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No, it wasn't necessary, but changing it also didn't warrant adopting and supporting racism, sexism, and bigotry, or linking to their site which also has a manifesto against meritocracy. That people are defending her, supporting her witch-hunting tool, and not simply choosing an alternative or making up their own is appalling.

To support this sort of offensiveness and hostility towards whole demographics in the name of.... stopping Linus from being hostile towards individuals who screwed up? That's hypocritical and delusional to an extreme.

Extreme example - Nazi would still be able to contribute as long as Nazi-related speech is kept out of commits, discussions, mailing list, and group events.

Wrong. That's one way to interpret that clause. But just so we're clear here, Coraline Ada Ehmke, the author of this language is on record multiple times as having the view that if you mention you work on a project on a twitter account, you are "representing the project" with that twitter account. And YES people have trawled though everything ever said online looking for references back to a project with this CoC, pointed out the linkage, gotten people kicked off projects, and waved their scalp around like a trophy.

If "she" believes that you should be kicked out of the linux community for the out-of-work personal views and guilt by association, then I'm totally fine with examining her other projects. Seriously, you need to look her up. Specifically, her "War against Meritocracy".

One really can't discuss the wording of the CoC without discussing the Contributor Covenant and the larger philosophical goals of the Post-Meritocracy manifesto

I think you can. Nothing in CoC states that you must also adopt the manifesto. Sure, this CoC was produced by dubious people with very questionable intentions. Likewise, GPL license is based on Stallman's ideas. This doesn't mean that we have to adopt all of the Stallman's extreme views about software in their entirety. I am still hopeful that sanity will prevail and it won't go past CoC. However, I do understand and share your concerns.

You're correct, the CoC doesn't absolutely require adopting the PMM. However, it would be very hard to ignore the fact that both were written by the same person with the same overall agenda in mind and what the previous person said is 100% correct, this is a political agenda and has nothing to do with technology and only relates to being respectful to people insofar as the ways in which that advances the political agenda in question.

The previous "code" Linux had was fine. If a change was needed, an amendment of "Also, don't be a dick" would have worked. However, they have ripped out a code which specifically called for quality and good engineering above all and replaced it with one written by someone who is, by their own words a "Notorious Social Justice Warrior". I don't know the person, I could be misinterpreting their words and maybe it is tongue-in-cheek. I tend to doubt it.

One really can't discuss the wording of the CoC without discussing the Contributor Covenant and the larger philosophical goals of the Post-Meritocracy manifesto

I think you can. Nothing in CoC states that you must also adopt the manifesto. Sure, this CoC was produced by dubious people with very questionable intentions. Likewise, GPL license is based on Stallman's ideas. This doesn't mean that we have to adopt all of the Stallman's extreme views about software in their entirety. I am still hopeful that sanity will prevail and it won't go past CoC. However, I do understand and share your concerns.

Err, you left out the bottom part: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/8a104f8b5867#diff-310ab816e1e15913bbe69e164b689ac9R77

Attribution
===========

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4,
available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct.html

I really, really, really wish these had been handled non-concurrently. It's virtually impossible not to analyze or comment on the two events together, which leads to some unsettling connotations for some.

While I think Linus taking a breather to maybe not be as much of a dick while still demanding high quality code is an admirable moment of self-reflection, the roots of this Code of Conduct are quite unsettling.

One really can't discuss the wording of the CoC without discussing the Contributor Covenant and the larger philosophical goals of the Post-Meritocracy manifesto.

From the CC:

A Code of Conduct for Open Source Projects
Open Source has always been a foundation of the Internet, and with the advent of social open source networks this is more true than ever. But free, libre, and open source projects suffer from a startling lack of diversity, with dramatically low representation by women, people of color, and other marginalized populations.

Part of this problem lies with the very structure of some projects: the use of insensitive language, thoughtless use of pronouns, assumptions of gender, and even sexualized or culturally insensitive names.

