Are Codes of Conduct necessary in the field of computer science? I believe that they are. Codes of conduct provide ethical and moral guidelines for those that follow it. By maintaining a code of conduct and following it, anyone can serve as an example of ideal behavior. There are always going to be people who ignore the codes of conduct, but they would have done so anyways. Rather than just have some unspoken rules that can be surmised as “don’t do the bad thing”, an explicit code of conduct serves as a concrete guideline for people to fall back on. The article here talks about how “explicit is better than implicit,” and how it is better to explicitly state the standards we should hold ourselves to rather than just imply that everyone should be good.
Codes of conduct do serve a valid purpose. From the same article as before, a code of conduct is “a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual, party or organization.” We do not live in a utopian society where everyone behaves as they should, people will break the law and do bad things. We can’t necessarily stop all of them. What we can do is create a set of guidelines for those that would follow them, in order to improve themselves and the computer science community as a whole.
Additionally, computer scientists can be a diverse group, especially when looking at open source or online communities. The article here states the first purpose of the “Go” code of conduct was to “to specify a baseline standard of behavior so that people with different social values and communication styles can talk about Go effectively, productively, and respectfully.”
One thing that struck me as a very reasonable idea was how in the Ubuntu code of ethics it called for an individual to “step down considerately,” doing their best to minimize disruption to the project or position they are stepping down from. I thought this was very interesting and quite thoughtful given that the lifespans of certain projects or products can be longer than the time one is employed or working on that project. Like many of the other points in the “Community” section of the Ubuntu code of ethics, this goal was oriented at providing a helpful community that would promote better, more efficient work and exchange of ideas within the community.
Similarly, the “Go” code of ethics (mentioned above) sought to provide a behavioral baseline for its contributors. The main idea being that regardless of social, ethical, political, sex, or any other factor, we should be able to contribute to the same goal or project meaningfully and effectively. I found this a very meritorious idea and hope that it can spread to the rest of the computer science community.
Some of the codes of conduct referenced not using offensive language or intending to offend anyone, which the article here has a bit of an issue with. The article cites how “being offended” is a very subjective and voluntary act, and that the codes of conduct that state that individuals should avoid offending others may be a little naive. I may not agree with some of the article’s ideas, but I agree with their closing remarks that you should never intend to offend someone. I believe you should always try to be respectful to others and avoid causing distress, especially in an environment specifically for working on a project or code together effectively.