Off the Beat: Bruce Byfield's Blog

At the risk of sounding naive, I'm concerned about how members of the free and open source software (FOSS) community treat each other. No doubt in most parts of the community, people are getting things done while keeping civil. But, publicly, or when the big issues are raised, a sustained nastiness has crept into discussions over the last year or so. Mostly, I try to ignore the tone, but, if possible, I'd like to see it reversed.

Maybe that sentiment sounds like wishy-washy hypocrisy coming from someone who often writes about contentious issues. I know, too, no war is fiercer than a civil war, and that part of the reason for the nasty tone is probably the growing pains of a rapidly expanding community. Yet it seems to me that partisans on all sides are too often wasting their time in flame wars, while forgetting the common cause of building a free operating system.

One of the best ways to counter the feuding spirit I'm talking about is a code of conduct, of the sort used by Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct) or the Fedora IRC helpers (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/IRC_helpers_code_of_conduct). For all that people complain that such codes reduce freedom of speech or threaten their independent spirit, at the very least, spelling out expectations does no harm.

Yet the problem does not seem to be just about behavior, but also about how people process and structure information during discussion.

Given the general level of intelligence in the community, you might expect some sophistication in discussion, and often that is what you find. Too often, though, you find community discussion muddied by information processing that would earn a failing grade in a paper in first year university. And, generally, the worst offenders are those who are most passionate and active in the discussion. The result is that either discussion degenerates to the point where it can no longer be productive, or an inordinate amount of time is spent untangling the fallacies instead of addressing the issues.

In the hopes of helping to prove the level of discussion, here are my suggestions for how participants can improve their every day discourse:

Make sure that you understand what is said, and the context in which it is said

Before you respond to a comment, make sure that you have read it correctly. Don't use it as a springboard for bringing up your own pet topic that is only vaguely related. Check if a comment is meant sarcastically, and avoid distortion due to not noticing the qualifying remarks around it. If you can't report accurately what someone says, then your own comments will be inaccurate, too.

Assume good intentions until you have proof otherwise

Someone who holds a position with which you disagree is not necessarily evil, nor in the secret employ of Microsoft. Often, they are expressing a sincere belief. Of course, it may be a mistaken belief, but if you attack the person, you are not going to persuade them that they are mistaken.

Use diplomatic and helpful language

When I was a university instructor, I soon learned that simply marking a passage as wrong did not help students to improve their essays. By contrast, when I politely suggested that a passage didn't work for me, and went on to offer possible ways to improve, students might learn and come to me to hear more.

The same is true in discussion. "This stinks on ice" only angers or humiliates. "This is a good idea, but have you considered . . . " gets people thinking and discussing constructively.

Avoid common logical fallacies

Logical fallacies are effective ways of winning an argument in social terms, but they either stop or delay serious discussion. You can find out more about invalid arguments with a quick web search, but common ones include taking an argument to a logical extreme, claiming that a view is correct because of who holds it, over-simplifying, over-generalizing, and seeing only two sides to an issue.

Take the time to structure your viewpoint

In an email or on IRC, most of us are tempted to emphasize replying quickly over replying thoughtfully. However, taking the time to organize your thoughts often allows you to discover errors or additional arguments, and be more constructive.

Just as importantly, a structured argument is usually a concise one -- and a concise one is easier to understand and more respectful of other people's time.

Don't let the discussion become an end in itself

Anyone who has ever chaired a meeting knows the difficulty of balancing the need to avoid cutting off discussion against the need to avoid a rambling or stalemated discussion. When a discussion becomes repetitive, or participants are becoming angry with each other, these are signs that the discussion is probably becoming unproductive. Remember your goal, and watch for the moment when the discussion no longer seems to be helping to move everyone nearer to it. That's the time you should either end the discussion or renew it tomorrow.

A way to judge contributions

Probably there are other ways you can improve the information processing in a discussion, but these are among the most basic ones.

One particular advantage of adopting them is that, whenever someone fails to follow them, you can be reasonably certain that they are either sloppy thinkers or else caught up with the own agenda -- most likely, defending their own turf, establishing a reputation, or starting an argument to relieve other frustrations in their lives. If someone persists in ignoring them after being warned, you can feel reasonably justified in ignoring them or refusing to continue the discussion.

Conversely, someone who does follow them is likely to be someone who remembers the purpose of the discussion, and someone with whom you can work.

I don't imagine that following these suggestions is enough by itself to improve the level of discussion in FOSS. But they are a place to start, assuming that you want your discussions to be productive.

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