used on and started by social media. The rest of us live in the real world.
mrsleep - 2 years ago
Watching the death of comedy in real time is sad.
cjbreisch - 2 years ago
You do realize that "not tolerating opposing viewpoints" is the exact opposite of "promoting inclusion", don't you? Please correct your headline.
AxSharma - 2 years ago
I do, but... no matter what changes are ultimately included in the new ̶C̶o̶d̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶C̶o̶n̶d̶u̶c̶t̶ headline, the debate on the matter has become so polarized that there will always be someone who is upset with the outcome.
bsjdysvbjsje - 2 years ago
Community note: tolerance is no longer acceptable.
We are only tolerant of those who agree with us. Way to go all, we've finally lived up to the inclusive goals of freedom loving people everywhere!
NoneRain - 2 years ago
God, people don't know how to handle things anymore.
It's mind blowing how we are changing our society to be opressed, with rules of what one could not say, could not opinion about, could not joke.... Someone is always offended.
Bonus: If I feel offended by someone feeling offended, would this work like a UNO reverse card or should I submit a commit about it?
Citadel - 2 years ago
I can see a next level to this. Smart devices in your home, car, or work, will be listening to your speech and determine an online 'valuable human' score. You still have freedom of speech but you'll pay for it in new ways. Lol!