Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.Charles Addams (cartoonist)
This is one of the most difficult articles I have written, for many reasons, but it is an important one to examine the wide-ranging implications of the Joomla! Code of Conduct.
In case you have not heard of the Joomla! Code of Conduct [J!CoC] document, this is the opening paragraph:
This document outlines the Code of Conduct for all persons volunteering their service to the Joomla Project and/or Open Source Matters. It covers your behaviour as a member of the Joomla community, in any forum, mailing list, Wiki, Web site, IRC channel, install-fest, public meeting or private correspondence.Joomla! Code of Conduct, 3-Aug-2018
The J!CoC goes on to address the obligations of people to
- be considerate
- be respectful
- be collaborative
- “step down considerately” [when your involvement with the Joomla! project comes to an end]
- be contactable
- be honest
- follow the “rules”
- exercise discretion and confidentiality at appropriate times
- disclose any potential “conflict of interest”
- … and a couple of other matters that relate more specifically to the Board of Directors, Open Source Matters [OSM]
There are no specific sanctions—that I can see—if people don’t comply with the J!CoC, except “If you cannot agree to any of these principles, then volunteering in the Joomla! Project is not for you.”
What does all of this mean for you and me? Read more to find out.
Who is a Joomla! Project volunteer?
The first matter to discuss is how the J!CoC applies to “all persons volunteering their service to the Joomla! Project and/or Open Source Matters”. Am I a Joomla! Project volunteer? Are you? What is the difference between being a volunteer—who happens to use Joomla! in their lives—as opposed to someone who volunteers their service to the Joomla! Project?
I volunteer my time—my “services”—in many waysFull diclosure: I am not a member of any official or quasi-official team under the direction of OSM.:
- I help with answering questions at the Joomla! Forum™
- I provide feedback about the Joomla! Project on the Joomla! Forum, in GitHub discussions, at the various conferences I have attended
- I’ve written material for the Joomla! Community MagazineThe Joomla! Community Magazine has been inactive since October 2018 and it is unknown whether the activity will be re-activated.
- I’ve submitted my own extensions, and reviewed other developers’ extensions, on the Joomla! Extensions Directory
- For a time, I was active with a locally-based Joomla Users Group and I have given presentations about Joomla! at other JUGs
- I help manage the Joomla! Australia website
- I have helped people, one-on-one, via telephone/teleconference to resolve their own website-related problems
Do these activities mean that I am a Joomla! Project volunteer? Do these (or similar) activities mean that anyone who donates their time to help other people who use Joomla! qualify them as “Joomla! Project volunteers” also?
If people write, do, say or express themselves about something related to the Joomla! Project, can they be bound by the J!CoC? Do you believe that the J!CoC extends to everyone in the world who happens use any communication medium connected to the Joomla! Project or OSM?
The J!CoC ambit
As you can see, the J!CoC seeks to govern a person’s “behaviour …in any forum, mailing list, Wiki, Web site, IRC channel, install-fest, public meeting or private correspondence”. Does this mean that someone—someone who may not actually be involved with that forum/website/private correspondence—who, on learning about a person’s “behaviour” can invoke the J!CoC as a mechanism to censure that “behaviour”? Does this mean that we have no rights to express our views if those views are held to be contrary to the J!CoC?
You think not? I have a surprise in store for you.
JAFFAAS may be under threat
One thing I have been extremely careful about is to not use any OSM-sponsored facility to publicly advertise or promote JAFFAAS. JAFFAAS operates transparently but I have not openly referred to JAFFAAS on the Joomla! Forum™, not because our activities are clandestine or secret, but because I know that some people wouldn’t understand that we exist to help the Joomla! Project not to undermine it.
I was therefore surprised when I received the following private messageI have deliberated redacted parts of the private message out of respect for the Joomla! forum moderator who sent it to me. I will neither confirm nor deny the author’s identity. from one of the Joomla! forum moderators.
It’s unclear from the message how the person discovered the article Harassment at the Joomla! forum “by accident” as they claim, but the implications are obvious. The implication is “remove the article or accept that there will be sanctions put upon you”. As I wrote earlier in this article, I don’t actually know what sanctions or further censure may be involved, but the fact that this was brought to my attention by one of the Joomla! forum’s “officials” is disturbing to me. What disturbs me about this is that I don’t understand what they’re saying or proposing. Furthermore, what does an article I wrote at JAFFAAS have to do with the Joomla! Forum™ or, more specifically, with the J!CoC?
Let me be absolutely clear about one thing: I welcome comments about the material I write at JAFFAAS. I do not object to people having their own views about the material I write at this website. People can write their opinions about the material we have at JAFFAAS; if you want to write your opinions about the material we have, it’s simple: join the website and write your comments. I also don’t object to people writing their opinions about JAFFAAS on their own websites. I do, however, object to people using the Joomla! forum to carry on those discussions, whether those actions are done in public openly or via private correspondence.I replied to the Joomla! forum moderator’s “request”, via the forum’s private message facility. I am not sure if it enhances this article’s value if I provide people with the evidence of my reply.
In conclusion, I do not know if the final act has been played out. I believe that my activities are now under close scrutiny and these matters will be “discussed” and decided upon at the next Joomla! forum moderator team meeting in the next couple of weeks. If any member of the Joomla! forum moderator team would like to express their view on this article or, for that matter, any article that appears on this website, it only takes a few moments for them to join as a member and write their comments.
