On Tuesday 09 March 2010 21:31:51 N B Day wrote: [...]

Are they just a bunch of high-sounding empty words?

Hi all We discussed the matter at hands during our board meeting [1]. The consensus, as far as the board is concerned is pretty much what Henne already wrote on this thread. So let me clarify the position of the openSUSE board on the matter at hands, and the Guiding Principles in general. 1. The Guiding Principles are there to guide, and even though everyone should follow them for obvious reasons, we must continue to exercise the ability to evaluate incidents on a case-by-case basis. The above mentioned obvious reasons are that we want to have an environment in which everyone feels welcome, where contributors feel respected for their work, and just genuinely where we can have fun. One of the ways to achieve that is to apply the Guiding Principles. 2. As of the Guiding Principles ("We value respect for others and their work", see [2]), we believe that the quote that caused the whole discussion is indeed offencive. While everyone should apply common sense and a certain degree of indulgence based on cultural differences, we don't see religious or political attacks or propaganda as being respectful of others, nor appropriate or relevant on the openSUSE mailing lists or other areas of openSUSE community collaboration. 3. As a consequence of the above, the administrator of the mailing-lists took action and contacted the OP, asking him to not use that quote any more. After the administrator contacted the OP, we've all seen his reply, and he made his own case in being removed from the list. To say the least, it removed every doubt on whether his signature was intentional, or just a random quote. Note that we always expect and prefer the moderators of the respective medium to handle such issues in the first place, be it on the mailing-lists, on the forums or on IRC. They have our trust, it's their job, and their job deserves respect too. When there are conflicts with moderators that cannot be resolved in a civil manner, the board is available to mediate or take subsequent action as deemed necessary. As such, and in that role, action has been taken by the mailing-list administrator. It was discussed by the board solely in the context of the interpretation and applicability of the Guiding Principles. References: [1]http://opensuse-community.org/logs/opensuse-project/2010/opensuse- project.2010-03-10-19.04.log.html#l-485 [2]http://en.opensuse.org/Guiding_Principles#We_value..._2: "We value respect for other persons and their contributions, for other opinions and beliefs. We listen to arguments and address problems in a constructive and open way. We believe that a diverse community based on mutual respect is the base for a creative and productive environment enabling the project to be truly successful. We don't tolerate social discrimination and aim at creating an environment where people feel accepted and safe from offence." On behalf of the openSUSE board, cheers -- Pascal Bleser http://opensuse.org -- I took the green pill