[coc-tf] Draft Minutes – CoC TF Thirty-Second Call

Dear TF members,

Here are the minutes from our last call.

Cheers

Kjerstin

***

14 September 15:00 (UTC+2)

Attendees: Antony Gollan, Brian Nisbet, Leo Vegoda

Scribe: Kjerstin Burdiek

Summary: The TF discussed outreach they had done to recruit members for the CoC Team. There were no available candidates yet, but the TF had received some useful comments and would continue to reach out. The TF also considered what to prepare for their planned office hours at RIPE 85. They brought up possible questions people might have that they should prepare answers for, such as the extent of duties required and what support would be available for Team members. The group planned to start preparing some possible answers to these questions. The group also considered what else they should do at RIPE 85. A full presentation of the CoC process documents was not needed, but the RIPE Chair would include a mention of them in the opening and closing plenaries. The TF also discussed whether the CoC consultant, who would be at the meeting, should give a presentation about how CoCs generally work in technical communities to address some community concerns about CoCs. The group thought this might be useful but decided it would be best to discuss this with the consultant first to hear what the content would be and if it would give the right message to the community. 

1. Minutes

The minutes from the last meeting were approved.

2. Agenda

The agenda item on data retention was put on hold until Athina could be present.

Antony said he would ask Athina to check this section in the document.

3. Actions

- (Ongoing) TF to think about how the CoC Team and the WG Chairs would work together to manage discussions on mailing lists. Including tools, e.g. Mattermost channel

This topic would be discussed at the WG Chairs session at RIPE 85.

- (Ongoing) TF to think about the appropriate level of process to allow further improvements to the CoC.

Leo suggested leaving this to the CoC Team to decide so they would have more freedom to make improvements. He marked this as no longer an action for the CoC TF.

-Athina to investigate data retention and potential court proceedings against the RIPE NCC and appeals.

This action remained on hold until Athina could be present.

-Athina to check what case data the shadow team could, or should, have access to

This action remained on hold until Athina could be present.

-Antony to investigate what is practical in terms of consultant support at RIPE 85 and what the RIPE NCC would be prepared to support.

Antony said he had contacted the consultant, who was willing to provide support at RIPE 85. The TF could go forward with this upon getting official approval from the RIPE NCC. The consultant could also provide some education about the CoC at the RIPE Meeting.

-RIPE NCC to mark up webpages for the updated process documents.

This action was marked as complete.

-Leo to draft a blog post and announcement for the community about the updated process documents.

This action was marked as complete.

4. Outreach

Leo gave an update on candidates he had reached out to as possible members of the first CoC Team. While one had shared suggestions for ways to improve RIPE Meetings alongside implementing the CoC, this person was not available to serve on the Team. Leo would continue to reach out to possible candidates.

Antony said he had spoken to Mirjam about the suggestions the candidate had made and thought this discussion would be relevant in the community plenary at RIPE 85.

The group discussed some recent comments about the CoC on RIPE MLs and decided it was best not to respond to them at the moment. 

Leo asked the group to consider reaching out to possible candidates as well.

5. Office Hours

Leo said the TF should think about logistical needs for the office hours, like reserving a room. The TF should also prepare answers for questions people might ask in the office hours.

Antony said people would want to know what the duties would be for serving on the CoC Team. They might also wonder what legal liability they could face and if they would get support from the RIPE NCC.

Brian agreed and added that people would want to know whether they could leave the Team whenever they wished.

Antony said it would be good to hear from the trusted contacts about how many reports they had received.

Leo wondered if someone might deliberately try to test the CoC system.

Antony said some people might use the anonymous online form to make illegitimate reports.

Leo said he would write down some possible questions and answers and share this with the other TF members to add their thoughts. 

6. AOB

Antony asked what they should plan for the RIPE Meeting, such as a mention of the CoC process documents in the opening plenary. 

Leo said Mirjam would mention them in the opening and closing plenaries, and they could give her some slides for this. But preparing a whole presentation would take too much work at this stage. 

Brian said a presentation would not be useful as they had already given the community a lot of time to discuss the CoC process. 

Leo said a discussion about recruitment could be helpful. 

Antony said the CoC consultant could speak at the community plenary about how CoCs work in technical communities. This could start a general conversation in the community that would address concerns they might have.

Leo asked what the goal of this would be. Such a presentation could make it seem like there was not already consensus on the CoC.

Antony said this could start a series of discussions educating the community about CoCs in general. The consultant had enough experience to answer any questions the community might have. 

Brian echoed Leo’s concern that this could give the impression they were still trying to persuade people to support the CoC. 

Antony said they could mitigate this with the right introduction to the topic. They could emphasise that this was about CoCs in general, not the RIPE community’s CoC specifically. 

Leo suggested presenting about CoC success stories.

Antony said the consultant could present a case study of pitfalls and solutions in other communities’ CoC processes.

Brian said they should speak to Mirjam and the consultant about this and pitch this carefully.

Leo said the TF should decide on this after Antony had spoken to the CoC consultant about what they would like to present.

Antony said he would work on this.

7. Actions
-Leo to write down possible talking points for the office hours at RIPE 85 and share them with the TF.
-Antony to speak with the CoC consultant and other relevant parties about a possible CoC presentation at RIPE 85.