On the Topic of a Code of Conduct
In the words of Bill and Ted, Be excellent to each other.
There’s not a lot more that we can say that hasn’t been well covered by the law, history, religion, the news, etc. that as a citizen of the internet and the world, you don’t have access to learn on your own about how to be in the company of other people without causing conflict that you can’t resolve with a peaceful discussion and active listening.
Special note if you’ve never been to a hacker conference before, most people who are not up on stage speaking do not like photography, especially of their faces. Consent avoids conflict here too.
But if you want to read something longer, here you go:
Most of you, even if you still live with parent(s) or guardian(s) or in a basement somewhere, have been in public before. These places likely include school, work, a library, a religious place of worship, a hotel, a conference, a bank, a business, or maybe a retail store if you were born before nearly everything could be purchased online without human interaction. It’s also quite likely over your few to many years that you’ve been to these places more than a few times and perhaps reported to one or more authority figures. These experiences should generally inform you on how to get along with others and avoid conflict. Or, when conflict arises these experiences should help you to discuss and resolve that conflict privately, or including other appropriate people if necessary, and without making a scene in person or on the internet.
If for some reason you’ve been living under a rock and this is your first excursion out of some dark cave, we hope you’ve showered and you may wish to read the Delaware Code… although all the laws in Delaware is a lot to read. It’s so long we have not bothered to read more than selective portions of it.
Other recommended guidance on how to act in public can gleaned from all major religious texts, but you’ll need to realize some customs once acceptable have fallen out of favor in modern society (including becoming illegal), which is why the experience of living in modern society is generally the best guidance to discern what norms and customs other people might expect you to follow if you want to get along with them. If you don’t feel like peopling on a particular day, it is best to take some “me time” until you can recharge.
Lastly if there is a specific situation in which you are not sure how to proceed, this is an excellent opportunity to ask a friend, make a new friend, or check with conference staff.
You should be aware that an inability to get along with others or respectfully discuss differences can result in you being unwelcome in a social setting. Throughout history this has involved words like shunning, excommunication, canceling, and banning, for example. It’s possible that you may do something you think is ok that some might agree with you but at the same time many others do not (we live in some strange and polarizing times). How you and the other person(s) address such a situation of conflict may have a large impact on yourself and/or others, and may help or hurt your chances of being welcome to stay in a particular social setting, other social settings in your life, or being welcome back in the future.
Lots of people make mistakes, and how you address those mistakes that you make or want to inform someone else that they have made can make all the difference.