Marginalized people also suffer some of the unintended consequences of dogmatic insistence on meritocratic principles of governance. Studies have shown that organizational cultures that value meritocracy often result in greater inequality.

From the PMM:

Meritocracy is a founding principle of the open source movement, and the ideal of meritocracy is perpetuated throughout our field in the way people are recruited, hired, retained, promoted, and valued.

But meritocracy has consistently shown itself to mainly benefit those with privilege, to the exclusion of underrepresented people in technology. The idea of merit is in fact never clearly defined; rather, it seems to be a form of recognition, an acknowledgement that “this person is valuable insofar as they are like me.”

(If you are not familiar with criticisms of meritocracy, please refer to the resources on this page.)

It is time that we as an industry abandon the notion that merit is something that can be measured, can be pursued on equal terms by every individual, and can ever be distributed fairly.

These are explicitly political documents... and they should be addressed as such. I don't think anyone has a problem with "don't be a jerk, and don't make it personal" in an open source project. Arguably, Linus has stepped over the line on occasion. The adoption of this document goes far beyond rectifying a mere lack of teeth in telling people to "Be excellent to each other"

Using welcoming and inclusive language

They're dictating what LANGUAGE we can use. Think about it like you're a subversive agent. How could you abuse this rule? That's right, any negative comment is now "exclusionary" and grounds for banning. Boom, project disrupted, subversion achieved. You have to look at governing rules like network security. You can't trust people not to be assholes. Oh, whoops, I said "asshole" = BANNED.

The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances

Fuck that noise.

Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission

Note that physical and electronic addresses are public information, not private. "No doxing" works well enough.

This Code of Conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing the project or its community.

People have been very vocal about getting people banned for actions they've taken elsewhere in public as "You inheirently represent the project".

That's bullshit. I like their examples, but they throw in the kicker "Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by project maintainers." because those bullshit types demand it.

The person behind it, coraline ada ehmke, often describes themself as a "Notorious Social Justice Warrior" and believes in guilt by association. So I have little qualm about all their baggage being brought into this discussion.

The first fucking paragraph on https://www.contributor-covena...:

But free, libre, and open source projects suffer from a startling lack of diversity, with dramatically low representation by women, people of color, and other marginalized populations.

The D word. If the code of conduct bars political

I can't make this shit up. They're literally arguing against merit:

the unintended consequences of dogmatic insistence on meritocratic principles of governance. Studies have shown that organizational cultures that value meritocracy often result in greater inequality. People with “merit” are often excused for their bad behavior in public spaces based on the value of their technical contributions. Meritocracy also naively assumes a level playing field, ... For more critical analysis of meritocracy, see http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/...

And yes, they want the code of conduct to apply outside of the project/conference. They link to a "codes-of-conduct-101-faq"

WHY SHOULD A CODE OF CONDUCT COVER NON-OFFICIALLY AFFILIATED EVENTS?

Your code of conduct should apply to any event where your attendees may congregate. Since so much of the conference experience these days is at the after-parties, in hallways, and other non-official events, we have to expect that incidents can happen in those spaces that will affect people at the event.

Fuckin' A! this FAQ is scary as shit:

WHAT ABOUT FALSE ACCUSATIONS?
False accusations are not only incredibly rare, but are less common than people choosing not to report at all. The risk a person takes for reporting an incident (not being believed, being ostracized, facing further harassment/abuse from the original person or their friends/supporters, losing financial/professional opportunities, etc) is so great that it would not be worth it for a person to falsely accuse.

That's their official stance? It doesn't happen? There is no such thing as a false accusation? Duuuuuuuude. Thanks but no thanks. I'm all for people being nice to each other, but this is way WAY too far overboard for me.

The origins of the Contributor's covenant aside, I really don't see anything in that I would reasonably expect most people to have a problem with:
https://www.contributor-covena...

In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

For a while we've seen attempts like this in the open source world.

Want to muscle your way into an OSS project, despite lacking the talent or skill (or willingness) to contribute anything other than drama, identity politics, and an insatiable urge control others (or remove them if they don't fall in line)? Force a Code of Conduct (which is often explicitly racist and/or sexist, dismissive of merit, and vague enough to be selectively enforced) down its throat! It even works on the largest, most influential projects, and lets you dictate developers' behavior on unrelated corners of the web!

http://archive.is/4vV8z

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
http://todogroup.org/opencodeo...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
http://contributor-covenant.or...

http://developers.slashdot.org...
https://www.reddit.com/r/freeb...

1) Summary indicates there are people who are annoyed. No actual links to annoyance.
2) Summary indicates it's quoting a blog post. No blog post linked, just the rules page.
3) The rules page has been around since 2015: https://archive.fo/https://www... - not that "new code of conduct" means that the writer intended to convey it was brand new, but certainly it will be interpreted that way by a lot of folks.
4) FreeBSD had some sort of discussion around it when it came to be in 2015: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.... and it looks like there was some actual internal stuff for project participants that occurred but again, nothing really happened
5) This type of code of conduct isn't really crazy in the OSS world by a simple search. For example, https://www.contributor-covena... shows a plethora of OSS projects that participate and is based on similar principles. Big names OSS participants include Eclipse, Spring, Atom,
6) Microsoft has code of conduct that touches on similar issues: https://opensource.microsoft.c...
7) Github has a guide actively encouraging codes of conduct within communities: https://opensource.guide/code-... and pointing to other OSS projects that have them: https://www.djangoproject.com/...

If you look at FreeBSD's code of conduct in context it really seems like they're late to the party, which may just be a formality (the community norms might already be enforcing these types of rules anyway) or a dramatic change, but there's no way to actually get that from the summary at all.

For a while we've seen attempts like this in the open source world. Want to muscle your way into an OSS project, despite lacking the talent or skill (or willingness) to contribute anything other than drama, identity politics, and an insatiable urge control others (or remove them if they don't fall in line)? Force a Code of Conduct (which is often explicitly racist and/or sexist, dismissive of merit, and vague enough to be selectively enforced) down its throat! It even works on the largest projects, and lets you dictate developers' behavior on unrelated corners of the web!

Makes sense that they would like even more to impose a Code of Conduct on life, starting when you're a kid.

https://twitter.com/siloraptor...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak... http://todogroup.org/opencodeo...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
http://contributor-covenant.or...

http://developers.slashdot.org...
https://www.reddit.com/r/freeb...

Want to muscle your way into an OSS project, despite lacking the talent or skill (or willingness) to contribute anything other than drama, identity politics, and an insatiable urge control others (or remove them if they don't fall in line)? Force a Code of Conduct (which is often explicitly racist and/or sexist, dismissive of merit, and vague enough to be selectively enforced) down its throat! It even works on the largest projects!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
http://todogroup.org/opencodeo...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Kotak...
http://contributor-covenant.or...

http://developers.slashdot.org...
https://www.reddit.com/r/freeb...

I think you need to do a little more research into SJW history.

Just look at what happened to the Opal community to see why people have a major beef with "SJWs"

https://github.com/opal/opal/i...

Go back and read the twitter conversation that shit storm was started from

https://twitter.com/elia/statu...

He had an opinion on gender reassignment surgery being done on kids, that's not transphobic, but a couple SJW's started calling for his head. At first they were told to stuff it, so they went to twitter to drum up a mob

https://twitter.com/CoralineAd...

Which included attacking anyone on the project that disagree with them

https://twitter.com/CoralineAd...

Ultimately this Code of Conduct was merged into the project. Now check out who it was that wrote that CoC, that's right the same person that started the issue is the person that wrote the CoC that got shoehorned into the project of someone's opinion on kids having gender reassignment surgery.

What's worse is this line:

This code of conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing the project or its community.

was added after the fact because by the original CoC, Elia Schito didn't do anything wrong.